OUTWATCH Festival Returns With a Message: “Home Is What You Make It”

After a bruising year for Arizona’s LGBTQ+ community marked by political attacks, rising polarization, and burnout among organizers, LOOKOUT — Arizona's only LGBTQ+ news organization — is answering back with its third annual OUTWATCH Festival, a three-day event centered on joy, connection, and collective healing.

Held Nov. 7–9 across Phoenix, the 2025 festival’s theme, “The Homecoming,” reclaims a tradition often reserved for school spirit and straight nostalgia.

But LOOKOUT’s take is different. “Forget the corsages and fake crowns,” said Joseph Darius Jaafari, LOOKOUT’s founder and editor in chief. “This homecoming is about reclaiming your space and celebrating the family you choose.”

That concept of belonging without conformity is the beating heart of this year’s festival. While past OUTWATCH events focused on visibility and political defiance, 2025’s programming aims to rebuild fractured connections within the community itself.

“What we’ve heard is that people feel fragmented,” Jaafari said. “They don’t know about other groups, or they just don’t get along. So we’re creating space for play, laughter, and conversation. Those are the things that remind us we’re on the same team.”

The weekend kicks off Friday with “A Year in Review,” a town hall and panel that brings together advocates, legal experts, and activists to talk about the state of LGBTQ+ rights in Arizona. Speakers on the panel include elected representatives, community organizers, nonprofit directors, and business leaders, and also includes a volunteer fair for attendees to register their help.

"When we did a town hall earlier this year, people's main complain was that they left feeling a bit helpless," Jaafari said. "So this time we're gathering nonprofits that need help to show up and get people signed up on various projects where attendees feel they can be most valuable."

Saturday’s event, “A Night in the Park,” invites attendees to release some tension with a community kickball game, a community dinner, and a movie screening.

"We've heard that our community doesn’t see each other because we’re divided by politics, religion, or points of view. By putting people into games where they have to compete and collaborate, we break down those walls. At the end, we share a meal, a laugh, and remember that connection matters more than the differences that separate us," Jaafari said.

The festival closes Sunday with “Homecoming,” a daytime dance party at Central Records featuring D.C.-based DJ Tommy C of Honcho and The Needle Exchange, with food, drinks, and performances.

The Friday and Saturday events are free to the public, but require a reservation since the locations are being held secret for safety precautions. Tickets to the dance party at Central Records can be bought online here.

Sponsored by Be Well Family Care and One Arizona, Jaafari said OUTWATCH Fest reflects LOOKOUT’s mission: journalism that doesn’t just inform but also strengthens community ties.

“We can’t just keep writing about pain,” Jaafari said. “We also have to build spaces where people can see each other again—sweat together, laugh together, and remember why we’re fighting in the first place.”

Media Contact:
Jake Hylton, Executive Director, LOOKOUT
jake@lookoutnews.org