10 projects and organizations using the power of web3 to advance LGBTIQ rights
Happy Pride Month!
As Pride Month begins, it is important to reflect back on the changemakers who have been at the forefront of the LGBTIQ rights movement over the past 50+ years. Despite the incredible progress made, there is unfortunately still a long way to go in the fight for LGBTIQ rights, as is made clear by these concerning stats courtesy of OutRight Action International:
67 countries still have laws criminalizing same sex relations: 11 of these imposing the death penalty.
Less than half of UN member states ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
13 countries have laws explicitly criminalizing transgender people.
Recently, in the United States, there have been moves in several conservative-learning states to criminalize LGBTIQ rights, including in Alabama, where legislation was recently passed making it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison to prescribe or administer gender-affirming medication to transgender minors.
The fight for LGBTIQ rights is just as important as ever, and there are many changemakers who are bringing the fight to web3, and using blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs to advance LGBTIQ rights in and outside of the metaverse.
For this blog post, in honor of Pride Month, we will be highlighting ten of these projects and organizations using the power of web3 to support and empower LGBTIQ individuals and communities.
1. Queer Rise NFT – Queer Rise is a queer-led NFT project with a collection of 10,000 hand-drawn NFTs representing queer culture. Their roadmap includes events and experiences for NFT holders including the opening of “Queer Rise Bar”, which aims to provide the metaverse experience of a Queer club. A portion of proceeds from sales will also support organizations such as wayOUT, and OutRight Action International.
2. Bit Baddies NFT - Bit Baddies is a collection of 5000 Baddie NFTs and is the first female and LGBTQ+ project on Solana. The project was created “with inspiration from drag culture to highlight the beauty of feminine traits in NFT projects at a time when male traits dominated the Solana NFT space.” They aim to empower female, queer, and diverse artists, and donate a portion of their funds to organizations such as OutRight and Little Pink Houses of Hope.
3. OutRight Action International – OutRight Action International is a charitable organization that has been advancing the rights of LGBTIQ people around the world for over 30 years through advocacy, movement resourcing, and research. OutRight actively accepts cryptocurrency donations and has been involved in, or a recipient organization, of several NFT projects. They also recently announced the #PrideWithAPuspose campaign in collaboration with a number of NFT artists and projects.
4. Queer Friends NFT - Queer Friends NFT is a Queer and Women-led NFT collection “celebrating the beautiful queerness in all of us”. Their mission is to “to amplify the voices of women, gender queer and LGBTQ+ friends and provide them with community, education, representation, and opportunity in web3.” They will also be donating a portion of proceeds to LGBTIQ non-profit partners, and reinvesting a portion in women, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ led NFT projects.
5. MetaPride Land Festival – MetaPride Land Festival is a new metaverse community, fundraiser, and festival happening in Decentraland and Sandbox in June, with a goal of creating a universally safe space for the LGBTQ+ community in the metaverse. They will also be launching an NFT collection with net proceeds supporting LGBTQ+ charities.
6. Endaoment Juneteenth PRIDE Fund – In 2021, Crypto philanthropy platform Endaoment launched the Juneteenth PRIDE Fund with proceeds of the fund granted out toorganizations supporting the Black LGBTQ+ community including Black and Pink, Lavender Rights Project, and Transgender District.
7. Queer Museum of Digital Art – Queer Museum of Digital Art is a web3 community “dedicated to uplifting and supporting Queer artists, musicians, writers, performers and technologists, so that they can continue to push culture forward.” They aim to preserve Queer arts and culture on-chain, and create a metaverse museum for Queer art.
8. Yes Queen Club - Yes Queen Club is on a mission to bring diversity and inclusion to the crypto and metaverse worlds that are shaping the future of our economy and our society. They aim to ensure these spaces are a fit for everyone rather than just reflecting today’s power structures. The collection consists of 10,000 pieces, auctioned one at a time over 10,000 hours, with 100% of proceeds going to the Yes Queen DAO treasury to support future diversity and inclusion initiatives.
9. Take Up Space – Take Up Space aims to “provide education, resources, community, and funding to empower BIPOC & LGBTQIA+ people and help them unlock their inner Changemaker.” Their NFT collection includes 1,111 hand-drawn, genderless changemaker NFTs on the Polygon Blockchain. They have the ultimate goal on onboarding the next 10,000 BIPOC & LGBTQ+ changemakers into web3.
10. NonFungibleRings – Non-Fungible Rings is a collection of 9,999 randomly generated Diamond Ring NFTs. 10% of proceeds from sales support women’s charities, and they recently announced, in support of Pride Month, that they will be donating 50% of sales from their special Pride NFT Ring collection to OutRight.
Who did we miss? Are there other amazing web3 projects advancing LGBTIQ rights? Let us know by tweeting @Crypto_Altruism so we can include them in the next list!
