LGBT Pride Month might be behind us now, but there’s no reason not to celebrate the movement all year round.
There’s always an opportunity to shine light on the community and help advance the work of queer creators, many of whom are behind some of our culture’s most iconic art.
The rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain technology has been yet another valuable platform to showcase the talent and pay tribute to the members of the LGBTQI+ community.
In addition, a great number of NFT projects are now also dedicated to raising funds for organizations championing the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
Today, we’re looking at some of the best LGBTQ-inspired NFT collections you might want to know - and stand behind.
Top LGBTQ NFT Collections
Pride Icons
Pride Icons is the world’s largest collection of LGBTQ-inspired non-fungible tokens (NFTs), after launching at the start of last June.
The inaugural mint includes 100 “Icons”, which are artistic interpretations of celebrities, influencers and activists in the LGBTQ community, including Cher, Barbra Streisand, RuPaul, Andy Cohen, Lady Gaga, and many others. The first batch of NFTs was created by artist Max Bahman and had the direct involvement of the person represented in each token.
In total, Pride Icons encompasses 10,000 pop art NFTs and includes several membership levels with varying benefits. Buyers can access exclusive perks such as attending private parties around the world, healthcare and cosmetic surgery discounts and gym passes, to name just a few.
Pride Icons was launched to empower and support queer and trans communities, and the founders of the project have pledged to donate funds to queer and trans organizations including GLAAD, The Trevor Project and GLSEN.
While the project was only meant to be live during Pride Month, the entrepreneurs behind it hope to inspire other initiatives of the kind: “Pride Icons is more than ‘just another NFT project’. It pays tribute to those legendary LGBTQ+ icons that got us this far. Those who have shaped and inspired generations,” said co-founders Amir Lazarovich, Regev Gur and Eliad Cohen. “It is a purpose-led community that allows its members to empower non-profit! A membership of a lifetime.”
Queer Frens
Digital conceptual artist Sam August Ng, also known as TheyBalloons, is the brains behind Queer Frens, one of the most interesting LGBTQ-inspired NFT collections currently available. This 10,000 queer frogs collection was first released on March 31, 2022, as an initiative to encourage diversity and inclusion in the NFT space. Each Queen Fren represents an LGBTQ+ person and they have its unique identifier. Moreover, the collection includes 888 traits, making it even more unique.
Bit Baddies
Bit Baddies is a collection of 5000 Baddie NFTs that also holds the title of being the first female NFT project on Solana, with the first tokens being auctioned on Holaplex in August 2021.
The developers of this blockchain-based project say that the mission they aim to achieve is “strengthening women and artists around the world, supporting LGTBT+ charities such as OutRight and Little Pink Houses of Hope, empowering projects to include more diversity and creating more value for holders”.
The Bit Baddies NFTs take inspiration from drag culture to highlight the beauty of feminine traits in an online space still dominated by masculinity. Holders of these tokens are able to swap out certain traits and attributes for new ones to be able to create the perfect NFT for them.
Baddie Trait NFTs are also created by diverse artists, to give them a platform to showcase their work in the NFT world and become a permanent part of the project. Once all Baddies are minted, a community wallet will be created and loaded with 50% of the mint sales while token holders can earn 50% of all future royalties.
This Other Eden
Taking inspiration from iconic English artist and activist Derek Jarman’s 1978 film “Jubilee”, This Other Eden NFT collection was launched in June 2022 to celebrate UK’s queer community.
The series features 26 video portraits of LGBTQ+ creatives and allies. Cultural trailblazers taking part in the project include model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, beauty influencer and performer, The Plastic Boy, Woody Cook, and DJ Fat Tony, among many other members and supporters of the LGBTQ+ community. This NFT collection is the brainchild of creative studio Temporal Shift in association with Palm NFT Studio and Nifty’s.
The limited edition portraits were expected to sell between $40 to $5,000, while half of the proceeds were earmarked for the The Outside Project, a community center and shelter for homeless LGBTIQ+ individuals.
Queer Rise
Queer Rise is a 10,000 piece hand-drawn NFT collection that aims to represent queer culture, with the tagline being “If the streets can’t represent enough, we can!”.
