How are you celebrating Pride Month at your business? 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[tranguyen]

Happy June but more importantly, happy Pride Month everyone 🌈

Inspired by @withinspiritnj's recent discussion about Pride celebration in our Pride in Business group, I'd love to ask everyone today:

How are you celebrating Pride Month at your business?

Whether that's decking your store with Pride's colors, creating a special item or participating in your neighborhood's events, we'd love to hear what everyone's doing. And don't hesitate to share photos or links to your shop!

For myself, i'm looking forward to take part in the Pride Parade in Dublin again this year. I've also created a film & reading list for myself for the month to fill in some gaps (I finally watched Paris is Burning!).

But most importantly, I hope everyone will have a fabulous and safe Pride Month ❤️

[ReginaRMT]

I don’t do anything special. I’m very accepting of anyone, no matter what. Always have been. You are who you are and I welcome that. I will stop you at my door if you bring racism, guns and violence.  

[PartyManiaMD]

This year we're doubling our Pride section and discounting the products more than normal. It's a hard line between looking like you're pandering/profiting versus being an ally and carrying products people want for Pride month.

[Ja-Kay]

Hello we are celebrating pride month by offering $10 off of your style don't forget to book with us and don't forget to order your colors! Have a great day!

[Thevioletfox]

We're celebrating with limited edition Tshirts and stickers! We're located in Virginia (and we're a bookstore) so we have tshirts that say "757 Reads with PRIDE" and Read Banned Books - in rainbow and trans pride colors. We are also offering stickers that say "Virginia is for Book Lovers." Our monthly newsletter of book recommendations are all LGBTQIA2S+ focused and we are educating and advocating for LGBTQIA2S+ rights as well. We built a whole landing page on our Square website just for PRIDE:  https://thevioletfoxbookshop.square.site/pride

[PartyManiaMD]

You almost had me again when you said Virginia! I always forget Virginia beach is a thing, sometimes I forget how absurdly large VA is. (I'm in Northern VA/MD)

[Thevioletfox]

It is a huge state! And there are so many different regions. Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads area, which is a world away from the Northern VA/MD area and DC, and all that is a world away from the western/rural part of the state too! Crazy!

[ZazzyCafe]

Good morning, At Zazzy Cafe in Fort Morgan, Colorado, we started carrying Pride merchandise and have drink specials all month for June. We are also having a big pride party celebration to kick off Denver's Pridefest weekend on the 23rd! Happy Pride everyone! 🏳️‍🌈

[HC_Charlie]

We're helping with providing prize donations to a local church who is hosting a Drag Bingo event to benefit local Pride events in my area. It's a progressive church with a commitment to LGBTQ issues; they had a similar event schedule before Covid and since decided to revisit it. I haven't done anything like this before, so I hope there are not any issues since Drag events have become a target in some communities. I'm not located in the most progressive of areas but there are pockets of supporters.

[MudFire_Dex]

We have/are hosting a series of making events and workshops/lectures about LGBTQ+ ceramic artists for our community to make and process grief collectively. Being in the south in a state that is actively passing anti-trans legislation and a recent attempt at a 'don't say gay bill' and it is creating fear for those of us who don't conform to strict gender norms.

This year - it feels even more important than every to remember that being queer and living visibly is an act of resistance, resilience, and does really impact our personal safety. We need support, love, and kindness. For us is a sticky, icky line to create profit from these actions so our events were free.

But, I understand that fund raising and allyship are important and appreciate those above who are supporting actively in their actions - like @Thevioletfox and @HC_Charlie. Please keep in mind this is very real, banning discussing gender and sexuality to avoid discussing gay people means that people actively are trying to erase my existence. Banning books about people like me is trying to control my right to exist. This is a heavy PRIDE that feels very crucial to participate in. Atlanta long ago moved our Pride month to erase it from its Stonewall Riot roots and move it to a time of year for less people to travel and attend under the guise of protecting a park. Summer travel made Atlanta's pride very large so now it has been moved to October.

Keep in mind that there is a ramping up of legislation and rhetoric surrounding LGBTQ+ people.

The 2023 state legislative session was the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation:

• More than 525 bills were introduced in 41 states.

• Over 220 of these bills explicitly targeted transgender people.

• Over 76 bills have been signed into law as of June 5, 2023 — more than any year on record, and more than double over last year.

https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/for-the-first-time-ever-human-rights-campaign-officially-declares...

[Thevioletfox]

SO MUCH THIS! As a bookstore owner, I'm very focused on all those books getting banned in public libraries and schools. Censoring and erasing the stories and voices of the LGBTQIA2S+ community is happening all over the place and in huge numbers as well. Our local school district (here in Virginia Beach) has made a big showing and we've fought some huge book bans as well recently. We all need to do our part to be loud, be active, and keep fighting ❤️

[mystylistryan1]

Donating money to ACLU of Idaho for LGBTrans Youth ❤️

[JUYBoutique20]

Great way to show your support.

[smashthebox]

We are a Transgender 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Queer + Latin ✊🏾owned business in Seattle, WA. One we make sure to have that listed on all of our social media platforms + website + signs. For selling our art we are vending at LGBTQ+ markets / events. It might help that I have a Master's Degree in Urban & Regional Planning with a focus on LGBTQ+ communities + Transportation. For pricing we understand that our LGBTQ+ communities face barriers with income and that pricing our art must be sliding scale.

Most recently we have been featured as Artist of the month for the Month of June 2023 for the Intentionalist. The Intentionalist is a nonprofit that makes it easy to find and support local small businesses and the diverse people behind them through everyday decisions about where we eat, drink, and shop. With their Receipt and Receive program being Pride focused, we have made sure to tag them in posts and cross promote for social media exposure. 

I should probably give a Master's class in this. Anywho that's what we have been doing over here with my business Smash the Box. 

[MudFire_Dex]

YES! we do sliding scale for our studio memberships - it is something that a lot of people don't think about in their businesses - in our case with access to ceramic making it starts with the schools someone attended, cultural and family support for a career in the arts, and barriers to entry (socio-economic status, gender, race, sexuality). We're not perfect but we are doing our best and learning what we can along the way. Thank you for mentioning the Intentionalist - I wasn't aware of that resource 🙂

[JUYBoutique20]

This is awesome...

[DinaLRosenberg]

We have festooned our shop with pride flags and Happy Pride banners at the front door and inside. We curated a special Pride Oil (it's a scented oil you wear) and have been featuring our books and decks related to pride. It's amazing in our industry how many tarot cards are being created that are inclusive. 

We have a very very large clientele of LGBQT+ all year long.. so we are a safe and inclusive space 365 days per year. However, it is so fun to celebrate with everyone and draw our line in the sand-  especially this year with all the backlash. 

[Hardlinepros]

Here at Hard Line Prosthetics we are offering 30% off all our products for the month of pride! 

[CoffeeandaComic]

Coffeeandacomic.com is celebrating Pride month by embracing the vibrant spirit of Pride! 🌈 We're thrilled to showcase diverse comic creators and feature stories that champion inclusivity. Step into our welcoming space, explore a wide selection of themed comics, and join us for exciting Pride events that celebrate love, acceptance, and the power of storytelling. Let's make this month a colorful celebration of all the heroes that inspire us! 🏳️‍🌈❤️

[EmpoweredNEMT]

By being an ally to all...every month.

[Bugsysbar2012]

We have Rainbow Shots on special all month at our bar. Even though we celebrate our LGBTQIA+ everyday, this month we celebrate even louder. Happy Pride month everyone! 🏳️‍🌈