By Amelia A. J. Foy
Pride month is over,
but LGBT+ people need your support all year round. One way to directly support
them is by choosing where you put your money. Companies have caught onto the
fact that queerness makes them money (hence the Pride launches throughout June in
high street stores) but where does the money go after you spend it? Do these
stores have a long-term commitment to LGBT+ rights, or is it exclusively one
month a year? Is it only for cis white gays, or is it inclusive of queer people
of colour and trans people? Does the CEO care if the money in his (or her or
their, but most likely his) pocket is from queer people or from queerphobes?
Buying from
corporations is always an ethical mess, from sweatshop labour to workers’ wages
to plagiarising the designs of smaller stores. Factor in pink capitalism, and
it is overall much easier to buy directly from queer-owned brands and queer
people, especially given how many of us are working-class. Below are some queer
folx you can monetarily support, providing clothing, art, tattoos and more.
1.
CLOTHING
All of the following
are found on Instagram. Instagram is a great place to browse queer-owned
brands, as well as other minority-owned brands (e.g. black-owned, Muslim-owned
and so on) and smaller independent shops and people. I would also recommend
browsing Etsy - there are way too many LGBT+ sellers to mention here, but a
quick search of “gay”, “queer” so on will bring them up (just make sure it’s
not a TERF-y shop).
- @sleepybbybutt
sells repurposed thrift clothing. They hand-print slogans onto the fabric,
including “being emotionally manipulative isn’t very punk rock of you”,
“femmes against fascism” and “my body may be cold and unforgiving but my
heart is still warm!”. Ships internationally.
- @shopd0glover
sell a variety of new and thrifted clothing, including dresses, bodysuits,
trousers, shorts and shirts. They are all affordably priced and they reply
extremely fast; you just have to DM them the item from their feed which
you want. They will ship internationally if you cover the shipping cost,
but are based in the USA.
- @bulletin.co
sell a variety of slogan clothes and accessories, mainly centred on women
and queer folx, including shirts, badges, jewellery and trinkets. They
have two stores in NY in addition to their online shop, and donate 10% of
their proceeds to Planned Parenthood. Along with buying from them, you can
also apply to sell with them.
- @shop.kiddbell
sells a lot of political clothing and accessories, including slogan
shirts, badges, hats and patches. These centre on fighting back against
sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia, and the current political
zeitgeist of the USA (where they are based, but they ship
internationally).
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| [Image description: Model wearing a "dead men can't catcall" shirt.] |
- @greenboxshop
sells fair trade slogan shirts, such as “f*ck Donald Trump” and “being
straight was my phase”. They are Afro-Latina owned and their instagram
also serves to educate and empower marginalised groups, ensuring that your
“activism doesn’t stop at a shirt”, as their bio says.
- @teenuhhhhh
is a queer artist that sells a line of clothing called Moody Dude. You can
find many pictures of their shirts and trousers on their Instagram
(alongside some fire pics).
- @shopstrangeways
sells mostly accessories, including badges, patches and bags. Their site
acts as a marketplace for other brands to sell their items, majorly
centring on queerness, mental health and slogan designs. They have a
physical and an online store.
- @thephluidproject
is an NYC-based clothing and accessories brand that sells LGBT+ shirts and
accessories. They have a physical store and an online presence, selling
shirts promoting gender fluidity and pride, and use their Instagram to do
the same, and also share events, news articles and queer art.
- @goodgirl_gang
isn't queer-owned, but is Muslim-owned, pro-LGBT+ and donates 10% of profits from their rainbow "get over it" totes to LGBT+ charity. They sell a variety of slogan tees and tote
bags, including: the rainbow “get over it” mentioned, “smile for the destruction of the
patriarchy” and more graphic prints. They are UK based, and all their
clothing is hand drawn and hand printed.
 |
| [Image description: an assortment of products in white and read, reading "smile for the destruction of the patriarchy" and "not your babe".] |
2.
ART
Below is a
conglomeration of different types of artists, including visual art, tattoos,
make-up and performance art.
- @floralhomo
is a trans artist based in New Zealand with online stores selling prints,
badges and patches. These centre on being gay and trans, depicting LGBT+
people and slogans. (We interviewed Theo for the site in another article:
click here.)
- @umberghauri
is a UK-based make-up artist who has worked with Munroe Bergdorf, Travis
Alabanza, Mykki and more queer folx. They also organise Queer Picnic every
year in London, as an inclusive alternative to corporate pride, and have a
YouTube channel.
- @hexelot is a lesbian artist who sells art prints,
tees and hoodies. Her art is explicitly political, responding to the
current events of the world, such as migration and rape culture, but also
explores emotion and love. She also designs tattoos for free.
 |
| [Image description: digital illustration of a carrier bag full of guns which reads "thank you for shopping with us!", on a pale pink background.] |
- Tanja
Mölholm is a queer disabled artist based in Sweden. She posts
her art onto her website and tumblr surrounding sexuality and mental
illness, and takes art commissions. You can contact her on tumblr or
through her email (on her website).
- @ruffenough
is a queer tattooist, who stick ‘n’ pokes tattoos at Valentine’s Tattoo in
Seattle, USA. Their work primarily centres on sexuality, swans and body
positivity, in both black-and-white and colour. Even if you don’t live
locally, I would recommend following for their art, looks, and politics,
and sharing their work.
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| [Image description: tattoo of four colourful fat torsos blending together.] |
- @cjcalanday
is a bi Pinay artist based in London, UK. She creates abstract digital and
traditional art, and works as an artist for Risen. You can commission her
via her Instagram or her website.
- @qpoc.ttt
is an Instagram account that compiles the work of queer tattooists of
colour. I would recommend browsing their feed if you want a tattoo and
seeing if any of the featured artists on there are local to you.
- @katyjalili
is a queer performance artist based in the UK. They are a drag artist and
event organiser, putting on “Femmierrect” - a night for queer femmes in
London - and “Genderfvcker”, a non-binary drag competition. They also
create visual art and zines, centring people of colour, trans people and
sexuality in their work, and engaging in activism. If you’re in London, go
to their shows!
3.
OTHER
- @d0glover69
is one of the owners of shopd0glover (listed above), and provide academic
writing services. You can DM them for editing and writing for your papers.
They also share a lot of GoFundMes for trans folx, especially trans people
of colour, and I learn a lot about different sociopolitical issues from
following them. Currently, they are organising a fundraiser for SALEF, a
Los Angeles organisation providing legal aid to undocumented immigrants.
Even if you are not local to them (they are US based, but DM them for the
location of this event), they are currently selling d0glover stickers
which you can buy.
- @mrgnhllb is a bi trans activist based in
the UK. He has a patreon for running Not Your Fault, a support group in
London with an online forum for men and non-binary survivors of sexual
violence. He is also a freelance writer, speaker on trans issues and
consent, model, cello-player and photographer; you can hire him for any of
these services. He has written a book that will be published next year on
the A to Z of queerness, so follow him to find out when you can buy it!
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| [Image description: Morgan smiling in a suit and heels, surrounded by plants.] |
- @gayslutswhoread
run a podcast called Food 4 Thot, “a new podcast discussing
sex, relationships, race, identity, what we like to read and who we like
to read.” They additionally created a series of shirts with GreenBoxShop
that can be found here; these include slogans such as
“heterophobic”, “decolonise your bookshelf” and “gay slang was invented by
white women gay men drag queens black women”.