More than rainbow merch

Chilli lemon Lays earrings and mushroom prints by StrawyCubes

Pride Month may be over, but the continued need for support of LGBTQI+ rights and equality remains. In keeping with the sentiment, dating app Tinder has introduced Queer Made in partnership with Little Black Book and Gaysi Family, to provide a platform for queer entrepreneurs. It is a space dedicated to celebrating, supporting and amplifying businesses and products made, owned and/or run by members of the community. Tinder will match sales generated by Queer Made over a 10-week period and donate it to Born2Win, a transgender person-led organisation working toward the empowerment of members of the community through education and employment.

Abhilasha Swaroop

Taru Kapoor, GM-India, Tinder, and Match Group, says the initiative is a way to extend allyship. "We want to enable everyone to have access to a more diverse set of partners, companions, or life collaborators, to engage with in any way they choose, and Queer Made is a project that hopes to support that community to further representation." Founder of Gaysi Family, Sakshi Juneja adds that the initiative will provide a platform to those who have just begun their own businesses and need support. "Whether it is financial stability, or finding life's purpose in the work they do, there is a growing need to examine closely the varied experiences of queer folks in the professional world and especially to make their stories reach audiences whose support is imperative to equalise the playing field."

Here's a curated list of businesses that you can support.

Cafe Guftagu

Cafe Guftagu is a quiet, no-judgement space for anyone to work in and chill at. The space has a quaint, boho vibe and is located in Mira Bhayendar. Entrepreneur Sumit Pawar, recipient of Kutchina Krritika Fellowship, launched it after he realised that there's a dire need for a safe environment for queer individuals. "After visiting some queer-friendly cafes across the country, I understood the significance of such establishments in creating a safe space for queer individuals, with a potential of bringing systemic change in the society. To enable an ‘inclusive dialogue cafe', I started Cafe Guftagu that offers people from all walks of life a chance to interact with each other over varieties of affordable and lip-smacking finger food." Additionally, through their crowd-funded initiative Each One Feed One, they run a community kitchen to provide nutritious meals to wage earners, sex workers, transgenders, marginalised women and children, who are affected by the pandemic. They have successfully distributed 5,047 meals till now and are raising funds to distribute more.

StrawyCubes

Sustainable lifestyle brand StrawyCubes offers lightweight and trendy handmade miniature food earrings. Founder Abhilasha Swaroop believes consumers, especially in the pandemic, should be motivated to transform their purchasing attitudes. "In an attempt to change that, I create earrings, made from environment-friendly materials such as paper, cardboard and home-made clay at affordable prices."

Me Am More

Outfits from Mishra's collection

Remant Mishra is the force behind the gender-bending fashion brand, Me Am More. "The idea was to create a brand that defies bodily barriers and is relatable to all. After working in the fashion industry for nearly a decade, I've come to realise the power of the medium to enable societal shifts," he says.

Remant Mishra

Inclusive, handmade, local, customised and comfortable, Mishra's apparel is centred around genderless and unisex fashion. Think floral shirts, chokers, full-sleeved kimonos and bowties. All their products are made to order to avoid surplus waste. "We also make secondary products such as masks, head bands and scrunchies with leftover fabric."

Push up Daisies

An artwork for a story titled Plague Doctor by Re Ni Fhloinn

Push Up Daisies, launched by writer and activist Saachi Gupta, is an independent magazine and online platform that talks about death and beyond. The platform features art, photography and writing to destigmatise the morbid subject. "We all talk about death in hush-hush tones. It always intrigued me that we find death so frightening and hard to accept, in spite of it being inevitable. Our magazine tackles the subject with a medley of art, interviews, photography, writing and research, aiming to make death an easier subject for people to talk about, and eventually, accept." She also started the podcast, Bite The Dust, which is a lighter take on death.

WHAT: Queer businesses
WHERE: lbb.in/mumbai
WHEN: Till September 12