Showing Pride All-Year Long

Pride month is nationally recognized in the month of June. It is a month dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. 

You might be celebrating for yourself, for your loved ones, or as an ally that supports the community. It's important to understand the history of Pride month, why inclusivity is an integral component, and that Pride doesn't simply end on July 1st. 

This post will discuss the history of Pride, why it's important to CONQUERing, and how we plan to celebrate this month and beyond! 

Where Pride All Began

There's a reason June is the chosen month for Pride month. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in New York City that was a known staple for the gay community. This was the final straw for the community, leading to riots that would later be known as the Stonewall Riots. 

The Stonewall Riots were a Gay Liberation Movement that sparked people across the country to mobilize and fight for their rights. The first Pride march happened a year after the Stone Wall Riots—it was led by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee and spanned an entire street for 15 blocks. 

A decade after Stonewall, the first National March was organized. Thousands gathered in Washington D.C. on October 13, 1979 to remember Stonewall and continue the fight for equality. 

The LGBTQ+ community has fought for their rights for decades, making positive policy changes along the way to pave a brighter future for generations to come. 46 years after Stonewall, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, making it legal for same-sex couples to get married in the United States. 

There is still a lot of work to be done. Book banning, restrictive legislation, and much more are still prevalent issues in the United States. These issues will be at the forefront of many Pride celebrations across the country. In addition, it's important that we take time during Pride to celebrate the impact that the LGBTQ+ community has had, and will continue to have, on our history. 

Why Pride is Important to CONQUERing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mission of CONQUERing has always been, and will always be, rooted in empowerment. It is our goal to help people feel empowered when they wear our products. 

There are a couple of different ways that we aim to reach this goal. One is through the product itself. Our products are primarily fidget jewelry, which is proven to reduce anxiety, improve concentration, and effectively help to break bad habits. These can all be roadblocks when it comes to feeling truly empowered. 

Another important way that we aim to reach this goal is through inclusivity. When we say we want to empower people, we want to empower EVERYONE. Inclusivity is central to every decision we make. From our designs to the sizes of products that we offer, we want everyone to feel that they are represented by the CONQUERing brand. If we aren't being inclusive, we aren't fulfilling our mission. 

So, what does this all have to do with Pride month? Pride has more depth to it than being gay or straight. To some degree, Pride is rooted deeply in identity. Gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and more are all considerations when it comes to celebrating Pride month and fighting for equality. 

Pride is about accepting and embracing all of your identities. It's about understanding how your identities intersect and how you can be confident in who you are. For us, Pride is about including all identities in our celebrations. 

When someone is fully themselves, they are well on their way to feeling empowered. When you embrace who you are, you empower others to embrace who they are. This is why Pride month and inclusivity are so important to us. If we help one person feel empowered to accept who they are, then we start a chain reaction where that person empowers hundred of people to embrace their identities. 

This is why we use models for our products that represent many different identities. We want people to see themselves in who is wearing our jewelry. This is also why we have so many different product offerings. 

We have some that are more subtle—for people that are beginning to accept who they are and want to keep that to a close, trusted group. We also have some that are more bold—for people that are ready to shout from the rooftops that they are confident in who they are and want others to feel empowered to be confident in who they are. 

The Pride Collection

Let's talk about the products that are associated with Pride. Our Pride Collection is available year-round. Celebrating and supporting the LGBTQ+ community is a year-long commitment for us. 

The Pride Collection has a range of products to choose from. They can be the perfect gift for someone in your life that identifies with the LGBTQ+ community, or can be a way for you to show off your LGBTQ+ identity. We have the more subtle offerings and more bold offerings that we discussed above. It all depends on your level of comfort, where you are in your Pride journey, and what you want the world to know about you. 

Our more subtle designs in the Pride Collection are: 

• The LOVED element and fidget ring: this is a universal message of loving yourself and remembering that you are loved exactly as your are. This design is also available as a Chroma element and fidget ring.
• The LOVE element: this is similar to the LOVED design. When you wear this design, it's a sign that you have a lot of love to give. This love extends to people you see romantically, and to platonic friends that thrive off your acceptance. 
• The Rainbow Symbol element: this design is a symbol of a rainbow. This could mean that you identify as LGBTQ+ or could have an entirely different meaning. If you aren't ready to come out to the world, but still want to connect to your identity, this design is perfect! 

Our more bold designs in the Pride Collection are: 

• The PRIDE element: this design says Pride when spun. When you wear this design, you are letting others know that you are proud of your identity and hope that they can find the courage to be proud in theirs as well. 
• The Love is Love element and fidget ring: this design says Love is Love when spun. This design puts out a powerful message that you are going to love who you love, and will do so unapologetically. It is also a beautiful sentiment to show your partner that you are proud to be with them and want to show them off to the world. 
• The Rainbow round and heart-shaped elements: these two elements have rainbow stripes on them. They are bold and encourage conversation. These two elements are perfect if you want to show the world that you're proud of who you are and offer a safe space for anyone that identifies as LGBTQ+. 
• The Pride Flag element: Our Pride Flag element is probably our boldest design in the Pride Collection. There are four offerings: the rainbow flag, the transgender flag, the non-binary flag, and the gender fluid flag. Wearing this design lets people know exactly how you identify and can inspire others to embrace their identities. 

Wherever you are in your journey with identity, we see you and support you. We hope that these designs resonate with you and make you feel empowered to be who you are. 

CONQUERing Pride in Action

It's one thing for us to offer designs that are LGBTQ+-specific. It's another thing for us to take action to support and uplift the LGBTQ+ community. 

Again, our initiatives go beyond the month of June. All year long, we have CONQUERCares—a program that donates 5% of our profits to various organizations whose purpose is to uplift and empower various communities. 

With this program, we donate to five different local, national, and global organizations that focus on LGBTQ+ communities: 

• The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ+ youth.
• It Gets Better Project uplifts, empowers, and connects LGBTQ+ youth across the globe. 
• Transform Cincy provides free wardrobes to transgender and gender non-conforming youth to feel more comfortable in their skin. 
• Equality Florida is dedicated to securing full equality for Florida's LGBTQ+ community.
• Equality Ohio is dedicated to security full equality for Ohio's LGBTQ+ community.

We are also constantly looking for additional organizations to support. If you have an organization that aims to uplift and empower LGBTQ+ communities, let us know through this form. 

Pride All the Time

Happy Pride! We hope that you are able to participate in Pride month celebrations in June. 

We also hope that this post inspired you to celebrate Pride year-round. Promoting inclusivity and supporting the people in your life is a step in the right direction to making the world a better place. Feel empowered to empower others to be fully who they are.