June, aka Pride Month, is fast approaching. Pride Month was established as a way to celebrate the 1969 Stonewall riots. The Stonewall riots were caused by the constant police raids of gay clubs, in this case, specifically the Stonewall Inn in New York City. The police roughly handled patrons of the club and this would lead to the famous riots
A few years ago, most companies would not publicly address or say anything related to the LGBTQ+ community nor acknowledge its large population of people, simply viewing them as undesirable customers. But as these things have grown over the last few years, the increase in selling Pride wear has also grown. Companies think that they can simply slap a rainbow on anything and call it inclusive. They have realized the growing population of the community is something that they can profit off of and so they advertise plenty of “pro-LGBTQ+” merchandise and wear to show that they “support” the cause when all they are looking for is capitalizing off of a growing population.
Supporting small Queer businesses
As you can see, many companies simply make a profit off of the LGBTQ+ community’s special month, but one way you can support the community a little bit better is by supporting smaller Queer businesses. These businesses have people within the community, which is not to say that bigger companies don’t have anyone, but by supporting Queer business owners, you uplift their voices and help them be seen, as they are a more true representation of the community. The following are some queer-owned businesses that I think you should support this upcoming June:
Happy Pride Month!!