85 LGBTQ+ Owned Businesses and Queer Shops To Support This Holiday Season!

If you’re looking for LGBTQ-owned stores to put your hard-earned money where your gay mouth is, boy do we have the thing for you! This list highlights just some of the many stores produced by lesbian, queer and bisexual women and trans people of all genders, as that is the target audience of our website. I originally wrote this post in 2016 and updated it for 2023…  there are a billion new queer-owned stores out there now, so this is by no means all-encompassing — but it’s a start!

Criteria for inclusion:

• Store must have a website/storefront independent of etsy/society6/etc. (We have many other guides that are focused on etsy sellers!)
• Store must be an independent entity, rather than merchandise for a specific musician or celebrity or magazine. (Except for our own obviously)
• Store must offer products you can order online and have delivered to your home for you to hold in your hands.
• The store must be active — as in, appears to be mostly or recently stocked, has social media accounts that have been active within the past year, etc.

If your business is on this list and you’d like to inquire about advertising, hit up em [at] forthem [dot] com. If you wanna join our A+ marketplace and offer discounts to our members, hit up nico [at] forthem [dot] com. We offer discounted rates to queer-owned businesses!

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The Autostraddle Store

The merchandise wing of the best website in the history of the internet features apparel, enamel pins and other cool shit featuring illustrations and designs from independent queer artists. All profits come right back here to fund the words we write and the things we do.

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All She Wrote Books

Somerville, MA

All She Wrote is “an intersectional, inclusive feminist and queer bookstore that supports, celebrates, and amplifies underrepresented voices through our thoughtfully curated selection of books spanning across all genres.”

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Ash & Chess

Richmond, VA

Ash & Chess is a joyful, eye-popping stationary shop run by a queer and trans couple in Richmond, VA. They “create greeting cards and art prints that are bold, retro color palettes and they often use their artwork to make a political statement and to uplift the queer community.” You can also buy patches, t-shirts, candles and more!

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Automic Jewelry

Automic makes “radically wearable” jewelry for people of all genders and bodies. They hire size-inclusive, non-cis and non-white models and don’t photoshop a thing. All pieces are made from reclaimed gold and put in recyclable packaging.

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Babeland

New York, NY & Seattle, WA

A+ members get $25 off orders of $125+

In  1993, sex-positive lesbian feminists Claire Cavanah and Rachel Venning, disappointed by the lack of female-friendly sex shops in Seattle, decided to launch their own. They succeeded! With locations in Seattle and New York; Babeland’s selection of sex toys and educational resources remains an industry standard. And we get a 20% commission on every Babeland sale made through our affiliate links!

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barb

This “community of non-conformists, game changers, and everyday heroes changing the face of hair and beauty” sells products for short hair of all textures and apparel to go along with it.

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Bella Books

The “premiere publisher of vibrant and irresistible fiction for and about lesbians” offers over 5,000 lesbian books and e-books in their online store, making it the largest website for lesbian readers. Founded in 1999 with the help of Naiad Press owners Barbara Grier and Donna McBride, Linda Hill has been the president of Bella Books since 2005.

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Black Market Vintage

Brooklyn, NY

This “curated love story” of a shop (the brick-and-mortar is in Bedford-Stuyvesant) grows out of a commitment from the queer couple who owns it (Kiyanna Stewart & Jannah Handy) to “build a collection that mirrors multifarious Black cultural expression, rooted in our love for Black people, Black culture and our own lived experiences.” As cultural historians, their store is stocked with vintage posters, literature, clothing, art, houseware/decor, furniture and other delightful ephemera.

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Black Queer Magic

VBM, LMSW is a self-taught jeweler who offers “handmade jewelry and workshop facilitations to aid in the adornment and reclamation of Black LGBTQ bodies” through BQMNY LLC. They work in a variety of materials, including custom-made crystal jewelry.

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Bluestockings Cooperative

New York, NY

Bluestockings is New York’s only queer, trans and sex worker run bookstore. The bookstore is organized with categories that make sense to us all: “Intro to Intersectional Feminism” “Gender Studies” “State Repression & Resistance.” Its online store is fully stocked with the latest releases in the topics nearest & dearest to your heart as well as with stationary, notebooks, tarot decks and more.

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Bold Strokes Books

Since 2004, Bold Strokes Books has been devoted to producing a diverse collection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer general and genre fiction. The company is run by Len Barot with Senior Editor Sandy Lowe. Len is perhaps better known by her pen name, Radclyffe, with which she has published some of the most beloved titles in lesbian romance.

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Both & Apparel

A+ Members get 10% off

Finnegan Shepard, the trans founder of Both&, works in conversation with their community to ethically and sustainably produce evidence-based designs that exist outside of the traditional binary fit and sizing system, with small-batch, research-informed capsule drops that are accessible to all humans including transmasculine or gnc-identified people.

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Bowtie Behavior

Robbie Williams founded Bowtie Behavior in 2014 when unable to find bowties for her friend’s bridal shower that were both affordable and fit with her personal style. She made her own, got a lot of positive feedback, and thus Bowtie Behavior was born, with an “intent to create pieces that are bold and flavorful.”

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Brownie Points

Founder Rinny Perkins is known for their 70s-inspired collages and zines, and their shop celebrates showing up as your true self and staying honest about dating, sexuality and mental health. They aim for sustainability in all of their products and packaging.

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Brujita Skincare

This Latina LA-based brand “celebrates the misfits that the natural beauty market left behind.” It sources most of its ingredients from Mexico City, making sustainable, organic and unrefined masks, cleansers, hand care, healing balms, lip balms and more. You can take the Brujitas Skin Quiz to find out what products are best for you.

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Carmen Liu Lingerie

Intimates by and for trans folks and non-binary people like bras, bralettes, panties, tucking/flattening underwear. Carmen Liu Kids offers briefs, journals, workbooks and tees for trans girls and non-binary children with the aim of providing “children with the stepping stones to finding themselves, in a supportive, validating experience.”

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Charis Books and More

Decatur, GA

Located in Decatur, Georgia, the South’s oldest independent feminist bookstore has been “celebrating radical and independent voices in the heart of the south since 1974!” You can support Charis with personalized Charis merch, too: hoodies, tees, mugs and totes.

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Chromat

Chromat is high fashion lingerie with a tomboy femme twist and has attracted fans such as Beyonce! Becca McCharen-Tran, the experimental brand’s designer, is queer, and the online store has sportswear and swimwear, too. This past fall, they collaborated with Tourmaline for a “lifesaving” swimwear show.

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 Coco & Breezy

Corianna and Brianna are twin sisters who grew up in Minnesota and always had a passion for fashion. Together they founded Coco & Breezy, a “cutting edge eyewear brand based in New York City that aims to reach new fashion heights and introduce fashion connoisseurs all over the world to their unique sense of style and original accessories.” Prince, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and and Rihanna are fans, and their online interface enables you to try on their frames virtually.

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Collarbone Jewelry

A+ members get 15% off purchases of $75 or more

Cat Luck uses brass, bronze, base metals, raw stones and whimsical charms to handcraft a fashion jewelry collection that speaks to all walks of life. CAT LUCK brings together forged, minimalist, geometric, and personal pieces for humans of all gender expressions.

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Common Dear

Oklahoma City, OK

This bright, energetic online and IRL retail space is curated with women-owned, 2SLGBTQIA+-owned and BIPOC-owned brands that care about empowerment and making the world a better, more equal place for everyone. They stock the most delightful sweaters I have ever seen and assorted apparel, home goods, candles, accessories and so much more!

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Common Heir

Common Heir is a QWOC-owned clean beauty company for people looking to cultivate beauty in the world and transform traditions with clean, plastic-free, high-performance skincare. They sell serums, a facial sculptor and candles.

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Culture Flock

Springfield, MN

Since 2013, the Culture Flock founders have been “designing and creating colorful and inclusive apparel, goods, and accessories for friends of every shape, size, color, gender, and orientation.” With a brick-and-mortar store in Missouri, their online store has collections focused on homebodies, activists, zodiac lovers, star-gazers and artists.

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Dapper Boi

Dapper Boi got its start with a kickstarter to begin manufacturing slim-straight, androgynous jeans. Founded by Vicky and Charisse Pasche, “partners in business / crime / life,” Dapper Boi wants to “create an androgynous clothing line that is fashionable, functional, affordable and accessible to all.” They sell pants, button-ups, hats, socks, jackets and everything you could imagine putting on your body!

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Doll Parts Collective

Seattle, WA

Located in Seattle and launched during the pandemic, Doll Parts is “all about color, unique design, original pairings, and working with existing materials.” They offer “vintage clothing and housewares, handmade goods, and other sustainably sourced products.”

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Dom + Bomb

Spokane, WA

This Black-woman and queer-woman owned size-inclusive fashion brand is “fighting fatphobia and the gender binary through fashion” with shirts, hats and accessories. They also offer tailoring and personal styling by appointment.

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Domestic Domestic

Little Rock, AK

“We bring to you fine products with attention to quality, function and design,” boasts the website for Heather Smith’s Arkansas-based boutique. “Nothing is added without reason. The objects we curate tell a story and have a history. They’re potential heirlooms, unique in type, simply determined to be the best damn stuff on the market.”

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Early to Bed

Chicago, IL

Founded by Searah Deysach in Chicago over 20 years ago, Early2Bed was intended to be a sex toy shop that felt “friendly, educational and fun.”

