The Reelout queer film festival was originally established as a working group of the Kingston OPIRG in 1999. The film festival was founded by Marney McDiarmid, who held test screenings in the back of Kingston’s only gay bar, in order to see if kingston could sustain its own weekend long queer film festival. in order to do this McDiarmid, put together a group of professional and enthusiastic film buffs to create the “reelout collective”, the group was created in a way that everyone involved would have a voice. The original Reelout collective consisted of Chris Boodram, Jean Bruce, Shannon Collins, Susan Lord, Steven Maynard, Marney McDiarmid, Blake St. John, AyseTurak, Matt Salton, Emily VanderMeulen, Carolyn Johanson, Jim Verburg, Karen Parsons, Matt Allen, Theresa James, Anna Cordner and Anne Delorme.  In 2004 the Reelout collective decided to incorporate themselves as a non-profit organization called the Reelout Arts Project Inc.

The festival started to take off in 2006 when the festival won the Queens University Human Rights Initiative Award for their contribution to the community, followed by becoming a registered charitable organization and a member of Volunteer Canada, and in 2008 became part of the Schools Project specializing in diversity and gender diversity education.

The festival set at the Screening Room this year in Kingston and ran for roughly 2 weeks. The people who helped run the festival set up a table inside the main lobby of the theatre and gave their viewers beads as they entered the theatre to see their movie of choice. Before the beginning of each film the organizers of the festival would give small speeches on how they impact the LGBTQ+ community and how their contribution to the festival has changed their lives. In what is a very eye-opening and fun experience, the Reelout Film Festival is one that offers several amazing films and offers new perspectives to gender identity.