Pride Month is about love, acceptance, and building a better future. Which is why, for the past four years, we’ve been proud to support the It Gets Better Project by donating 100% of sales of our annual Pride collection to the nonprofit, which uplifts, empowers, and connects LGBTQ+ youth around the world.
And this year, we’re even prouder than usual.
Why?
Because this year, for the first time ever, we opened up donations to customers so YOU could contribute at check out. And wow, did you contribute.
In the U.S., customers donated more than $800,000, and in Canada, customers gave more than $100,000. That means that in TOTAL, we were able to raise more than $1.2 million for the It Gets Better Project through this year’s Pride campaign. Yup, over a million bucks, making a difference.
THAT’S ALL YOU.
Ready for an even bigger number? Over the past four years – through YOUR generosity – we’ve been able to donate more than $2 million to help It Gets Better amplify stories of hope and encouragement all over the world.
We try to do our part to promote those stories, too. This year we featured guest posts on our blog about how it really DOES get better from AE associates around the country, including our Global Brand President, a merchandising manager in Texas, and a distribution center supervisor in Kansas.
We also co-hosted a Pride panel with Aerie at our Union Square store in NYC during World Pride, featuring words of inspiration from actor and AerieReal Role Model Samira Wiley, actor Nico Tortorella, AExME Council member Edith Cruz, and DJs (and sisters!) Coco and Breezy, plus a dance party with DJ Tiff McFierce.
This year’s Pride commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In the past 50 years, we’ve seen incredible strides for LGBTQ+ rights, but there’s still work to be done.
Thank you for continuing to do that work with us.