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Equal Love

Puerto Rico based company Equal Love is “a genderless line of natural products with purpose” for “people who want high quality personal care and home products that allow any person to have a healthy and confident lifestyle.” Their exclusive essential oil blend is used across a line of personal care products.

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Equator Coffees & Teas

Bay Area, CA

The first-ever LGBT owned business to be named a “Small Business of the Year” by the U.S Small Business Association, Equator Coffees & Teas was started 21 years ago as a coffee roastery by life partners Brooke McDonnell and Helen Russell. It now has become “one of the few fully integrated coffee companies in the U.S.”

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Fempower Beauty

This lesbian-owned ethical beauty company specializes in lipstick and aims to “heal the harms of the beauty industry with luxury products that affirm and uplift.” Their products connect beauty with mental health and positive affirmations, and they also sell accessories and bags.

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Find Yr/Self Boxes

Focusing in mental health-focused self-care boxes, this queer-owned company supports the universal need of good mental health with curated packages for situations including depression, post-partum and being desperately in need of sleep!

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Flavt Streetwear

FLAVNT Streetwear is an independent clothing brand based in Austin, Texas created with “the goal of creating clothes that promote confidence and pride.” They sell binders, stickers and sweats and run fundraisers for organizations like Black Lives Matter as well as individual trans people who need money for surgery.

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For Them

Founded by queer non-binary actor / producer / entrepreneur Kylo Freeman, For Them is a business pretty close to our hearts because they literally own us now but we liked them before that obviously! An honoree in the Fast Company 2022 Innovation by Design Awards, For Them binders were created to compress without sacrificing the wearer’s health or comfort. Their binders have a weightless feel with a rotatable neckline, a bounty of color options and a unique customization survey that ensures customers get the right binder for their body. The Binder MAX, debuted this year, offers more compression. You can also get a  For Them gift card that’ll enable your loved one to do the survey to get their ideal binder!

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Freck Beauty

On her super hip and playful vegan + cruelty-free line of products, inspired by founder Remi’s unique vision and diverse East LA neighborhood: “Freck stands for those who care about ingredients, respect the process and seek self-expression without rules. This community born from a single offbeat idea for a freckle cosmetic has flourished into a movement of trailblazers and rule-breakers who thrive on individualism and always find the courage to experiment.”

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Galaxy Brain Designs

Galaxy Brain Design is a queer-, woman-owned small business selling art, gifts, + home goods for folks that love a wikipedia deep dive, boozy brunch, or therapeutic breakthrough! They primarily make about queerness, mental health, and “what it means to be a good person in a broken society.” Major motifs include plants, space, and other natural elements,

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Girls Will Be Boys

A+ Members get 30% off

GWBB Girls Will Be Boys is active loungewear inspired by today’s modern tomboy. They focus on making high quality apparel that boldly fits all shapes and sizes.

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Good Light

Developed by David Yi, Good Light is a “personal care brand that believes in beauty beyond the binary” with “efficacious, yet gentle personal care products” including pimple patches, water cleansers with clean, dreamy style.

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Good Vibrations

multiple locations in California & Massachusetts

A+ Members get $25 off orders $125+ 

Since the first store opened in San Francisco in 1977, Good Vibrations has been providing “high-quality products, education, and information that promotes sexual health, pleasure and empowerment.” They were one of a handful of pioneers building a sex toy store that wasn’t hiding — clean, well-lit, sex-positive and easy to browse. Now Good Vibrations has eight stores, a wholesale private label and an innovative online store. Plus, they give Autostraddle 20% back on every purchase you make!

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Haute Butch

Selling “fierce dapper stud style” and “tomboy-style clothes,” Haute Butch features suits, vests, watches, belts, footwear, briefs and so much more at their online store. Karen Roberts, a U.S. Navy veteran, opened her store in April 2012 with a focus on becoming “a clothing, footwear and lifestyle destination for butch women, studs, bois and trans men who prefer ‘menswear’ inspired finishes.”

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Hella Thrifty

Avid thrift shopper and 80s/90s fashion blogger Dannie Cherie started Hella Thrifty to exchange and share unique thrift finds — but now the company has its own 80s/90s inspired original collections including tees, jackets and hats!

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Hey Mavens!

Hey Mavens sells lingerie in seizes from XXS to 10X that celebrate individual expression and diversity with products in bold colors and unique prints.

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Hinterland Empire

Portland, OR & Occidental, CA

“Seeing a gaping hole in the world of clothing for adventurous, badass human beings, we created Hinterland,” said lesbian couple Jolene and Trinia, who set out initially “to design empowering, irreverent imagery and print that onto American-made clothing.” Now Hinterlands is equally devoted to making and selling really great coffee and related accessories.

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House of Intuition

Los Angeles, CA

Lesbian couple Marlene Vargas and Alex Naranjo opened their first HOI in 2010, selling crystals and candles. Now, they’ve got six locations selling magic candles, beauty products and all the crystals a queer could ever dream of — and for the holidays, sign-specific and purpose-specific gift boxes will fit right under your tree.

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Humboldt House

Chicago, IL

This feminist store with a kickass team in Chicago features “a carefully-curated selection of locally found furniture and goods, as well as the work of local jewelry designers, ceramic artists, and apothecary makers” with an eye on self-care and daily rituals.

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Humankind Swimwear

Founded by lesbian entrepreneur Haily Marzullo, this company aims to make quality gender-neutral swimsuits and athletic gear for a variety of bodies and sizes.

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Jen Zeano Designs

Wife-and-wife team Jen and Vero started Jen Zeano Designs in 2014, the same year they got married, launching the store with a Pink Latina Power Tee. The brand celebrates Latina community & culture through tees, sweats, accessories, bags, stationary, drinkware and kids stuff with collections including Feel Your Feelings, Artesana Costias Curiosas, Latina to Latina, Growing Through It and Latina Power.

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Kards Unlimited

Pittsburgh, PA

Established in 1968, this Pittsburgh novelty shop has been passed on from the married couple who founded it to their daughter and then to an employee of 15 years. Cards, pins, coloring books, stickers, socks, mugs, games, books, cards, puzzles!!!

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Kirrin Finch

Kirrin Finch, started by Brooklyn-based lesbian couple Kelly and Laura Moffat, sells kickass menswear-inspired shirts, oxfords and bow-ties using sustainable fabrics and practices.

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Lockwood Shop

Brooklyn, NY

Starting out with one shop in Astoria in 2013, Lockwood now has five stores in NYC and a bustling online shop, filled with “unique decor, stationery, clothing, kid’s gifts, and affordable lifestyle goods, focusing on local makers and up-and-coming brands.” This includes the cutest slippers ever, Mr. Mets prayer candles, face masks, Legally Blonde coloring books, Latkes & Lights candles, pizza rat felt christmas tree ornament,  touchscreen gloves, a Reductress Play the Patriarchy game, I MEAN the list goes on. You can even make a custom gift box for your beloved. Their store is SO CUTE I could not pick a photo to use.

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Loyalty Bookstores

Washington DC

Founded by Black Queer bookseller Hannah Oliver Depp, Loyalty Bookstores in Silver Spring and Washington DC aim to “be the mid-Atlantic’s neighborhood spot for wonderful books and unique stationary, gifts and programming” and center Black, PoC and queer voices.

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Las Ofrendas

Las Ofrendas is a social enterprise featuring handmade accessories, apparel, games stationary and home goods designed or curated by their founder, tk tunchez, highlighting Latinx, BIPOC and queer art.

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Lucky Skivvies

A+ Members get 10% off

Luky Skivvies is a gender neutral boxer brief and loungewear brand created for all bodies, with sizes ranging from small to 3XL.

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Makoma the Brand

Makoma the Brand aims to “create one-of-a-kind, contemporary designs using a combination of African prints and classic silhouettes.” Everything is ethically made and was founded by Judith, who is also the co-owner of Brooklyn-based hair salon / barber shop Chokmah Hair Lab.

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Mestiza

Chicago, IL

Established in Chicago in 2004 by artists/entrepreneurs Lorena and Sugeiri, Mestiza offers ” unique selection of jewelry, clothing, accessories, housewares, stationery, and handmade local artisan goods” and a “selection of unique Latinx products that celebrate their traditions and culture.” This Millennial Lotería: El Puzzle is a must-have!

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Mi Vida

Los Angeles, CA

Noelle Reyes founded her LA-based store in 2008 “with the purpose of providing the surrounding the surrounding community a shopping experience that compliments their lifestyle, incorporating cultural elements into fashion and functional art.” They sell shirts, pins, hats, jewelry, incense, oils and so much more!

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Minna Goods

Minna is a textile brand that sells blankets, textiles, rugs, wall hangings and more while striving to “bridge the gap between ethically made goods and contemporary design.” Sara Berks launched her company in 2013, when she got tired of doing graphic design and wanted to start making things with her own two hands.

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Minus Moonshine

Brooklyn, NY

This “magical land of beverages and potions” are made for adults who want to participate in alcoholic-esque revelry, but without the alcohol itself! With a brick & mortar shop in Brooklyn, this trans-owned store sells non-alcoholic beers, spirits, wines, seltzers and mixers.

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Mud Witch

Queer Japanese/Mexican Artist Viviana Matsuda’s pottery studio makes unique, hand-thrown, brightly-colored ceramics: candle holders, mugs, vases, planters and bowls. You should follow her on instagram because every one of her products sparks immediate joy!