There are 222 different hand-drawn traits to welcome all types of characteristics and fashion in the NFT space and holders are welcomed to pick a token that either resembles them or that represents their alter ego. The concept of this LGBTQ-inspired NFT collection was brought to life by Eda & Ece, a Turkish lesbian couple living in Istanbul.
As part of its mission, Queer Rise makes donations to organizations like wayOUT, and OutRight Action International. The project’s roadmap further includes the launch if a Queer Rise fund that will see the donation of 15% of earnings to LGBTQIA+ organizations in Turkey.
MetaPride Land
MetaPride is a movement aimed at creating a universally safe space for the global LGBTQ+ community in the metaverse.
This year, the platform organized the MetaPride Land Festival, the first truly hybrid Pride Parade in the metaverse. The event took place during June in Decentraland and Sandbox, with simultaneous events also happening simultaneously in New York City. “MetaPride Land will be a safe and anonymous place for people to find community and belonging, to celebrate Pride from the safety of their homes, and choose their level of immersion through sociable experiences,” explained the project’s producer Jake Resnicow.
Meanwhile, MetaPride also launched NFT collection curated by Foodmasku, a leading queer artist. Net proceeds will go toward supporting global LGBTQ+ charities and communities.
The first MetaPride Land NFT collection is dedicated to celebrating queer identity with original works from leading QUEER and BIPOC NFT artists, along with an open call to all global LGBTQIA+ digital artists.
QMoDA - The Queer Museum of Digital Art
While not being an NFT project per se, the Queer Museum of Digital Art has earned a spot on our list as an initiative that aims to shine light on the artistic achievements of the LGBTQ+ community. QMoDA is a preservation effort and decentralized museum, creating a permanent home LGBTQ+ arts and culture on the blockchain. More specifically, the project is a WEB3 community that is “dedicated to uplifting and supporting Queer artists, musicians, writers, performers and technologists, so that they can continue to push culture forward.”
This metaverse museum for queer art is both an archive and a network of support and resources for the community.
One of the leaders of the initiative, Zak Krevitt, has explained that the idea started out as a brainstorm on Twitter before becoming a more serious project, with the acquisition of the first NFT being Laurel Charleston’s At the Surface (2021). This early success at community action motivated others in the blockchain space to donate their work such as collector Sashaku who has donated Crossroads (2022) by Jason Ebeyer and Jonathan Puc to the museum.
QMoDA has kept expanding so we do suggest you give it a tour.
Yes Queen Club
Yes Queen Club is an LGBTQ-inspired NFT collection of 10,000 queer NFTs, first launched in 2021 as an auction that saw one non-fungible token being released per hour over 10,000 hours. With the mission to bring diversity and inclusion to the crypto and metaverse worlds, Yes Queen Club is the brainchild of Brazilian artist, Pati Aquarela, known for bringing plenty of glitter, rainbow dust and Unicorn pheromones to their artworks.
These queer NFTs, called Queen, are described as being “fabulous, unique and proud digital collectible characters living on the Ethereum blockchain.” 10% of all revenue of Yes Queen Club have been used to collect and promote works from LGBTQ+ artists.
Take Up Space
Take Up Space is a blockchain-based project that’s focused on empowering BIPOC & LGBTQ+ communities through leadership training, mentorship, scholarships & funding in the Web3 space. They also have an n LGBTQ-inspired NFT collection that includes 1,111 hand-drawn, genderless changemaker NFTs on the Polygon blockchain. Take Up Space’s ultimate goal is to reach a community of 10,000 BIPOC & LGBTQ+members.
FEWOCiOUS
FEWOCiOUS - real name Victor Langlois - is one of the most successful NFT artists, managing to sell his art for multi-million price tags and interest for his crypto art even led to the website of Christie’s crashing ahead of one of FEWOCiOUS’ much-hyped sales. According to Christie’s, they’re also the youngest artist to have work sold through the legendary auction house.
The transgender teen has become known for their bright, colorful, inventive installations over the past two years, while campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights.
“Growing up, there was almost no trans visibility for me to see, and I would get so frustrated, because I wanted to work so hard to do cool s–t so I could let someone else see what I was doing and feel that validation,” he said to Billboard Magazine. “Maybe it’s not art — maybe you do fashion, maybe you do makeup, maybe it's something else entirely — but be the person that you aren’t seeing enough of in the world. “
Make sure to check out FEWOCiOUS’ art here.
