The last ten years have been years of transformation for OUTMemphis: The LGBTQ Community Center for the Mid-South. Inside and out, the community center has grown into a hub for LGBTQ people, our families, and our organizations. It is with great pride and sadness that we announce the resignation of the center’s first Executive Director, Will Batts, as he leaves for Houston with his family.
The staff at OUTMemphis are grateful for the vision and leadership Will brought to the center every day of his decade of staff service. We wish the best for him and his family in this new phase of his life. More than ever, we are committed to the mission of empowering, connecting, educating, and advocating for the LGBTQ community of the Mid-South.
Please scroll down for messages from our Executive Director and our Board of Directors.
From Will Batts, Executive Director
I still remember that afternoon meeting back in January 2005 when Len Piechowski, then MGLCC President, asked me to help revive the Outflix Film Festival. I was flattered at the request. Movies, especially classic ones, are my great passion. I wanted to help, but told him I had no experience with a film festival and had no idea what was required. He was very persuasive, and so I said yes even though I felt like I was cresting the first hill of a giant roller coaster. Little did I know! My feelings at that meeting have been repeated over and over again for the last 13 years…excitement, anxiety, worry that I might not know what I was doing, but willing to try.
I have that same feeling now as I begin my transition away from OUTMemphis.
Several weeks ago, my husband Curtis was offered his dream job. He’s a hospital pharmacist and has worked so hard to move up to a management position. We agonized over the decision knowing that it means big changes for us, our family, and our communities. In the end, we made the decision that the opportunity was too great for him and for our family to pass up. And so we’re moving to Houston.
Thinking about leaving OUTMemphis has been difficult. For more than 10 years, this agency has been more than a job to me; it’s been my identity. For the first three years, I was the only employee. I got to meet so many different people and hear so many different stories. I’ve been approached in the oddest places by people who have seen me on the news talking about one issue or another: a bank teller asking for help for her lesbian daughter that just came out; the employee at a fast food drive-thru who thanked me for the work that the Center does for the community; people who approach me at restaurants and grocery stores asking if the Center can help them. Those encounters are a constant reminder what a unique, valuable service that OUTMemphis provides to the Mid-South region.
One of the first phone calls I received as Executive Director was from a young person named Josh. He lived in a very small town in East Tennessee, and needed help. He found our website and reached out to the closest LGBTQ agency he could find…six hours away. We talked for a while as I looked for anything helpful closer to him. At one point, I asked him if there were a Gay-Straight Alliance in his high school. My heart stopped a little at his reply: “I’m not in high school.” I asked him what grade he was in. He said, “Next year I’ll be in 8th grade.” That answer gave me a chill then, and it does now as I remember his call.
This young teen was reaching out for any support he could find, hoping to find a friendly, understanding stranger on the other end. He had hope that somewhere, someone would understand what he was going through. He called several more times over the next six months. One day I received a package in the mail from him. He’d sent some office supplies that he thought we could use to help other kids. In the last call he made to us, he told me that he was planning to set up an LGBTQ information booth at his high school…in his town of 900 people. His courage continues to inspire me to do as much as I can, for as many as I can, for as long as I can.
I know hundreds of stories like that from people who have struggled, who have persevered, and who have triumphed over ignorance and bigotry. I am proud of what OUTMemphis has accomplished in the last 13 years, growing from one employee to (soon) ten, expanding our services and our impact in the region, and being on the verge of opening an emergency shelter for LGBTQ young people experiencing homelessness.
This job has also changed me. Hearing so many stories from people in crisis has motivated and kindled a fire in me. LGBTQ people should be able to live as openly and freely as anyone else in our communities. We should be as OUT as we choose to be in our homes, jobs, churches, and schools. That not everyone enjoys that same freedom is unacceptable. Every time I hear of injustice, bigotry, or discrimination, my temperature rises just a little. I jokingly tell people that I’m just like the Hulk in the first Avengers movie.
When Captain America suggests that he get angry, Bruce Banner replies, “That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.” That anger has motivated me to keep pushing forward regardless of the obstacles or challenges. That fire has also helped me become a better public speaker…from that first speech at the Memphis Gaymes in 2008 where I sweated and fretted for the whole 10 minutes I was talking…to the speech I recently gave to 500 people (and more online), when I spoke off the top of my head for 30 minutes about LGBTQ people and our issues. I have grown along with OUTMemphis, and for that I am grateful.
This agency and the people of this community have given me so much. I have loved being present at a time of growth for OUTMemphis, for the Memphis LGBTQ community, and for the entire LGBTQ movement. These have been exciting times! The last decade has been my time to lead, and now it will be someone else’s time to move the agency and our work forward. I will absolutely miss the most impressive, dedicated staff I have ever known. I cannot express how grateful I am to them for their courage, inspiration, and passion. Memphis is truly lucky to have such talent in their midst.
My last full day will be July 31. It seems so far away, but so close at the same time.
Thank you friends, colleagues, and the entire Memphis LGBTQ and allied community for sharing this amazing journey with me.
With much love,
Will Batts
From Jonathan M. Ealy, OUTMemphis Board Chair
For the past thirteen years, OUTMemphis has enjoyed the dynamic leadership of Will Batts as Executive Director and as a member of the Board of Directors. It is with mixed emotions that the Board has accepted his resignation. While the LGBTQ community of Memphis is losing a much valued, visionary leader in the fight for equality and acceptance, we were overjoyed to learn of the tremendous opportunity Will and his family are pursuing in Houston, TX.
Because of Will’s passion and leadership, OUTMemphis has undergone momentous change in terms of LGBTQ programs and services offered. Our organization’s impact on the LGBTQ community is outstanding. Recognizing that more work will need to be done, it will certainly be even more difficult without Will’s expertise.