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Muka

This small Hamilton, Ontario-based company consists of four artists and life-long friends with big dreams who founded MUKA in 2018 to “build a more inclusive and creative future in fashion for people of intersectional identities,” selling pins, stickers, t-shirts and other accessories.

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Nicole Zizi

The NICOLE ZÏZI STUDIO™ is a brand with a new perspective on streetwear with a focus on eco-conscious, sustainable, innovative and gender-free premium streetwear. All the garments are hand-made garments with ethically produced fabrics.

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Nik Kacy Footwear

Los Angeles, CA

Nik Kacy couldn’t find “masculine-of-center” shoes in their size and that’s what inspired them to launch their own line of luxury footwear for people of all gender identities. They also sell harnesses and holsters.

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Noto Botanics

Los Angeles, CA

Gloria Noto’s eponymous line of serums, oils, cleansers, mists, moisturizers, creams and lip + cheek sticks are designed for all genders and skin types. Everything is vegan, cruelty free and eco-friendly. “Learning what ingredients were clean and beneficial for multiuse, multi-gendered folx is what makes Noto stand out,” Noto told The Cut.

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Octopied Mind Inc.

Established in 2018 and queer, woman and indigenous-owned; founders Jill and Sarah want every piece they produce to be a conversation starter, meticulously crafted with purpose and passion. Their fun totes, blankets, hats, mugs and stickers are perfect for weirdos who experience emotions like being Dead Inside and having Sunday Scaries.

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One DNA Apparel

Ypsilanti, MI

Headquartered in my beloved Ypsilanti, Michigan, this Black and queer-owned business sells gender-neutral apparel. Their super-wearable and very cozy premium tees and sweats are made from organic and recycled fabrics.

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Pa’lante Para

This “clothing brand created by a queer Latina who gets it” aims to “make space for affordable, trendy and forward thinking para options for Latinx and multicultural-based sororities.” Their Para Everyone designs are “made for everyone to rock, regardless of affiliation.”

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Pals Socks

The Pals Socks story begins in 2007, when then-girlfriends Hannah Lavon and Ashley Connors started “Hooray Hoopla,” a gift shop that specialized in “kitschy-cool paper products” and got popular selling mismatched animal mittens. The “Vs. Stuff” line put Predators and Prey on a set of hands and let them duke it out. Thus, Pals Socks were born, and the mismatched animal buddies have been a hit. Now they collaborate with artists and are always releasing new fun things for the feet!

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Portrai.Me

Portrai Me is “a visual art project that creates ‘portraits’ of people’s personalities through the various motifs in their lives.” They aim to produce one-of-a-kind artworks at accessible price-points, starting at just $59 each.

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Peau De Loup

Lifelong tomboys Adelle Renaud and Erin McLeod founded Peau De Loup in Vancouver and set out to “redefine feminine etiquette in womenswear by creating functional, well-made, timeless apparel.” You can get their super-cool ethically-sourced-and-produced signature button-ups (so much plaid, y’all!) and accessories online.

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The Phluid Project

Launched in March 2018, the Phluid Project aims to “amplify the rising voice of today’s youth, which rejects binary gender norms, and favors an inclusive world that allows individuals to wear what makes them feel good — that is, what best reflects who they really are inside.

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PlayOut

Abby Sugar and Sylvie Lardex launched PlayOut in 2011, offering two styles of underwear — boxer-briefs (the ‘boyshort’) and the trunk cut — for all genders. Now they sell tunics, pants, skirts, crop tops and all sorts of “gender-free apparel.”

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A Rainbow In Your Cloud

Black autistic visual artist Amina Mucciolo’s shop exudes rainbow bubblegum poppy excitement with affirming tees, masks, hoodies and iPhone cases.

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re-inc

Founded by legendary women’s soccer players Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Meghan Klingenberg, and Christen Press “with the mission of inspiring us all to boldly reimagine the status quo,” re-inc’s shop sells t-shirts, scarves, hats, mugs, hats, tumblrs and more, emblazoned with their logos and inspiring messages.

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Reparations Club

Los Angeles, CA

Reparations Club is a bookshop and creative space “curated by Blackness” in Los Angeles. The Black-owned and women-owned business curates an incredible list of books as well as selling vinyl and gifts like puzzles, games, honey, sage sticks and tarot decks.

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A Room of One’s Own

Madison, WI

This Madison-based bookstore, named after the Virginia Woolf essay, has been a thriving space for the local feminist community since 1975. It offers a variety of books and gifts, with plenty of women’s studies and LGBT fiction.

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Sabor a Libertad

Sabor a Libertad is the project of a graphic artist in San Juan, Puerto Rico, aiming to make clothes that represent them and other QTPOC Puerto Ricans. They sell a ton of cute original graphic tees in bright, fun colors in both Spanish and English like Aro Pride, Straight Was the Phase, La Futura Es Inclusiva and They Kiss Them.

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Sapphire Books Publishing

Founded by Christine Svedsen in 2010, Sapphire Books is dedicated to promoting and publishing “stories that accurately and respectfully reflect the diverse lives of the lesbian community.”

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Show & Tell Oakland

Oakland, CA

This concept shop, gallery and gathering space in downtown Oakland specializes in sustainable and socially responsible apparel, accessories and gift items. Alyah Baker started her store to share products she couldn’t find in big box retailers, things that “reflected [her] love for BIPOC and LGBTQIA community.” In their store and online they sell t-shirts, body salves & cremes, jewelry, candles, prints and yoga mats from a diverse group of makers.

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Smitten Kitten

Minneapolis, MN

Smitten Kitten opened in 2003 in Minneapolis, MN, hoping to bring “quality, body-friendly sex toys” to a store they’d enjoy shopping in themselves. Smitten Kitten is always on the city’s “Best Of” lists and promotes a sex-positive environment and a curated inventory of non-toxic, ethically produced and marketed products. Not just sex toys, though — they’ve got cute buttons, greeting cards, bandanas and so much more.

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Souk Bohemian

Atlanta, GA

Artists Morgan Ashley Bryant and Vanessa Coore Vernon partner with local and global artisans to bring aspirational ready-to-wear pieces, home goods, small-batch jewelry, and handmade accessories with minimal palettes and global aesthetics.

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South Street Art Market

Philadelphia, PA

The queer-women-owned South Street Art Market sports goods from 130+ indie artists in their store and online. From kitschy nostalgia to nerdy indulgences to the dark arts, their store includes Sick Sad 90s Pin Packs, Mystery Zine Bundles, Dolly Parton earrings, Unicorn Sculptures, Back to the Future Light Switch Plates and so so much more!

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Stealth Bros & Company

This luxury medical storage company creates Dopp kit supplies for travel and at-home personal storage for medical/personal necessities for the transgender, diabetic, TTC and other persona/medical communities in an attempt to revolutionize the way we see and feel about sharps disposal.

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Stuzo Clothing

This queer-owned, women-owned, Black-owned and Latin-owned gender-free brand is “designed to invoke thought and emotion.” DapperQ described them as “a line of androgynous, athleisure, and Cali-casual-cool style.” They sell t-shirts, candles, hats and other gender-free apparel “designed to invoke thought and emotion.” Celebrities like Lena Waithe and Jada Pinkett Smith have been spotted in Stuzo attire.

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Style is Freedom

This “Tomboi Lifestlye Brand” from designer Toni Branson sells snapbacks, beanies, sweatshirts, tees, wallets, slides and more. they collaborate with artists and have so much fun stuff this season, like a Wakanda Tomboi tee and the “Elephant in the room” collection.

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Tanaïs 

Tanaïs, author and prefumer and the host of perfume podcast MALA, promises “infinite beauty” with her recently-launched brand that ” imagines fragrance, beauty and jewelry as expressions of ritual, adornment and ancestors.”

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TomboyX

Founded by lesbian couple Fran and Naomi, Tomboy X sells underwear, bras, joggers, t-shirts, muscle tees, swimwear and so much more with a focus on “empowering our LGBTQ+ community year-round.”

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Under the Umbrella Bookstore

Salt Lake City, UT

Under the Umbrella Bookstore is a bookstore and a safe space for queer people of all ages in the Salt Lake City community, selling books across all genres as well as candles, teas, stickers, pins, tote bags, bookmarks, mugs, and jewelry by small queer-owned businesses and artists.

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Unicorn Feed Supply

Ypsilanti, MI

The queer woman who opened Unicorn Feed Supply in 2018 wanted an entire store that brought her as much joy as her childhood sticker collection (relate-able), Unicorn Feed Supply is queer as fuck: terrariums, fairy gardens, magical stuff, sparkly things, stuffed animals, novelty socks, knick-knacks, enamel pins, work from local artisans and fun stuff for Pride.

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Violet Valley Bookstore

Water Valley, MS

Mississippi’s “Only Queer Feminist Trans inclusive Bookstore” was founded by Jaime Harker, who found while working on her book The Lesbian South that there was a huge community of Southern queers who were “surprised and delighted to find that they were part of a long tradition of activists and writers.” She was inspired to start Violet Valley in 2017, aiming to “make feminist, queer, and multicultural books available to the Water Valley community, the state of Mississippi, and the South.”

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We’Moon

The We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn astrological and lunar calendar datebook was founded in 1981 and is published in Oregon by Mother Tongue Ink. You can get the datebook and wall calendar in their online shop as well as other related products.

