Steve Parsons

OUTKITSAP, the support organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population in Kitsap County, was started by county employee Steve Parsons in response to a cross being burned on the lawn of a gay couple in Bremerton.
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The celebration features a keynote speech by OUTKITSAP founder Steve Parsons and speakers from Equal Rights Washington and the Governor's Human Rights Commission.

Steve Parsons, the founder of GayCounty/OUTKITSAP, will be the keynote speaker.
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Steve Parsons, Founder of OUTKITSAP

Founded in 1997 by Steve Parsons, at that time a professional counselor with the Kitsap County Health District, OUTKITSAP's mission is "to promote the health and social welfare of the GLBTQ population of Kitsap County through building community, fostering communications, and nurturing self-esteem."

Until the last few years the GLBTQ community in central Puget Sound has been practically invisible.Vocal religious conservatives and a strong military presence have kept and continue to keep many community members feeling isolated and unsafe.In the late 1980s loosely organized groups began to coalesce to promote social activities and address health issues.One of these ancestral groups was West Sound Family.It was superceded by Gay County in 1997, which became OUTKitsap in 1999.The organization was born after Parsons had a cross placed on his and his partner's lawn following a profile of their garden in a local newspaper.

This past week I spoke with Steve Parsons, Director of OutKitsap, and asked him what difference he thought we had made.He said that the fact that a church was willing to bring the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks out into the public eye, and welcome them helped many people in our community feel seen and known and cared about in a way they had not felt before.He said that the work we did was a stepping-stone for that helped enable all of the support and advocacy that has followed in our community.

Steve Parsons is a psychotherapist and the founder of Gay County --Kitsap's first public organization for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenedered people, and the friends and family of people with alternative sexual lifestyles.The organization sponsors activities from Queer Bingo to gay and lesbian health night.