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PORTLAND, Maine

UNE's Add Verb Productions Introduces Second Edition of 'Out & Allied'

University of New England's Add Verb Productions has announced the publication of the second volume of Out & Allied: performance pieces created by LGBTQ youth and allies. The first book, Out & Allied Vol. 1, won the 2012 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Award.  The new publication includes 46 monologues, plays, poetry and music, which focus on the importance of allies, youth leadership and creating dialogue especially in faith-based communities.

Upcoming events to celebrate the launch of the new volume include performances by Add Verb interns Caroline O'Connor and David Martinez at area churches and Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) events. Public events include: The "Choose Civility Initiative" at the Portland Public Library on Thursday, March 27, 2014, from 3:30 to 5 p.m.; and Longfellow Books in Portland will host a book launch celebration at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 2, 2014.

The Out & Allied Project has been youth-powered, from the writing and development of the performance pieces to the directing of productions and preparation of the manuscript. The youth editors also featured tools for LGBTQ youth and activism, including organizations, religious resources, and youth-leadership training materials.

The book is dedicated to long-time Maine LGBTQ activist Betsy Parsons, who taught English for 30 years at public high schools in Portland, Maine, and was a founding member of GLSEN-Southern Maine Chapter in 1996.  As her district's first LGBT faculty member to teach fully out to students and families, she affirmed students' request to help them start a Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance, a school club to reduce anti-LGBT hate language and harassment in school.

Since 1999, Parsons has helped other Maine students start and sustain GSTAs and has organized regional educational programs for them through GLSEN. Forty percent of Maine high schools now have an active GSTA. Parsons' devotion to this peacemaking youth movement is rooted in her religious faith and reflects her commitment to youth leadership, equal educational opportunity and nonviolent social change.

For more information, contact Cathy Plourde.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.