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West Side Kids

New York, NY

Since 1981, lesbian couple Alice and Jenny Bergman have been running this neighborhood favorite toy shop with a selection that emphasizes diversity, education, and ethically-made products for curious kiddos.

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Wet For Her

Proudly selling sex toys designed by women for women, Wet For Her not only sells dildos, massage oils and harnesses, but also “finger extenders” for purposes which are probably obvious to you.

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Wildfang

Portland, OR + Los Angeles, CA

These self-described “modern-day, female Robin Hoods raiding men’s closets and maniacally dispensing blazers, cardigans, wingtips and bowlers” launched their dapper-tomboy brand in early 2013. Their Wild Feminist tees became viral sensations, their smart suiting is beloved in the queer community and their jumpsuits have taken our televisions by storm.

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Wiselands

With Midwestern roots refined in Northern California, this queer & employee-owned company creates sustainable skincare using green chemistry and concentrated, renewable ingredients.

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Wolfe Video

This legend in lesbian movie culture was launched in 1985 by Kathy Wolfe and it is the largest exclusive distributor of LGBT films. They began as a mail order outlet distributing a Lily Tomlin film and are now an active distributor and releaser of pretty much every film with a lesbian in it, ever! Plus they’re just good people.

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Woxers

This QWOC-owned apparel company designed a boxer-brief tailored to women and focused on comfort, health and sustainability. They sell bralettes as well as boxer-briefs in different lengths in a variety of colors and patterns.

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Volition Beauty

Founders Brandy Hoffman (the queer one!) and Patricia Santos met working at a different skincare company and joined forces to create the now enormously successful Volition Beauty, featuring clean skincare products inspired by crowdsourced ideas, voted on by fans. And they have a lot of fans! You can also find Volition products at Sephora.

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And Finally: More Queer and LGBTQ+-Owned Bookstores To Support

There are so many bookstores owned by LGBTQ women and other trans people that I couldn’t possibly give them all blurbs. Here are some of the many I missed (I chose here only stores that have independent storefronts you can shop online)

• All She Wrote (Sommerville, MA)
• Astoria Bookshop (Astoria, NY)
• Big Blue Marble Books (Philadelphia, PA)
• Black Garnet Books (Twin Cities, Minnesota) (black owned)
• BookWoman (Austin,TX)
• Broadway Books (Portland, OR)
• Burdock Book Collective (Birmingham, Alabama)
• Dog Eared Books (San Francisco)
• Firestorm Books & Coffee (Asheville, NC)
• Foggy Pine Books (Boone, NC)
• The Irreverent Bookworm (Minneapolis, MN)
• Montana Book Company (Helena, MT)
• Omnivore Books (San Francisco, CA)
• The Ripped Bodice (Los Angeles, CA)
• Red Emmas (Baltimore, MD)
• Reparations Club (Los Angeles,CA)
• Rofhiwa Books & Cafe (Durham, NC)
• Tombolo Books (St. Petersburg, FL)
• Tubby & Coos (New Orleans)
• Women & Children First (Chicago, IL)
• Womencrafts (Provincetown)

These Are the Hot Tips Queer Small Business Owners Swear By

NEXT Insurance is 100% dedicated to making it easy for small business owners and the self-employed to get the insurance they need to take their company to the next level. Autostraddle and NEXT Insurance are pleased to bring you the first installment of “Next Level,” an article series in which successful queer small business owners share how they tackle the challenges of business ownership to live their very best work lives. Today, our small business owners and self-employed superstars are sharing their inspirations and tips for living your best small business ownership life.

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Delena Mobley and Kim Blessing had always loved fashion and had always wanted to start a Black-and-queer friendly business. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that they realized it was “now or never” to go for it and launch the gender and size-inclusive brand of their dreams, dom+bomb.

Brittany and Summer of Culture Flock started their quirky, eclectic store in 2013, during a transitional period for both of their careers. The same was true for me and my co-founder at Autostraddle: the recession that started in 2008 upended most of our career plans, so I figured 2009 was as good a time as any to see if my little dream had any legs.

For Jennifer Vinciguerra, CPA, it was ten years of notes on what she wished she could change about the small firm where she began her accounting career that eventually led her to decide it was time to go her own way.

Tracy and Mia, the co-founders of web design and development company Yikes, had been building websites for their non-profit and activist communities for a while before deciding in the mid-90s that they were ready to get paid for it. For Tracy, that was a realization of a desire she’d held since childhood to start her own business.

No matter where you are in the process of small business ownership or self-employment — still deciding if this is the right moment to turn your idea into a business or already getting your show on the road, it’ll undoubtedly be a lot of work, but the rewards can also be immense.

Here’s some of the best advice the queer small business owners we spoke to have picked up along the way:

Ask For Help

People with expertise, skills and experience are often willing to lend a few hours of their time to provide insight and support. Nothing I’ve read or been able to find online has ever matched the level of insight I’ve gleaned from others who’ve done similar work at different companies. You can often connect with other small business owners through industry conferences, local neighborhood associations and networking events, or through your local chamber of commerce.

“Small business owners want to see each other succeed, and queer and BIPOC business owners even moreso,” says Kim of dom+bomb. “We’re all in this together.”

Accept That You Can’t Do Everything Yourself

Nobody comes to the table with a full suite of knowledge about every aspect of running a business — and sometimes you do have the knowledge, but your skills or talent might be more efficiently spent elsewhere. Kim and Delena of dom+bomb are both marketers by trade, but they eventually outsourced their marketing to an external firm (queer-owned TinyTall Consulting), which is also queer-owned!) because other areas of the business required their focus.

Although I’d been trained in basic accounting and relevant software while working as the VP of Accounting for a literary agency in my twenties, I didn’t have any special bookkeeping skills or knowledge. Hiring Jennifer Vinciguerra to do Autostraddle’s accounting enabled me to focus more squarely on the creative work that resided in my specific zone of genius, and it was well worth the cost in the long term.

Follow Your Heart to Fill a Need

Many small businesses begin with a dream to put something into the world that wasn’t there before. “As queer kids from Springfield, MO, we wanted to create the kind of quirky, eclectic shop commonly found in big coastal cities like Portland, Seattle, and LA,” said Summer of Culture Flock, “ultimately creating a place that we wished we would’ve had growing up.”

Kim and Delena of dom+bomb always struggled to find cute clothes that fit, so they decided to make their own.

Sheena Lister, the CEO of short-hair styling products company Barb, had an idea that had been “percolating for many years” based on her own experience as a short-haired consumer who felt unrepresented in the industry.

Surround Yourself with Supportive People

“I could never have accomplished what I did without the resounding support of my wife (formerly my best friend), and an exceptional community of friends and family,” Jennifer says. “You need people around you who you can bounce ideas off of — there’s no shortage of wrong decisions to make and sometimes heeding the advice of an uninvolved third party is just what you need to figure things out.”

Often I’ll be grilling my girlfriend or friends for their take on my ideas, and they’ll often say something along the lines of “but I’m no expert!” That may be true, but they’re also my potential audience and customer base, so their input is far from irrelevant.

Don’t Be Afraid to Mess Up

Time spent trying out a new idea or working on an eventually-thwarted project is not time wasted — it’s a learning experience. Sometimes it takes 20 bad ideas to get to one good idea.

“We’ve learned the most valuable lessons from our mistakes in our 10 years of business,” says Summer of Culture Flock. “Even though they’re painful to your ego, those mistakes can lead you in the right direction if you’re open to it.”

Take Risks

The act of starting a business or working for yourself might seem risky enough in and of itself, but there’s no innovation without risk. “I wish I’d taken more risks in business earlier on,” says Tracy of Yikes. “Almost every risk we’ve taken has paid off.”

Often, women and people from marginalized communities are more risk-averse — they may lack a safety net or fear greater consequences arising from the risks they take. These aren’t empty fears: many successful entrepreneurs who are perceived as having a large appetite for risk are simply just rich enough to afford those risks. But there’s a middle ground between “playing it safe” and “buying twitter.”

Charge What You’re Worth

”Don’t put yourself on sale,” Tracy advises. “Charge what you’re worth. I’ve seen behind the curtain of businesses I thought were levels above us to discover everyone’s faking it. Don’t assume you’re inferior to others, and charge less for whatever your product is.”

This is especially true for service-based businesses. Be confident about what your time is worth and refuse to settle for less. I often try to envision what a cis white straight man would feel comfortable asking for, and then carry that sense of self-worth into the room with me.

Be Authentic

“For those in a creative field,” Summer of Culture Flock suggests, “make things that you actually like! When you make things that are only for consumption by others, they don’t come across with the same heart and soul as projects that are close to your heart. So don’t be afraid to be authentic. It will be much more effective and appreciated!”

Get Inspiration Everywhere

Becky Bacsik-Booker and Alyssa Kaliszewski of Doll Parts Collective, a sustainability-focused vintage-shop-meets-curated-boutique in Seattle, cite an eclectic range of influences for their store, including Meow Wolf, Trixie Mattel, Iris Apfel, maximalist thrift/op shops of the 60s/70s, Nooworks and Robert Crumb.

Brittany from Culture Flock loves the Design Matters podcast. The dom+Bomb co-founders recommend “The E-Myth” by Michael E. Gerber for all small business owners and “Big Dress Energy” by Shakalia Forbes-Bell for fashion entrepreneurs specifically. Inspiration can come from so many different industries, not just the one you’re working with.

Get The Right Insurance For Your Small Business

All small business owners and the self-employed need small business insurance, although what type you need depends on the type of business you’re running. If you’ve got any employers or contractors, you’ll need workers comp. Brick-and-mortar stores require general liability and commercial property insurance to protect your inventory, your vendors and your customers, which covers issues like theft or disasters. Providing services or advice? You’ll need professional liability insurance for that!

Next Insurance makes it easy and affordable to figure out what insurance you need for your small business, with an easy-to-understand interface and convenient packages like the Business Owner’s Policy, which combines General Liability and Property Insurance. They specialize in providing insurance to small businesses and the self-employed.

Good luck out there, I’m confident you’ve got a great thing going!

36 Queer-Owned Businesses Selling LGBT T-Shirts To Support This Pride Season

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Autostraddle: Our #1 Most Favorite Queer-Owned Business

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Flavnt

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A Tribe Called Queer

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Style is Freedom

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dfrntpigeon

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Two Minds Press

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Kirrin Finch

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Lockwood51

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Sabor a Libertad

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FRE Collaborative

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Many Many Moons Ago on Etsy

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Wildfang

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MegemikoArt on Etsy

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Tomboy X

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Mi Vida

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Rebirth Garments

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The Phluid Project

Ash & Chess

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Queerly Designs on Etsy

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Tegan & Sara Foundation

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Official Rebrand

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Sparkletown Studios on Etsy

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Thugz Maison

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Jen Zeano Designs

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Demian Diné Yazhi’ on Etsy

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Haute Butch

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Queer Gear

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Stuzo Clothing

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Transfigure Print Co

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Kiernan Dunn on Etsy

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Gbee Studios on Etsy

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Bad Real Bad

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Decolonizing FitnessSaveSave

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One DNA Apparel

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Surpride on Etsy

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South Street Art Mart

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It’s Our Biggest Sale of the Year! Up to 60% Off All Apparel!

We’ve Got New Merch and It’s All 20% Off All Weekend Long

A+ Members Get 25% Off Autostraddle Merch — Including All New Designs!

Introducing the A+ Discount Marketplace!

Okay, so, this is exciting! This is the very nascent, brand new version of a space where A+ members can get discounts with partners of Autostraddle! The goal of this marketplace is to support all things independent. By being an A+ member, you are supporting independent queer media and everything we do here. LITERALLY, A+ memberships fund half of our whole budget, and mostly we just use that to pay our queer and trans team! Then, now, as of today, you get cool discounts for supporting indie businesses, especially ones that are indie, that are LGBTQ, women and POC-owned. We are prioritizing indie partners because we know what it’s like to be an indie business and we know that the people in our audience like to shop small.

Thie A+ Discount Marketplace is going to grow in perpuity as we welcome more partners, but for starters, we encourage you to shop with our first 9! Thank you for being an A+ member, and if you haven’t joined yet, there are few better ways to make sure Autostraddle sticks around than by joining A+! Honestly, do you remember those coupon books? It’s like, you buy into the coupon book, you support a good cause, and then you get to enjoy discounts all year? It feels a lot like that! We hope that if you’re an A+ member, that you’ll enjoy and also stay tuned for more cool, indie partners to shop with!

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Current Partners Include:

$10 off orders of $35+ with Aisle

$25 off orders of $125+ with Babeland

10% off with Both& Apparel

20% off with Dovetail Workwear

15% off with Fishwife

15% off with Fly By Jing

$25 off $125 or more with Good Vibes

30% with GWBB

10% Off in NYC with Solid Wiggles

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? VISIT THE MARKETPLACE!!!

NEW MERCH ALERT: Gay Chaos Tanks For This Chaotic Summer!

These Queer Handyworkers Want to Make Your Life Easier

While Rent-A-Butch’s website describes the business as “a handyservice by and for queer people,” the company’s Instagram bio drives the point home by declaring “We don’t work for straight people.” It’s not just a catchy tagline, although Rent-A-Butch does sell socks and bumper stickers that feature the message.

S.A. stresses that she and partner Jasper are “dead serious” about the no-heteros policy for their Portland, OR, business. “If a straight person tries to hire us, we will turn them down,” she says. “We do not work for straight people. This is like a total queer-separatist business.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rent-A-Butch (@rent.a.butch)

Rent-A-Butch solely provides moving, cleaning, hauling, landscaping, and other services to queer customers to free them from hiring straight contractors who might make them feel uncomfortable or unsafe. With a target market of one of the country’s largest LGBTQ communities, the business has more demand for their services than they can handle.

The Rent-A-Butch team includes Jasper and S.A. plus two crew members hired as independent contractors, one part time and one full time. S.A. does the scheduling, marketing, and social media and also works from home as a content marketer for a software company. She’s the sole cis person on the team and says, “I am often known as the head femme or boss lady femme.”

The business’s origin story is closely linked to Jasper’s sweet tooth, as they explain. “I [had] a cleaning service — I put an ad in a queer zine that went around Portland [for what I] called ‘Cleans for Treats,’ and I would go clean my friends’ houses, and then they would give me dessert,” they say. “I didn’t even want money. I just wanted homemade cookies.”

“[Jasper has] been helping people move and doing people’s handywork for them for as long as I can remember,” says S.A.. Last year, when Jasper was doing farm work, S.A. encouraged them to start offering their handyperson skills as a paid service.

Jasper was dubious at first. “I was like, ‘What? People won’t actually want to pay for that. This is like, just something I do with friends,’ and she said, ‘No, I think people would actually really benefit from that.’”

The pair started Rent-A-Butch in June of last year, and this April they welcomed the youngest team member, their baby, Wolf, whom they’re raising in a parenting triad. (The third parent also works for the business.) Yes, Wolf’s wardrobe includes at least one Rent-A-Butch onesie.

Half a country away, in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, fellow queer-owned handyperson business The Handy Dyke also launched during the pandemic. Spouses Laura and MJ Leffler work in theater, and the sudden shutdowns of March 2020 cost Laura her freelance jobs and led to MJ’s furlough from Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater three months later.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COtopidHl2Y/

During their unemployment, MJ, who has stage carpentry experience, took on home projects for friends that ranged from a paver patio to a pergola. When the jobs grew beyond what they could accomplish alone, they recruited a few out-of-work theater friends.

By the end of July 2020, MJ says, “Laura and I were like, ‘Okay, well now we have four to five people sort of working for us at a very part-time capacity; why don’t we formalize that into something and see where it goes?’ I think we made one social media post, end of July or early August, and we were just flooded with work until February.”

The business name “The Handy Dyke” was an obvious choice, as that was what MJ had called themselves for years. MJ works in the field and takes the client-facing duties, while Laura handles office operations like purchasing and finances. Because she’s training to be a Master Gardener, she also oversees planting and landscaping jobs.

Like Rent-A-Butch, The Handy Dyke aims to make LGBTQ folks feel comfortable by providing a queer-owned and operated option in a cis-male-dominated, heteronormative space. “We did a job this past winter for a housing collective of queer people living in an old house in St. Paul, and that kind of work is so amazing,” says Laura. “So many… people come to us and are like, ‘I’m trans, my partner is non-binary, and the last time we had a contractor, it was this old white guy; he was terrible to us,’ or that sort of thing.”

While The Handy Dyke focuses on a queer clientele, Laura estimates that at least half of their customers are straight. She says the business’s hetero customers are glad to support a LGBTQ business.

S.A. and Jasper, on the other hand, stress that they have zero interest in serving straight customers who consider themselves allies. “This is not a like pat-on-the-back business for you,” says Jasper. “It’s for gay people to feel comfortable.”

Aside from its mission, The Handy Dyke has evolved as pandemic conditions have eased. With Minneapolis theaters reopened, Laura has found a three-quarter-time position, while MJ has taken on a few theater projects. Many of the couple’s employees have returned to their previous jobs, so the six-person team now consists of MJ, Laura, and one employee.

In addition to downsizing their operations, Laura and MJ are taking a break from July to January because their baby is due in September. MJ says, “The Handy Dyke… will be more hobby for a while, more interspersed in other work. But we don’t want it to fully go away; I would expect that after a while when we’re able to get through having a toddler, we can pick it back up and run with it again.”

The couples behind both businesses encourage queer folks to start similar endeavors. Jasper recommends starting small. “If you have a lawn mower already, and you know how to use it… come up with a cute queer name, market it however you want, and just start there,” they say. “And then when you get a request for something that sounds interesting and cool and… you have some more money to buy another tool, then start offering that service and work your way up.”

For those wary of using an identifiably queer company name, Laura shared one advantage she and MJ have discovered. “Our clientele really self-selects,” she says. “For the most part, everyone we’ve worked with has been really awesome.” (Decidedly not awesome was the woman who “hate-prayed” over MJ while following them around The Home Depot.)

“I want every queer to be able to hire somebody like this,” S.A. says. “We want people to go forth and do this in their cities. We want to see this everywhere.”

Get 25% Off Everything In Autostraddle’s Pre-Pride Sale!

A+ Members Can Get 20% Off The Autostraddle Store

It’s Our 13th Birthday A+ Member Merch Sale!

What better way to celebrate turning 13 than with 20% Off Everything in the Autostraddle Store?

