June starts in a couple of days which means IT’S PRIDE BABY! Even if you’re more of a quiet gay, there are plenty of ways to celebrate being part of the LGBTIA+ family. I’ve got Paris is Burning and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newman queued up to watch and I’m making a calendar of pride events to attend. I want to get some gear, but Target’s pride collection has been lacking and I’m not shopping there anyways. On top of that, a lot of major companies’ pride collections are just rainbow-washing plays. I still have an itch to get some awesome pride gear though, so where to shop?
But first – Behavior Exercise: I’m pausing this section moving forward, but let me know if you found it helpful.
Local, Direct, and Non-Shopping Choices: Finding a local LGTBQIA+ business to support is easy with Everywhere is Queer. You can download the app and find queer-owned local shops and services near you!
Direct: If you’re going to a pride event this June, check out the vendors there. A lot of events have local queer artisans, crafters and more. Not sure what’s happening in your city? Check out pride events around the country here and here.
Free/No Purchase: If you’re in a larger city, your local Buy Nothing Group may have pride items and you can request items within the Facebook groups or the app. There are also plenty of rainbow-colored items that may or may not have been intended for pride (but who cares how you use it?) at thrift shops too. You can also craft your own pride gear! I got these rainbow shoes last year at Madrid Pride (Orgullo) and embroidered them.
Shopping Options:
ACLU: Why not support the organization that has been actively defending LGBTQIA+ rights, including transgender rights, across the country?
Products: Tees, tops, hats, bandanas, prints and stickers
Pride Collection here
GayPrideApparel: Founded by two first-generation Mexican-Americans in 2019, Gay Pride Apparel focuses on high-quality clothing and accessories that are inclusive. They focus on supporting those who may not have local pride events or queer businesses near them, and ship items in discrete packaging for those who need it. I love their No Pride for Some Without Liberation for All shirt in particular, but honestly all of it is awesome.
Products: Tees, tops, hoodies, crop tops, button ups; pins, stickers, lanyards, patches, hats, bandanas; home decor, family & ally items
Pride collection here
Awarewolf: Founded in 2015 by Landon Reed, a trans man, with the original goal of funding his top surgery. Since then, the business has grown and they continue to focus on creating clothing by the queer community and for the queer community. Awarewolf’s designs are on the edgier side and so fun. They have both loud and proud and more discreet styles.
Products: Tees, tops, jackets, pins, patches, hats, socks
Pride collection: the whole site!
NerdyKeppie: 100% queer family-owned, NerdyKeppie focuses on combining nerd culture with pride items. You can shop by identity or category, and they even have faith-based pride items including for Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist faiths. As someone who grew up Buddhist and practices daily, the lotus flower options give me a ton of joy.
Products: Shoes, tops, bottoms, swimwear, workwear, bags and backpacks, patches, pins, stickers, jewerly & other accessories, stationary and home decore
The whole site is pride!
Rose Gold Company: Founded by two women in 2019, Rose Gold Co. focuses on creating inclusive pride gear for all year long. You can shop by identity and they have both loud and proud and more subtle styles. I might just need to get this pillow.
Products: Shoes, tops & bottoms, hats, accessories, jewelry, bags, phone cases and home decor
Shop pride here, though the whole site is pride!
FlagsForGood: Founded by Michael Green, a self-identifying flag nerd who wanted to make Black Lives Matter flags in 2020 to help support and the business grew from there. Flags For Good donates $1 per item sold to charities, including queer organizations like LGBTQ Freedom Fund and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. They also have a helpful article on the history of pride flags & their variations.
Products: Flags, pins, and bunting
Pride collection here
RainbowDepot: 100% LGBTQIA+ owned and operated, Rainbow Depot is unfortunately retiring after 25 years in 2026. BUT – since they are closing, all of their 2025 pride merch is marketed down to clearance! Definitely check them out to stock up on some low-cost pride gear.
Wildfang: Queer and female founded, Wildfang focuses on expressive fashion to rethink gender norms. They support DEI and have given over $1M to organizations like ProjectQ, ACLU, The Trevor Project and the Tegan & Sarah foundation. They also recently launched a collection with Vivian Wilson, Elon Musk’s trans daughter who has very publicly denounced him.
Products: Technically they don’t have an official pride collection, but you can shop Vivian Wilson’s collection including a pride tee.
Etsy: A lot of places mentioned Etsy as a way to support queer artists and crafters. Etsy is publicly traded with the largest shareholders being institutional investors. Etsy supports DEI and within their 2024 annual report specifically stated they “believe that increasing the diversity of our workforce will drive business growth.” Looking at their 2024 Annual report, 83% of sellers on Etsy are women.
However, Etsy spent $1M in lobbying in 2024 for several issues, mostly related to technology and childrens’ online privacy. While it’s hard to determine exactly what they were lobbying for or against, based on this NYT article it may be related to provisions in these bills that are hard to enforce or could generate additional issues. For example, parental consent for using social media for queer or questioning teens in non-supportive households may restrict those teens from finding the resources or community they need.
My thoughts: Often our aging congressional leadership has no idea about how technology works or how to actually enforce bill provisions like parental consent for algorithm viewing. I can understand why tech companies would want to lobby to try to “fix” the legislation so it actually works, butttt I also don’t trust them as far as I can throw them. I think given their support for DEI, and the fact that they support real people making money selling their stuff gives them a pass (for now) from me, but I’m not a fan of lobbying from any company, especially tech ones.
Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments and what you’d like me to tackle next. Follow me on TikTok or Instagram for recap videos, and subscribe to see more category deep dives with behavior exercises every Friday. Thanks for reading <3
