Pride Month is always an inspirational time of year. It is a month of jubilant festivities where people come together to acknowledge and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. As a queer-founded company, it also means a lot to us.
Thus, for Pride Month, we have released an empowering new collection with one new Goddess, Sappho. Sappho was an archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Called the Tenth Muse by Plato, she was a prolific poet who innovated the form of poetry through her first-person narration instead of from the POV and vantage point of the Gods and by refining the lyric meter. Her poetry was lyric poetry, accompanied by music. So much of her work was destroyed or not preserved — and some even blame the medieval churches when they notoriously destroyed pagan and sexually undertoned writings and art. Sappho has become a lesbian icon, as many lesbians identify deeply with her writing and find representation in her poetry which expresses deep love for women and especially for Goddess Aphrodite. Sappho was a devotee to the Goddess of love, sensuality and fertility. While we do not know for sure, Sappho’s sexuality and because sexuality was defined quite differently in ancient Greece, we may never know for sure. She remains an icon for us, and we revere her as a Goddess to be honored.
To introduce Sappho we partnered with actress Leisha Hailey of The L-Word and non-profit organization GLSEN to donate 100% of the proceeds from our Sappho pieces to this incredible organization that provides resources to help LGBTQ+ youth in K-12 schools, including advocating for inclusive curriculum, supporting student-led clubs and GSAs, activating supportive educators, and implementing policies that benefit LGBTQ+ students. We are proud to be giving 100% of the proceeds from our Pride Collection to this vital organization that offers so much support to queer youth.
With over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills being introduced to the house, and when bills like “Don’t Say Gay” being passed in Florida to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, GLSEN is needed now more than ever to uphold and protect some of the most vulnerable among us. It is also a time to celebrate Pride Month with renewed fervor. Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay'' bill is bad all around, but it has a particularly negative impact on LGBTQ+ youth in schools. The bill essentially makes school an unsafe place for queer youth who will now feel compelled to hide their true identities for fear of repercussions. This bill will not only be detrimental to the mental health of these students, it will also prevent them from feeling free enough to fully engage in everything that makes school worthwhile.
In conversation with Leisha Hailey, she says of GLSEN, “Queer education and conversations are critical at all levels as politicians ramp up attacks on the LGBTQ community around the country. GLSEN’s resources for students and educators is a leading force in the mission to implement policies that ensure LGBTQ students can learn and thrive in safe, inclusive, accepting schools. Education and awareness predominate over hate.”
GLSEN was the obvious choice when it came to deciding how we would donate the proceeds from our new Sappho pieces, and we are more than happy to do our part. We hope you will also do yours. Thank you for your support.