Our A+ members are the whole reason we’ve able to celebrate thirteen whole years! And you know what? You all deserve the chance to dress the part of our queer heroes, whether that’s in the new Gay Chaos socks, a The Lazy Femmes band tee or our new pronoun pins! AND “stingers up” everyone, you can also get 20% off pre-orders for the shirt everyone’s buzzing about! 🐝

Shop the Autostraddle Store

Code: HAPPY13TH

Ends 3/10 at 11:59pm

Go Get ‘Em →

A+ Members Get 20% Off Autostraddle Merch — Including All New Designs!

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Queer As Fuck Vintage Hoodie

$38.40 $48.00

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Scissoring Tees in NEW COLORS

$20 $25

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Fisting 101 Tee

$20 $25

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Team Dykes Tee

$20 $25

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Who All’s Gay Here Tie-Dye Tee

$20.80 $26.00

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The Lazy Femmes Band Tee

$20 $25

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Gay Chaos Socks

$14.40 $18.00

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Fisting 101 Socks

$14.40 $18.00

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Brand New Pronoun Pins

$8 $10

Queer Elder Enamel Pin

$8 $10

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Brand New Stickers

$4 $5

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And finally, your code!

20% Off Everything in the Autostraddle Store

Visit the Autostraddle Store ⇨

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Holiday Delivery Deadlines

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NEW HOLIDAY MERCH ALERT: Gay Chaos Socks, Fresh Tees, Queer Hoodies, More Pronoun Pins, etc!

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Queer As Fuck Vintage Hoodie

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Scissoring Tees in NEW COLORS

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Fisting 101 Tee

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Team Dykes Tee

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Who All’s Gay Here Tie-Dye Tee

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The Lazy Femmes Band Tee

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Gay Chaos Socks

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Fisting 101 Socks

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Brand New Pronoun Pins

Queer Elder Enamel Pin

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Brand New Stickers

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Visit the Autostraddle Store ⇨

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Holiday Delivery Deadlines

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25% Off The World’s Best Gay Gear at the Autostraddle Store Starts NOW

It’s here and queer and only comes once a year: it’s the annual HOMO FOR THE HOLIDAYS sale! We’re giving you 25% off your entire order in the Autostraddle Store between now and November 29th! Just enter the code GAYAPPAREL25 at checkout!

Homo for the Holigays Merch Sale

25% Off Everything in the Autostraddle Store

Code: GAYAPPAREL25

Ends 11/29 at 11:59pm

Shop the Autostraddle Store

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Wanna get 40% off instead?

You can join A+ for as little as $4 a month and get access to tons of exclusive content and perks — and the chance to support indie queer media and keep Autostraddle here for everyone, year-round.

Get the A+ Discount Code

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All Enamel Pins $10 $7.50

All Tees $25 $18.75

These Sweatshirts $48 $36

👀 Shh! We’re soft launching one of our brand new merch items, right here during this sale! Snag this one before we sell out, and get it for a full $12 cheaper than when we debut the full set of new stuff next week!

This Magnetic Kit $18 $13.50

All Stickers $3-4 $2.25-3

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Go Save Big on this Big Gay Deal →

Spaces & Places: A Roundup of 30 Queer-Owned Houseware Shops

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Otherwild

Minna Goods

Domestic Domestic

Fredericks and Mae

Humboldt House

SewQueerBunting

Suay Sew Shop

Katrina Ward

So Gingerly

Junebug & Darlin

Erdos + Ko

A. Miyuki Studio

VibrantVibesBySam

Lockwood

Mud Witch

Queer Candle Co.

Boy Smells

Edgewater Candles

Bijou Candles

Art is Dirty

Ash + Chess

Common Dear

Lovely and Strong

Likely General

Quite Nice

Rainbow Sheep

Rheal

ShopShowAndTell

lightplusink

StudioLeezou

11 Places to Buy Merch Supporting Queer and Trans BIPOC People Instead of Corporate Greed

I don’t know about ya’ll, but the corporate Pride marketing push feels especially bad this year. Please don’t try to entice me into yet another “love is love” t-shirt right now. We don’t need more love; we need an investment in our collective liberation! That said, I hate Capitalism and love shopping, so if you’re also tempted to do some Pride retail therapy, but exhausted with the options popping up in your sponsored ads, I’ve got some fresh shops for you! Shop these Pride collections supporting BIPOC people and organizations, making ethical and fabulous creations for you, and not putting any money into the pockets of white-cishet-corporate-moguls-who-sign-off-on-caring-about-LGBTQ-people-once-a-year.

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Automic Gold

Radically inclusive, trans- and queer-owned Automic Gold makes statement pieces that you can adorn yourself with during June or any other month. They make gold jewelry for all genders and styles and they’re the only fine jewelry company in the world that carries inclusive plus sizing in all their pieces. They do custom work and wedding rings, too!

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R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment

Two-spirit artist, Demian Dineyazhi’s shop is full of tees, stickers, hats, zines, mugs and more with messages of pride, survival, sovereignty, and revolution.

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Awe Inspired x Marsha P Johnson Institute x Indya Moore

Awe Inspired x Marsha P Johnson Institute x Indya Moore have partnered to release the Marsha P Johnson Goddess Necklace, just in time for Pride. It’s a beautiful fine jewelry piece and I absolutey have to post the video starring Indya More because it’s truly sumptuous. Knowing this video exists, I simply cannot reduce this gorgeousness to a still image. 100% of the proceeds from the Marsha P Johnson Goddess Necklace will be donated to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute to support their vital work defending and protecting the lives of Black trans people.

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Annie Elainey

Annie is a queer, disabled content creator and activist focused on accessiblity, media representatioon, mental health, and body image. Check out Annie’s shop if you believe Pride should be accessible to everyone.

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Teacher Tong / Joe Tong

Canadian creator, Joe Tong makes handmade items like these cute pride stickers! Free shipping to the US is now available.

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Bombas

For every pair of socks purchased from their Pride Collection, Bombas will donate a pair to an organization helping those affected by homelessness in the LGBTQ community. Beneficiaries include The Casa Ruby, a Washington DC-based multicultural organization run and led by trans women of color; the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico; and Mozaic in Columbus, Ohio, which offers community resources to transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary BIPOC people.

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Suay Sew Shop

Suay Sew Shop is a queer-owned home decor company that creates products from post-consumer waste and deadstock fabric. For Pride month, they’re donating 10% of all pillow sales to support the Seeding Sovereignty Ancestral Acres Farm and Garden, which helps address food scarcity issues and boosts community farm and garden initiatives for Black and Indigenous LGBTQ folks.

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2spiritQueer

Sueitko Zamorano-Chavez creates written and visual works that speak to and bring visibility to the QTBIPOC community. Check out the 2spiritQueer pride collection painted jeans!

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Black Queer Magic

Black Queer Magic NY offers handmade jewelry and workshop facilitation by VBM, LMSW (she/they) to aid in the adornment and reclamation of Black LGBTQ bodies. Check out their gorgeous Black Seer collection!

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Mello Bottoms

Is this “merch”? Is it wearable? I’m going to argue, “Yes!” Mello is doing a fun Pride promotion for the month of June where their Mello Bottoms 75mg CBD suppositories come with free Pride-inspired stickers. And they are donating 100% of proceeds during June to For The Gworls, a Black, trans-led collective that raises money to help Black transgender people pay for their rent, gender-affirming surgeries, smaller co-pays for medicines/doctor’s visits, and travel assistance. The suppositories can be used for sexy times and are also recommended for menstrual cramps, IBS, and for general chill vibes.

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Stuzo Clothing

Queer-owned, women-owned, Black-owned business, Stuzo Clothing, creates gender-free clothing “designed to invoke thought and emotion” and “inspired by love, people and life. Hats, tops, bottoms, harnesses, candles, they’ve got it all!

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Happy Pride shopping to you (and not to corporations)!

The Lesbian Bar Project Raises Over $100,000 to Protect 15 of Our Last Lesbian Bars

“I remember a space I never knew existed,” says comedian, actor and butch lesbian icon Lea DeLaria (“Orange is the New Black”). “A space rooted in love, and history.”

Her narration plays over a ninety-second public service announcement made up of both archival photos and videos, and recent footage, released last month by a campaign called the Lesbian Bar Project. Neon lights dance across the grinning faces of bar patrons through the decades as they embrace one another, and themselves, in rooms and streets so full of joy that it’s palpable even through the screen.

“I remember the lost spaces,” says DeLaria, as the PSA pays tribute to the scores of lesbian bars that have been shuttered over the years—places like The Palms in West Hollywood, Lexington Club in San Francisco, and Kooky’s, Bonnie & Clyde, Ariel, and too many others in New York City to name.

Since the 1980s, the number of lesbian bars across the United States has been in decline. At one point there were an estimated 200 nationwide, but bars catering to women, and those for queer people of color, are closing at rates up to 20% higher than even other gay bars. At the start of 2020, there were just sixteen lesbian bars left —and in a circumstance becoming increasingly familiar to small business owners across the country, one has already been forced by pandemic-related financial strain to close its doors.

Lesbian nightlife always has been, and always will be, tenacious and ever-evolving. Many themed parties have sprung up in recent years, more versatile and flexible than bars, and dazzling in their own right. Nonetheless, the absence of more permanent spaces, and the history they hold, is deeply felt.

One such space is the Stud, San Francisco’s oldest gay bar. The Stud was founded in 1966 and was known not only for its vibrant atmosphere and iconic drag nights, but also for the enduring community it has been home to. Over the decades, including during the White Night Riots of 1979, and throughout the AIDS epidemic, people have gathered on the sticky floor of the Stud to party, to grieve, and to organize.

