As more and more corporations dip their toes into Lake Pride Month (rumored to be located somewhere over the rainbow), it’s clear some are better swimmers than others.
And perhaps that has more to do with the relationship a company has with its LGBTQ market the rest of the year than how they choose to support in the month of June.
For Instagram, that connection has always been strong, and its no surprise that they’ve rolled out a suite of features for Pride that feels supportive and celebratory, and not just a money grab.
First, they partnered with The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people, on a digital guide that aims to empower its many young queer users to protect their well-being and practice self-care online.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
You can check that out here.
“Follow other LGBTQ pages to find inspiration and support. Especially to know you aren’t alone,” a user quoted in the guide recommends. Hey, you can even follow @Queerty while you’re at it.
On the product side, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app has updated its gender selection to be more inclusive of trans and gender non-conforming folks, and through a partnership with GLAAD, identified the most popular LGBTQ hashtags to give a special rainbow treatment when used in posts and stories. If you want to try some out, they include: #lgbtq, #bornperfect, #equalitymatters, #accelerateacceptance, or #pride2019
And last but not least, to greet the millions of World Pride revelers in New York City, they partnered with the queer history account @lgbt_history and unveiled 10 large-scale #UntoldPride installations around the city.
Highlighting historically significant people and organizations like GAA, S.T.A.R, Christopher Street Pier, and Lesbian Herstory Archive, the history hubs also feature portraits of queer locals from photographer Nicolas Bloise (@papi.prada).
Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown, creators of @lgbt_history, said about the initiative: “As with all of our work, we hope this experience gives queer people a glimpse into the fullness of their incredible past and inspires them to fight for a liberated future, and we hope others learn that so much of this city—like so much of the world—was built by brave queer folks to whom we are all indebted.”
Here’s some more from @lgbt_history, which is absolutely worth a follow:
