So Pride Month is here again, and like every year, we're reopening our Pride Store and donating 100% of the profits to LGBTQ charities.
While I was thinking about what to write this year, I realized something:
A shocking number of my favorite things are gay.
House music? Gay.
The soundtrack to countless nights of my life started in Black and Latino LGBTQ clubs in Chicago. What began as a community built around music, freedom, and self-expression eventually became one of the most influential genres on the planet.
Turns out a lot of the things we think of as mainstream culture today started because somebody on the fringe was willing to create something new.
Fashion? Gay.
Being Persian means you start life with an unhealthy awareness of shoes, watches, haircuts, and whether that jacket actually works with those pants, but I specifically owe my gay friends for helping get my style right and leveled up.
My wife would like the record to reflect that she believes she did a lot of heavy lifting here.
Being in shape? Gay.
Seriously, go compare James Bond shirtless in the 70s and today.
During the AIDS crisis, a lot of gay men embraced the gym as a way to project health, vitality, and strength in the face of a disease that was devastating their community. A muscular physique became more than an aesthetic choice. It became a signal of resilience.
A few decades later everyone wanted to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club.
Now everyone's on peptides.
If you know me, I am NOT here for aging gracefully.
Design and branding? Definitely gay.
Some of the greatest fashion designers, photographers, art directors, marketers, and tastemakers of the last century were gay. Which means a decent percentage of the things we all collectively decided were "cool" were decided by gay people first.
Hell, even some of the confidence I have today came from watching gay friends unapologetically be themselves when it would have been a hell of a lot easier not to.
I grew up with a name people couldn't pronounce, in a culture people didn't always understand, with a last name that basically makes Starbucks give up. And yeah, that shapes you. But it also gave me some perspective.
Because it's pretty hard to feel too sorry for yourself about having to explain your name when you're watching people you love have to fight just to exist honestly.
To hold someone's hand.
To dress how they want.
To love who they love.
To walk into a room without editing themselves first.
That kind of courage rubs off on you.
Which brings me to the real point.
The older I get, the more I realize that one of the best things I've ever done is surround myself with people who are different from me.
People who see the world differently.
People who challenge my assumptions.
People who introduce me to things I never would have found on my own.
Some of those people happen to be gay.
And my life is unquestionably better because of it.
Pride itself traces its roots back to the Stonewall uprising in 1969, when members of New York's LGBTQ community pushed back against discrimination and harassment.
What followed wasn't just a movement for rights.
It was a movement for visibility.
A movement built on the idea that people shouldn't have to hide who they are.
That's something I can get behind.
So every year at NickelBronx, we reopen our Pride collection.
And every year, 100% of the profits are donated to LGBTQ charities.
Not because it's trendy.
Not because the marketing calendar told us to.
But because we're grateful for the people, culture, creativity, and community that have made our lives better.
Or just donate directly to an organization you care about.
Either way, here's to being yourself.
TTFN,
Borzou