The Stud has changed hands and locations more than once, and when rising rent made its future uncertain in 2016, a collective of LGBTQ artists and performers came forward to rescue the space and form the first nightclub co-op in the country. This June, however, with lockdown dragging on and the building expenses mounting, the collective was forced to announce the club’s closing. The Stud had a proper 2020 send-off, in the form of a virtual drag show, and the collective has already begun searching for a new venue. For the time being, though, the Stud is yet another queer space relegated to history.

The Lesbian Bar Project is hoping to deliver the bars that still remain from a similar fate. The group’s public service announcement, co-directed by filmmakers Erica Rose and Elina Street, is part of phase one in their plan to preserve the sapphic splendor of lesbian bars for future generations.

For their purposes, the Lesbian Bar projects defines a lesbian bar as one that prioritizes “creating space for people of marginalized genders; including women, non-binary folks, and trans men,” a mission that’s as inclusive of modern crowds as it is true to the storied history of lesbian bars and those who have frequented them. Over the years, these spaces have been havens of acceptance and community, in particular when compared with the at times overwhelming whiteness and cisness of bars more geared toward a clientele of gay men.

They have also served as hubs of political organization. In this vein, the group’s PSA seeks to remind viewers of the spirit of activism and protest that is intrinsic to the lesbian community, and the LGBTQ community as a whole. “I remember that pride began as a riot,” says DeLaria, and protest footage rolls, including a clip from this past summer’s 15,000-strong Black Trans Lives Matter rally in Brooklyn, NY.

“Losing just one more of these cherished spaces has devastating consequences for queer people in this country,” says Rose.

As Street describes, the goal of the project is to not only highlight the bars and “cherish the memories of the lost spaces,” but to, “project a future of hope and sustainability within our community.”

In the United States, most small businesses are owned by men—bars, even more so. There’s something lovely and right about Rose and Street, two queer women in the traditionally male-dominated industry of filmmaking, working to bolster these equally rare spaces.

The project’s fundraising website launched on October 28th, in conjunction with Jägermeister as part of their #SaveTheNight initiative to support nightlife through the pandemic, and non-profit arts service organization Fractured Atlas. The project is produced by Lily Ali-Oshatz and Charles Hayes IV, and executive produced by DeLaria, and The Katz Company.

The Lesbian Bar Project, striving to preserve many facets of queer life, also hosted virtual events throughout the month-long fundraising campaign. These included a roundtable discussion, in partnership with Rockland County Pride Center, featuring Roxane Gay and Rosie O’Donnell alongside narrator DeLaria; and a virtual version of the comedy show and podcast Dyking Out, which included Leo Sheng, Sydnee Washington, Ali Clayton, Emma Willmann, Cameron Esposito, Rita Brent, and Mary Lambert.

And there’s more in store. Those gearing up for the dark, socially-isolated binge-watching season ahead will be glad to hear that the next phase of the project, currently under production, involves plans for an episodic docuseries seeking to explore the history and cultural significance of lesbian bars in the United States. Rose said of the project, “I want to use the power of filmmaking to illuminate the rich history…and provide an opportunity for Lesbian Bars to tell their stories.”

And if you’re eager to learn more about the rich present of the 15 venues still open, the Lesbian Bar Project website includes further information about each of the remaining lesbian bars, including a map that shows them scattered across the country like sparse beacons, and photos and statements from their owners.

Rose and Street, both in New York, are longtime supporters of their own local lesbian bar, Cubbyhole. “I like to say that Cubbyhole knew I was gay before I did,” says Rose.

Lisa Menichino, owner of Cubbyhole, shares that, “3/16/2020, due to the pandemic, was the first time we closed in 27 years. We cannot allow ourselves to become an invisible minority,” Menchino goes on. “We must continue to have a presence. We have to find a way to survive.”

Between October 28th and November 25th, the Lesbian Bar Project raised $117,504.50 toward that goal of survival.

“We are elated, and the amount raised definitely exceeded our expectations,” say Rose and Street. “The goal was not only to raise money and give immediate financial support, but to garner visibility for these vital institutions that are disappearing at a staggering rate.”

And in keeping with the proud tradition of dyke nightlife, the bars are already rising to the occasion. “Lisa Cannistraci of Henrietta Hudson is reimagining her space and turning it into what she calls a ‘European Café’ experience,” shared Rose and Street. “Many are galvanizing the support received from the campaign to do their own virtual events, like Jo McDaniel of A League of Her Own D.C. who plans to host conversations with local queer activists and artists as part of an on-going series.”

The great thing about virtual events? You can attend them from anywhere. It’s impressive, but not at all surprising when you consider the history these bars come from. With the funds raised by the project, the bars will be able to not only maintain, but expand the communities that depend upon them, and give them their core. As Rose and Street put it, “The women behind these bars are hustlers and innovators.”

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6 Queer-Owned Sex Shops You’ll Vibe With

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Can Queer Businesses Survive COVID-19? Here’s How Some Are Trying

I couldn’t tell what caused my tears first, now turning cold in the salt air. Was it the glare off the Pacific Ocean, one of the few places close to my home that felt both beautiful and accessible during shelter in place? Or the sunscreen sweating into my eyes, after the short hike my housemate and I had just completed? Or was it the news about the permanent closure of The Stud’s location at 399 9th Street in San Francisco. Since March, when shelter in place orders first rolled into effect, through the panic shopping, the masked walks, and the various ways my community was showing up through distance and digital connection, my friends and I had a refrain: When this is over, I can’t wait to go to the Stud. But a game of gay gossip telephone revealed the Stud’s closure, before their official announcement. All this, in the midst of quarantine, trickling into Instagram feeds a little over a month before San Francisco Pride on June 28th. A few days after their official announcement, George Floyd would be killed by a Minneapolis police officer sparking a wave of protest and rebellion in the name of Black life.

While the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic had felt draining for many essential workers (including myself), the scale of the governmental ineptitude in responding to the crisis hadn’t quite registered. The bare minimum in terms of financial protection having been achieved, initiatives to support struggling businesses stopped far short of what was needed. According to Honey Mahogany, a member of The Stud Collective which cooperatively owns the bar, the collective knew the bar would have to move, and began looking for a new space to move into once their year to yearwo lease was up at the end of 2020. Despite finding this new location, coronavirus protection measures meant many gay bars would be closed for their busiest months, which, as Mahogany says, “left a very long time before the end of the year,” putting The Stud in an unsustainable situation. Lex Young, who runs The Stud’s financials, seconded the pain of losing the income of the Summer and Fall months to sheltering in place, noting how, for so many queer people who work in the service industry, “everyone’s busy month where they make all their rent was just coming up.”

The domestic economic crisis sparked by the spread of coronavirus in early 2020 has permanently shaped the lives of queer people, whether or not they own a business. While the Stud’s collectivization didn’t fully protect it from feeling the financial burden of months of lost income, it did at least “disperse the risk” Young says, making the process of moving out of their physical space, fielding media requests, and pivoting towards putting on online shows a much more streamlined process. The Stud’s width of programming comes from its collective members’ passion for developing so much creative work, members like Chloe Miller, who serves as a manager, bartender, organizer of the Stud Pin Archive, and de facto bar historian. Some of this broad programming has shifted to digital platforms, like The Stud Stories podcast, and The Stud’s Drag Alive twitch channel, which livestreams weekly drag shows, raising funds for performers, as well as the collective fund for opening a new physical Stud space. The culture of building power, sharing resources, and shaping the community around a business also drives Bluestockings, located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which has been collectively owned and operated for over twenty years. For this bookstore and event space, “the community that runs and uses the space is our priority.”

One of their priorities as collective members has been operating the store on “Crip time” the concept coined by disability justice activists that prioritizes people’s need for rest and physical safety. The collective members say that while these foundational ideas of accessibility have “always been built into our work as a collective,” it’s of particularly importance because of the global pandemic. For those volunteers and collective members at Bluestockings, individuals who are sick and disabled could work from home when they needed to, and didn’t jeopardize someone’s health for the sake of having someone in the store. Many businesses have been forced to operate under this accessibility, or risk losing the physical community they’ve built. While this model of shifting toward digital platforms and online livestream events has been occurring since before the coronavirus pandemic began, for Dia Dynasty and Lucy Sweetkill, the co-owners of the private BDSM space La Maison Du Rouge, their weekly Periscope broadcasts have become a staple of their broad community building. Their live streamed events encompass anyone “kink adjacent or sex worker related” including “writers, bloggers, activists, people who are actually of the community in the way of femme dommes, and kink educators.” From recent interviews with Ashleigh Nicole Tribble, also known as Ashleigh Chubby Bunny, who discussed how kink informed her view of the power she held, to a group stream with Troy Orleans, Mistress Marley, and SxNoir about the intersections of sex work and Black liberation activism, La Maison Du Rouge’s weekly livestreams have carried the power and educational potential of the dungeon onto digital platforms. Sweetkill and Dynasty also host interpersonal gatherings, which have been on hold since COVID, and were forced to cancel one of their upcoming kinky clothing swaps, where a portion of all clothing donated goes to street based sex workers. Within sex working community there are individuals who hold more or less privileged positions, yet Sweetkill notes how generally, sex workers often show up in solidarity for other causes, because as criminalized laborers, they understand what it means when “a system does not want you there.”

