Shopping Consciously for Pride
Happy Pride month everyone!
Pride began 50 years ago, but it took a much different form than it does today. In fact, the Pride Month we know now only happened as a result of a protest. Following a police raid of a gay bar in NYC, members of the queer community rioted, and what came to be known as the Stonewall Riots became the historical moment to be commemorated every June since, as what we know as Pride.
In recent years, Pride has become more of a celebration than a protest. However, this also means that businesses have been able to identify pride as a key marketing strategy. Businesses that ignore the queer community for 11 months out of the year suddenly proclaim themselves allies, slapping rainbows on their products, their social media, and profit, while in turn giving none of the proceeds to LGBTQ or LGBTQ affirming organizations.
But it’s Pride! We want to be proud, show our colors and celebrate our identities! So how can we shop consciously for the month of June? The key to Pride merch shopping is just a little bit of research. Find out what shops are queer owned, which shops donate money to queer organizations, and which shops just use the rainbow to make their business more profitable!
To help out, we’ve put together a list of queer owned stores to shop from this Pride month (and the 11 other months!) as well as shops that donate a portion of their profits to organizations that beneft the queer community.
About Autostraddle: “Founded in March 2009 by Riese Bernard and Alexandra Vega and still run by a dedicated team of passionate weirdos, Autostraddle is an intelligent, hilarious & provocative voice and a progressively feminist online community for multiple generations of kickass lesbian, bisexual & otherwise inclined ladies (and their friends).”
About BetweenLinesClothing: “Between The Lines Clothing was created by one lesbian who loved buying men’s clothes. She got fed up having to buy in men’s sections and also finding all these fantastic clothes there that weren’t seen as being for females! She decided to come up with her own designs and clothes to wear, hoping to also bring some joy to other women, men and those who don’t identify with her clothes that are about whether they look great rather than who it is specified for!”
About Revel & Riot: “We provide a collection of resources on our website – everything from information about anti-oppression, transgender health, internalized homophobia, and LGBTQ+ art history. Every resource we have comes with references for further reading and links to other organizations where additional support can be found. We believe that the LGBTQ+ fight for equality is bound to all other struggles for social, economic and environmental justice and we try to reinforce that vision through our resources.”
Revel & Riot also donates a portion of their profits every year to different LGBTQ organization!
About Queer Supply: “We began with conversations about identity. We believe that the rejection of oppressive social structures can be achieved through self-love and community support. Queer Supply is about celebrating the intersectionality that strengthens us. Crafting was a method to reconnect with and care for ourselves, and eventually grew into a community project. The work we create is designed to make space for marginalized people and our multifaceted identities. When we craft space to express ourselves, we create opportunities to connect with each other.
Each piece is a positive statement about our lives, relationships, identities, the right to love ourselves.”
About FLAVNT: “FLAVNT Streetwear is an Austin-based independent clothing brand for everyone within and anyone who supports the LGBTQ+ community. Started with the goal of creating clothes that promote confidence and pride, FLAVNT is all about being comfortable with who you are and flaunting that to the world. We promote this message of self-love and confidence through our designs and actions by supporting the LGBTQ community as a whole, as well as impacting individual lives through our fundraising initiatives.”
About Otherwild: “Otherwild is committed to utilizing our resources to provide sustained support to our staff, vendors and suppliers, as well as grassroots and national social justice and health care organizations. We dedicate means within our business model to support ethical practices, advocacy and activism as we continue to evolve within an exploitative, extractive, extreme and excessive consumer capitalist culture.”
**10% of the proceeds on this shirt is used to fund queer history research.
About The Phluid Project: “Retail and community, free of gender norms and full of possibilities”
While not a queer owned business itself, ASOS has teamed up with GLAAD for their pride line, and every dollar made from this collection will be donated to GLAAD.
Another non-queer brand with a pride colelction that isn’t just talking the talk! 25% of the profit made from their Love Unites collection will be donated to GLAAD.
Blog authors all hold positions at the Gender & Sexuality Therapy Center (G&STC). For more information about our therapists and services please contact us.