With the start of Pride month, two things came up on my radar. The first was a new version of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag. The second was the need to bring attention to the black trans people who are getting attacked and killed. Too often, those are happening without so much as a mention in the press. I decided to make a tee for Pride that brought both things to people’s attention in Second Life.

I wanted to release these in time for Second Pride, but real-life health issues pushed everything behind schedule, and once the #Transbian, Viva la Queer!, and Be a Jane tops were on sale, I could finally get these tees made.

The “Progress” Pride Flag, by graphic designer Daniel Quasar, takes the LGBTQ+ Pride flag that we already know and love and brings in the colors of the trans flag for the “hoist.” He also adds brown and black stripes for POC communities that always seem to get short shrift during Pride month, but as well as those living with AIDS, those we’ve lost to the disease, and the stigma surrounding them. With using the tee to support black trans people, this flag was a natural fit.

As a member of the open-source and (sort of) creative communities, I’m a huge believer in giving credit where credit’s due. I also decided that I wouldn’t use it without Daniel’s permission, especially since he ran a Kickstarter campaign to get the flags made. There’s no way I was going to make money with his flag without his permission, and Daniel has graciously allowed me to use his flag for the tees.

All that was left was to decide which organization for the tee to support. Daniel said the decision of which organization for the tee to benefit was up to me, and I knew I needed to select an organization that supports the trans POC who are especially hurt by law enforcement, racists, homophobes, and others who can’t handle people who aren’t “them.”

After a lot of research, I’ve decided to have this tee benefit the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. Marsha was an activist, self-identified drag queen, performer, and survivor. A prominent figure in 1969’s Stonewall uprising, she went by “Black Marsha” before deciding on Marsha P. Johnson. The “P” stood for what Marsha would always say when asked about her gender: Pay It No Mind.

The institute that bears her name was established in 2015, after Johnson’s death in 1992, and it works to promote and assist trans people of color, regardless of what gender identity they apply to themselves.

My tees are available in both my mainstore in Oppeano and at Second Pride. Please spread the word about the tees to your friends so I can donate more proceeds to the Institute. As with my Be a Jane tees, I won’t be converting the Lindens to USD via Tillia. I’ll check the sales the first of every month, check the conversion rate, and send both the month’s sales data and donation to both Daniel and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.

You can get more information about Daniel’s “Progress” Pride flag on the Kickstarter project page that Daniel created to make the flags, (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danielquasar/progress-a-pride-flag-reboot). You can buy real-world flags, pins, stickers, and other merch on Daniel’s website.