Creating, finding, and growing these alternative and queer spaces often means facing down the social restrictions placed upon marginalized groups, while also balancing the struggles of being a viable business. Sweetkill and Dynasty note how they need a space to do the sort of work they do safely, without running the risk of being criminalized in public, and started La Maison Du Rouge five years ago after both going independent (not working for a pre-established dungeon, but developing your personal S/M practice) as femme dommes.

While bookstores may not currently be criminalized in the same way sex workers and their places of business are, Bluestockings’ volunteer and collective members acknowledge the the threat of state violence shared by queer & trans people, sex workers, disabled people, and people of color. Their commitment to being an abolitionist space has meant working alongside Books through Bars, as well as Survived and Punished NY, an organization who does critical abolitionist work to end the criminalization of survivors of domestic and sexual violence who regularly meets at the store to hold meetings, and with whom Bluestockings co-hosted their annual fundraiser. Entitled “Another World is Possible,” one of the rallying cries of the Zapatista movement, it was initially created to be a simple fundraiser assisting with baseline costs for the space, like rent. But once the uprisings for Black lives started, with New York becoming a flashpoint for activism, the Bluestockings’ volunteers and collective members “shifted gears to ensure that our fundraising work also supports the fight for Black lives,” and chose to split all funds raised by the event “evenly between Bluestockings and Survived and Punished NY.” The community that helped build Bluestockings, as both a physical space and an emotionally important site, was brought together by the fundraising goals and an incredible lineup of speakers who donated their time: Janet Mock, Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, Molly Crabapple, Jenny Zhang, Yaa Gyasi, Tommy Pico, Gabby Rivera, and Jes Tom, as well as S&P NY members Samah Sisay and Yves.
The fundraiser aimed to raise $50,000, split between the two organizations, and has raised almost $34,000 towards that goal. “We’re continuing to uplift and amplify the fundraising call,” says the Bluestockings’ collective members and volunteers, because “our work and S&P NY’s work are far from over,” and the ongoing fundraiser can be contributed to here. The event helped to bring together the Bluestockings community, as a space that has existed for over 20 years, where people from all over come to learn and be together.

These sorts of spaces that have been open for decades, and permanently shaped the fabric of their community aren’t just in New York.
The Stud, before its closure as a physical space in May 2020, was San Francisco’s oldest gay bar, having been open since 1966. It lasted through the White Night riots in 1979, and the AIDS crisis the following two decades, which devastated so many queer bars, bathouses, and businesses in the SOMA neighborhood. The Stud earned a designation as a legacy business following 2015 legislation put forth by then-City Council member David Campos. Mahogany appreciates that this status ensures the business a little economic protection, but at just “a couple thousand dollars a year,” those funds were not enough to keep the business afloat during COVID, when there wasn’t any income being generated. And while this status may be valuable for historical purposes, and a mark of personal pride for those businesses which carry it, the actual economic gains are shrinking according to Young. The “annual piece of a grant” that legacy businesses draw from comes out of a set city fund, so every year as “more and more legacy businesses are added, the amount you get is smaller, smaller, smaller” leaving San Francisco businesses that helped shape the city struggling to survive.

In fact, Young continues, despite the noble idea of a legacy business registry and some financial benefits for businesses which “mean something culturally” beyond just the services they provide, the actual function of the legislation allows landlords to raise rent speculatively on those legacy businesses. There is “no general regulation or official protection,” but rather hundreds of dollars per square foot that a landlord can recoup, with a possibility of a landlord in San Francisco renting to a legacy business actually earning $22,000 annually – this number, coincidentally, is slightly more than the total amount the Stud has raised for its GoFundMe survival campaign. If a landlord can continue to speculate and actually turn a profit on a legacy business, are there any formalized protections for businesses that have survived a city which has so rapidly gentrified? “I tried to look into that, because I was curious,” says Young, and even though The Stud sits within the LGBTQ Leather Cultural District and the cultural district ordinance was designed to preserve the intangible cultural history of a neighborhood, Young doesn’t “know what, if anything, the cultural districts actually do to create protections.” They continue, that “unless we can run our bar on top of a plaque on the sidewalk, I don’t think it’s going to do a lot materially.”

Recently, my younger sister and I walked through San Francisco’s Mission on a warm July afternoon, past bright murals, until we ended up near the former site of The Lexington Club — all but forgotten save for a plaque on the ground. The current occupants, an upscale bar, were in the process of constructing an outdoor seating area, so that patrons who chose to risk their health and the waitstaff’s health could enjoy a sit-down meal. Gay bars often don’t have the saved capital to quickly shift toward a COVID-informed accessibility plan, and while The Stud has developed digital ways to stay in touch with community, Mahogany realizes that “we’re obviously limited in how people can interact with us in terms of supporting us beyond interacting with us through our digital drag shows.” How can gay bars and queer spaces, whose function had now seemingly become an imminent threat to our health, function as a site of community coalesence, places that hold the sort of solidarity, organizing, and fundraising potential they’re known for? For the volunteers and members of the Bluestockings’ collective, they hoped to not only frame the question in terms of their resources that were affected by coronavirus prevention measures, but also how they could “use those resources to support material changes in our society.” They wanted to ensure that even as Bluestockings was meeting needs like rent, in order to stay open, that the immediate material needs of their community were also being supported.

“We have always served as a space for radical events and are committed to being a safer space for sex workers, for trans people, queer people, and all marginalized communities on the Lower East Side,” says the Bluestockings’ volunteers and collective members, “so the conversation is really a matter of how best to support the uprising and our Black comrades.” By directly splitting their fundraising with an organization like Survived & Punished, who they have previously organized with, and consider a part of their community, “we’re also nourishing our relationships which is essential to [the] movement.” While Bluestockings’ “Another World is Possible” may be their marquee fundraiser, but they’ve continued to double down on their community commitments and ideological principles, hosting a recent event with abolitionist, writer, and co-founder of Critical Resistance, Ruth Wilson Gilmore. Bluestockings will also be hosting the virtual launch of SF/SX Volume 1, Tina Horn’s comic series about sexual politics, government repression, and collective struggle, with all donations from the event going toward G.L.I.T.S..

Honey Mahogany also sees the nurturing of those communal relationships as invaluable to the larger communal fabric that queer spaces often serve a role in. The first year The Stud became a worker owned collective, in 2016, Mahogany ran a show called Black Fridays, which featured an all-Black cast of performers, all Black DJs, and all Black people working the door. Her goal in creating the show was to “both provide Black people living in the Bay Area extra income so that they could continue to stay in a place that continues to become more and more unaffordable,” but also to engage with, express “and perform or not perform Blackness as they see fit.” Mahogany recognizes that a lot of the drag, performance, and artistic shows in the Bay Area often rely on Black stereotypes and well known Black characters and Black artists, but rarely feature actual Black cast members performing those depictions, or benefitting from their performance. In her experiences working in San Francisco nightlife, “Black people have been undervalued and underappreciated,” and she made sure to compensate her performers for their work, even paying out of pocket if it meant that a Black artist could make more at The Stud than at a gay bar which didn’t explicitly center Blackness. The Stud’s prioritizing of Black voices and Black performers hasn’t ceased with the closure of the physical bar; on Juneteenth of 2020, Nicki Jizz debuted a new drag show on The Stud’s twitch channel entitled “Reparations” which encouraged the audience to pay reparations for the time, energy, and art of the all Black cast that night.

Mahogany says that even though The Stud has done work to center and celebrate the incredible Black arts community in the Bay Area, she wants to see the collective put their money where their mouth is, particularly when it comes to programming and working with more diverse party promoters. Parties like Hoe is Life, Black Fridays, and Reparations all begin this work that she hopes to see continue in the new physical Stud space. For this generation of queer people, living two decades after the worst of the AIDS crisis transpired, a new global plague, the omnipresent threat of capital, and the increasingly violent tactics of the police have threatened any semblance of stability, of normalcy. If cities like San Francisco and New York put even a fraction of their police department’s annual operating budget toward preserving those ‘intangible cultural legacies’ that so many officials claim to revere, those legacies would actually be preserved for a future generation of queer people. The loss of spaces like The Stud feels particularly painful in the wake of so much mounting grief. Young became involved with The Stud after the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in 2016, and sees the bar as a place that “stepped in and carried a lot of those shows… a lot of it doesn’t make a lot of money,” but for members of the collective, it’s not always about being the most profitable bar, but about holding their community together. “I think Marky B from the collective said beautifully “We’re a phoenix, we’ll keep rising again,” and I don’t want to,” says Young. “I don’t want to have to keep burning down and rising up, I want to run a really good bar and event space that means a lot to people.”

Both Dia Dynasty and Lucy Sweetkill want to see a future in which policing has been abolished, where sex work has been decriminalized, and that sex workers are not stigmatized for their work. For Bluestockings’ volunteers and collective members, this abolitionist future, without “cops or prisons” means cultivating a community in which the most marginalized people are centered, have their needs met, and creating a culture of abundance, not one of scarcity and punitive measures. For the volunteers and members, it looks directly like “more Black voices in leadership,” and “more programs to help our housing insecure neighbors, our sex working community, our youth, and in our dreams, there is an elevator and an ADA bathroom.” The last thing Mahogany and the Stud collective members did before leaving the bar was to spray paint a Black Lives Matter sign on the roof, “which luckily the landlord wasn’t able to paint over.” For collective businesses, dungeons run by collaborators, and countless other queer people, a future where police budgets are distributed and landlords can’t erase the history they profit from feels more urgent than ever.