Pride month is upon us, and we couldn’t be more excited. Supporting the LGBTQIA+ community has been important to our company since it’s founding 40 years ago, and it still is to this day. Part of how we plan to support this month are some small things like a new weekly educational series on our social media, aimed to educate our fans about LGBTQ folks throughout history. We also recently added the Exposed Pride Collection to our site to offer more options for gender non-conforming folks. And what we are most excited about is our partnership with True Colors United, a charity seeking to support homeless LGBTQ youth. For the month of June, we pledge to donate 15% of all our sales to this organization.
We searched for a while to find the right charity to work with. We knew that we wanted something that supported a large part of the LGBTQ community. We wish we could support everyone at once, but to maximize our impact we know we have to support one organization at a time. When we found True Colors United, we knew it was a perfect fit. This organization was founded in 2008 after they saw that up to 40% of the 1.6 million youth experiencing homelessness identified as LGBTQ. Many of these youth have been forced out of their homes because of unsupportive or even hostile families. Often, youth homelessness services don’t have the resources to meet the specific needs of this population, which is where True Colors United comes in.
True Colors United offers free training and resources on how to meet the needs of LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness, but that’s not all they do. They are also active in advocating to the government and media for the funding and services for all youth. They create opportunities for youth who have experienced homelessness to be leaders in the effort to end it. If you’d like to read more and perhaps donate yourself, visit their site at truecolorsunited.org.
In addition to our partnership for the month of June, we plan to continue to give back during the year. It’s important to us to continue to support the communities we care about year-round and not just during the month of June. Pride means more to us than just a festival. It’s a time to celebrate the strides we have made, but also to acknowledge the change that has yet to happen. It’s a reminder that we still have a long way to go and that it is up to each and every one of us to make our dreams a reality. We will continue to support charities that support the LGBTQIA+ for as long as we can, because to us, that’s what Pride means. We are proud to support these communities every day.
