How a collection of NFTs is bringing Pride in diversity to web3 this year.
We’ve all missed our fair share of good parties these past two years thanks to Covid. And whilst there might be more important things that we’ve set aside, as we’ve been made to work-from-home and been kept apart from friends and family, some parties actually play an important role in their communities. Like Pride.
Pride parades, festivals, and parties were largely canceled across 2020 and 2021 due to social distancing mandates. For members of the LGBT+ community, and their allies, Pride is a time of the year to come together, to celebrate diversity, and to showcase their creativity and contribution to the communities they live in. It’s been missed these last two years by many.
This year we hope to see more parties of all sorts go ahead. But we also expect that increasingly more social and community events will happen online, in various parts of the metaverse, given ongoing concerns about gatherings, decreased travel, and increased interest in virtual experiences.
So Pride 2022, like much of life, is likely to be a bit of a “hybrid” event – physical and digital. This means having the right virtual outfit and digital avatar is going to be essential.
Yes Queen Club
But if you look about the world of NFT’s you’ll currently see fairly limited options. Unless you’re dressing for a comic convention – where all of the Bored Apes and Crypto Punks wouldn’t look out of place – there’s not a lot that says, “I’m here, I’m queer” in a fashionable and fun way.
Until now. Because at the end of January, YesQueenClub (YQC) is launching its collection of 10,000 fabulous and proud digital collectible queer characters living on the Ethereum blockchain.
Created by Brazilian designer Pati Aquarela, the collection features a diverse range of characters and traits that will allow anyone to flex their fashion at Pride, and in all their favorite digital spaces, this year.
Inspired by a need to bring more diversity and inclusion to the web3, crypto, and the metaverse – YesQueenClub NFTs are the pride symbols of today. A study by the organization highlighted an unfortunate lack of acceptance in many online communities, with 63% of LGBT+ people surveyed saying they had faced discrimination. This paralleled a web2.0 study by GLAAD whose Social Media Safety Index indicated that 64% of LGBT+ Americans had reported harassment on the ‘big five’ social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok).
Little seems to have changed then, but perhaps web3’s technologies can finally make a difference – by empowering, educating, and entertaining people in entirely new ways. If everyone can be given an opportunity to be involved, that is – which is YQC’s mission: a new web built by everyone, for everyone.
Unlike many other avatar projects, when you purchase a Queen you help fund the community, not enrich the founders. 100% of each purchase goes directly into funding the YQC community, which will be set up as a Distributed Autonomous Organization (DAO) giving control over the project to the people.
And every holder of a YQC NFT will automatically become a member of this DAO with voting rights – getting to determine how the money raised is invested in order to better the lives of LGBT+ people all around the world. One day that might mean donating to a nonprofit, the next it could be supporting an incredible queer artist.
Get your own Queen!
The parade of queens launches on January 25th, 2022 on OpenSea where 1 Queen will be auctioned every hour until all 10,000 Queens are let loose. So whether you’re LGBT+ or an ally, you can show your pride and support the community all year around. Sign up at YesQueen.Club to join the waitlist to be first in line.
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