Take Pride in great themed events, food & gear that give back

Boston’s Pride parade, complete with its cheering crowds and festivities, may have come and gone. But Pride Month lasts all June,  giving us weeks celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community.

With that comes all kinds of events around the city, lots of merch to snap up, with many companies donating portions of sales to LGBTQ+ -supporting organizations. Here are some excellent options:

Wear the Pride

Beyond rainbow-covered swag, the gold standard is wearing gear that actually gives back to the cause. One local and strong example: Reebok’s new Unity by Reebok (reebok.com/c/600000020/collection-pride) is a collection of subtly multicolored sneakers, prism-emblazoned hoodies, and cropped tees. And every purchase goes toward Reebok’s donation of $10,000 to the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth.

Calvin Klein’s 2024 ‘This is Love’ Pride collection (calvinklein.us/en/pride) is a joyful romp (the ad campaign spotlights a star-studded roster, from Jeremy Pope and Cara Delevingne to Stella Maxwell) featuring sleek men’s and women’s undies and bras with rainbow-hued logos, and statement tees and tanks. And the company’s North America CK stores are hosting a register roundup through July 6, with all proceeds going to ILGA World (ilga.org). Already this year, Calvin Klein has donated $240,000 to ILGA World and the Transgender Law Center.

Sing with Pride

Cosmetics phenom Urban Decay (urbandecay.com) has long been a favorite of beauty junkies, but this year they’re also entering the music realm with the release of a vinyl record celebrating Pride, called “Loud + Proud” (urbandecay.com). Grab one for $75, and $50 of that will be donated to the Stonewall Community Foundation (stonewallfoundation.org), and then kick back and groove to the record’s tunes from the likes of Bree Runway, Troye Sivan, SOPHIE, Chrissy Chlapecka, and Slayyyter.

Eat with Pride

Next time you’re at an IKEA store in the U.S., keep a lookout for their new rainbow cake, sold at its restaurants. They cost just $3.99 a slice, and $100,000 of proceeds going to True Colors United (truecolorsunited.org).

Drink with Pride

Not surprisingly during this festive month, cocktails abound. The “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” created just for Pride Month at Bambara Kitchen & Bar (bambara-cambridge.com). The libation blends vodka, Elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon and hibiscus ginger syrup, and is then crowned with a splash of Prosecco and an orchid blossom. Get one through the end of this month, and sip it knowing that $1 from its sale goes to the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (bagly.org).

And make sure to clear your afternoon and evening on June 22 for the Pride Bar Crawl in Boston (get tickets at eventbrite.com/e/2024-pride-bar-crawl-boston-ma-lgbtq-bar-event-bar-crawl-live-tickets-852677560537). It starts at Wild Rover (wildroverboston.com) at 3p.m. and runs until 10p.m.

Party with Pride

Whether you missed Boston’s Pride Parade or just want to keep the festivities going, mark your calendar for North Shore Pride’s Pride Festival (northshorepride.org/event/north-shore-prides-pride-festival) on June 22 from noon to 2 p.m., in Salem. The parade gets started in Shetland Park and ends on Salem Common with all kinds of revelry.

Sparkle with Pride

Does anyone really need a reason to wear more lustrous David Yurman jewelry? The company has once again partnered up with The Trevor Project (thetrevorproject.org), which focuses on suicide prevention for the LGBTQ+ community, in creating a gemstone-laden collection (davidyurman.com/charity/pride.html) of rainbow necklace tags, pavé beaded bracelets, and curb chain bracelets. From now until the end of this year, 20% of each purchase goes toward the life-saving non-profit.

 

David Yurman’s Pride collection features rainbow necklace tags. (Photo davidyurman.com)

 

IKEA is selling a Rainbow Cake, with $100,000 of proceeds going to True Colors United. (Photo IKEA.com)

 

Reebok’s new Unity by Reebok is a collection of multicolored sneakers, prism-emblazoned hoodies, and cropped tees. (Photo reebok.com)

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