An Interview with HB Lozito - 2023 Con Hogan Award Recipient

Lozito is the executive director of Brattleboro-based Out in the Open, which is working to build a multi-issue, multiracial social justice movement of rural LGBTQ+ people.

In a recent interview, they talked about their life and work and what receiving the award meant to them both personally and professionally.

Now in its tenth and final year, the award recognizes Con’s life and work by rewarding a community leader who shares his vision of a better Vermont and who seizes the responsibility for making that vision a reality. Awardees are individuals who focus on results, use data and measurement to mobilize action, work with people across diverse perspectives, take risks in pursuit of their vision, and persist through setbacks.

Asked whether receiving the award has made a difference for them, Lozito expressed appreciation for “the validation from people outside our [LGBTQ+] community of how important this work is—to be able to highlight our community and the work of our organization on a broader stage than we usually have has absolutely been really useful.”

On a more personal level, Lozito noted “There’s not a lot of awards that provide an individual who’s been working in community this kind of financial support. That was really useful to me as a working-class person who had been working in my position part-time for a long time—amazing for myself.”

Lozito urged 2024 nominators to tell the story of their nominees—who they are, what they do, and how they do it. They noted that the award committee “has deep interest in people and who folks are as an individual person in addition to their community work.”

Nominations are open for the 2024 award. As in the past, the award will go to an individual selected by the Award Committee, whose members represent a broad range of interests and experience, including health care and human services, the arts, government service, early care and education, and the economy. The awardee must be a Vermont resident who has not yet received the prize and must be nominated by another individual.

For more information or to submit a nomination, visit Con Hogan Award.