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LEGO launches new LGBTQ awareness campaign for Pride month

It is the primary week of June, Pleasure month is right here, and companies have already hard-launched their rainbow-themed mid-year tasks. LEGO, a favourite toy maker of kids and hobbyists alike, has additionally joined with its newest inclusive challenge, The A-Z of Awesome, by means of which the corporate hopes to make conversations and vocabulary about LGBTQ identities extra accessible.

The A-Z of Superior is a community-centered social media challenge highlighting LGBTQIA+ voices, together with group members who have been invited to share their tales by means of the artwork of constructing with the long-lasting colourful blocks. The marketing campaign’s preliminary individuals, all members of the broader LGBTQIA group, created LEGO dioramas based mostly on their private tales, like a butterfly-themed artwork piece for the trans group and a multi-perspective letter “Q” to honor the variety of the queer group. The completely different scenes and their creator’s explanations create one a part of LEGO’s proposed “alphabet” of identities. It is the primary of the LEGO Group’s Pleasure month initiatives.

The hope is for LEGO followers and most of the people so as to add onto these preliminary efforts by creating their very own letter-based builds with the blocks they already personal, and be a part of collectively in constructing a wholly queer-helmed “alphabet” — a spectrum of identities all the way in which from A to Z. Including to the participant’s LEGO designs for letters like “L is for Lesbian” and “I is for Intersex,” people and households close to and much are inspired to construct and submit their very own LEGO designs and share them on-line with #AtoZofAwesome. LEGO asks individuals to decide on a phrase from their record of LGBTQ phrases, or provide you with their very own, and embody an evidence of the construct’s which means alongside an image. The corporate will then characteristic the builds on a devoted web site.

Various LEGO projects designed by LGBTQ people in front of a rainbow background.


Credit score: LEGO

On LEGO’s A-Z of Superior web page, you will even discover interviews and profiles with the primary set of builders, like intersex campaigner and A-Z of Superior contributor Pidgeon Pagonis. “This challenge is necessary as a result of there is likely to be an intersex particular person on the market who likes to construct with LEGO bricks, and this can assist them see themselves represented. It could have been a recreation changer for me to see myself mirrored in tales in common media and tradition,” they wrote within the challenge’s press release.

A picture of Pidgeon Pagonis.

Credit score: LEGO

A picture of Jeannie.

Credit score: LEGO

The A-Z of Superior is LEGO’s newest, however not first, marketing campaign celebrating Pleasure month, following the launch of its first LGBTQ-themed set final 12 months. The primary Pleasure set, known as “Everyone is Awesome,” included numerous monochrome figures within the colours of the Pleasure flag, with the intent that individuals might customise and construct no matter type of LEGO figures they needed.

“As we begin Pleasure month, it’s the proper time for households to start out new conversations about sexual orientation, gender id, and gender expression,” wrote Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, government director of LGBTQ training nonprofit GLSEN. “All kids profit from studying in regards to the various world round them, and constructive illustration of LGBTQ+ identities, whether or not at school curriculum or in play, helps younger individuals really feel ready to meaningfully interact of their communities.”

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Most significantly, in a world through which company giants take each probability to “rainbow wash” the queer love and politics of Pleasure month, LEGO is placing its cash the place its mouth is, donating $1 million to numerous LGBTQ companions. LEGO has additionally collaborated with worldwide Pleasure festivities and LGBTQ advocacy and academic organizations like Workplace Pride, Open for Business, and Stonewall.

“We hope [fans’] creativity and our A-Z of Superior marketing campaign evokes individuals of all ages and helps construct larger consciousness and acceptance,” mentioned Alero Akuya, vice chairman of name growth on the LEGO Group. “We wish to present people who with extra love and understanding, individuals could be their true selves.”

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