10 Queer Things to Get You Through Virtual Pride
| 06/05/20
Lovebirds
Childhood sweethearts Alyssa Wilkens and Jillian Allen are the adorable lesbian couple behind pop duo Maple St., whose new song, "Love Me Less?" asks what happens when the honeymoon ends. "We started dating at 16, and that process of growing up together wasn't always easy," the duo recently told PRIDE.com. "We had to give each other room to become adults, and we had to transition from the honeymoon phase to the rest of our relationship." (MapleStMusic.com)
Always Bold
The Bold Type returns to Freeform June 11, continuing its fourth season following an explosive midseason finale in which the three friends, Kat, Jane, and Sutton, each faced life-altering changes in their personal and professional lives. Aisha Dee's bisexual character Kat Edison has lost her job at the Cosmopolitan-esque fashion magazine Scarlet and is left struggling to find a new direction even as Sutton and Jane enjoy their promotions.
That's So Money
Amsterdam start-up Ekster created the world's best-selling smart wallet. With the brand's Parliament Wallet, you'll never have to fumble with cards to find the right one because its built-in aluminum cardholder fans them out at the click of a button. The case also features radio frequency identification protection, keeping nearby skimmers at bay. A multipurpose strap holds bills, and the wallet comes with an optional solar-powered tracker so you'll no longer spend an hour trying to remember where you left it. ($79, Ekster.com)
Family Business
A father and his trans daughter teamed up to make a line of swimwear. When Jamie and 11-year-old Ruby were packing for their first international adventure, they worried about what she would wear on the beach. The description for Rubies, the bikini bottom they created for trans girls, says it all: "It magically turns a pointy poker into a mound. No tucking required." Made of soft compression spandex and mesh, it provides worry-free comfort and the perfect silhouette. ($44, RubyShines.com)
Everybody’s a Little Bit Gay
When Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow) came out three years ago, posting on social media that he would not apologize "for falling in love with people no matter their gender," the Nigerian-Australian actor, dancer, and musician became an icon. The first single, "Gay Street Fighter" from his new album is a sexy-ass queer anthem where, "Everybody's just a little bit gay." Fittingly--for a guy who plays a superhero--Lonsdale's dance-pop anthem is a lyrical battle cry for "anyone who thought they couldn't be themselves and be the hero too." "Have fun with this shit...know the truth deep down," the 28-year-old wrote on Instagram. "No matter what anyone or anything may have you believing at times...to be gay, to be queer, is to be a champion for all." (@keiynanlonsdale)
Choke On This
Offering a new way to symbolize your pride while supporting homeless LGBTQ people, award-winning designer Ada Zanditon is donating a portion of every sale of her rainbow chokers and harnesses to the nonprofit Stonewall Housing. A queer bisexual Londoner, Zanditon is the founder of Ada Zanditon Couture, a brand for avant-garde spiritual kinksters. While celebrating all colors of the rainbow, "We create with a queer/sex/body-positive femme perspective on fetish and BDSM," according to her website. The company encourages "our cisgender heterosexual ally deities" to also try its kinky couture. ($32, AdaZanditon.com)
Queens of Hearts
Trixie & Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood by RuPaul's Drag Race legends and stars of the World of Wonder-produced web series UNHhhh, Trixie Mattel and Katya, offers a satirical old-school guide to beauty, etiquette, and homemaking. With humorous but informative essays, conversations, and how-tos from their alter egos (interspersed with fabulous glam photos) the book takes on beauty, money, self-love, and friendship with the duo's typical aplomb. (Penguin Random House)
Animated Love
In the season 3 premiere of Disney XD's animated DuckTales series, which follows the antics of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, we learn that the parents of their friends, Lena and Violet, are a gay couple. The birds of a feather make an entrance wearing adorable shirts that read "I'm With Dad" with arrows pointing at each other. Co-executive producer and story editor Frank Angones later took to Tumblr to add, "We've done pretty well on racial diversity and representation of people with limb differences, but we really have not done enough relevant LGBTQ+ rep."
Queer Aliens
"Natural Ones," the new single by Wastewomxn, a transcontinental trio of self-described "queer unbinary aliens," is a hypnotizing Afro-Asian queer punk fusion in Japanese, Yoruba, and English. Adedamola Bajomo (London), Tobi Adebajo (Essex, England), and Kyoko Takenaka (Los Angeles) say they seek to "bypass a colonial lens on their existences--connecting directly within their mother tongues" and are fueled by their cultural heritages and "diasporic existences." Their debut single was featured on Zoe Kravitz's Hulu hit, High Fidelity.
Kickin' It With Pride
TOMS' new 2020 Unity Collection honors Pride, the LGBTQ community, and the work of organizations like the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The company's original Alpargatas now come in limited-edition prints that feature tie-dye, rainbows, and the words "Love Is Love." Toms has also put Pride-inspired twists on three of its bestselling eyewear styles (including vibrant rainbow-colored frames). Toms has donated nearly 100 million pairs of shoes to those in need and one-third of all current net profits are going to the TOMS COVID-19 Global Giving Fund.
