10 Ways To Support Your LGBTQIA+ Cannabis Communities!

BY: AMY DENESON

1. Read Alison Bechdel’s new comic book The Secret to Super Human Strength and discover how cannabis and psilocybin helped her find her way forward.

2. This year’s Olympics will be the first to allow athletes to use CBD. Shop Mendi the dope CBD brand that has teamed up with celesbian champion Megan Rapinoe to advocate for better wellness and athletic recovery products. A Mendi "GO GAYS" dad-hat is a must wear to show your pride this June and during the Games Opening Ceremony.

3. Cannabis can be social. Cannabis can be sublime for sex. Put the two together and join the social sexual revolution at the queer-friendly Make Love Not Porn collective. #RealWorldSex

4. Know your history. Cannabis and LGBTQIA+ activists have long intersected throughout history. Learn about how gay activist Dennis Perone and the beloved Mary Jane Rathbun aka “Brownie Mary” collaborated to care for HIV/AIDS patients in San Francisco in the 1980s and ‘90s – and blazed the path to legalization in California. Enroll in a FREE online Advocacy course at the first-ever cannabis college Oaksterdam University and check out more professional courses taught by industry experts and start cultivating your cannabis career.

5. Hire the LGBTQIA+ cannabis companies and BIPOC- and Asian-owned companies chronicled in CannaClusive’s InclusiveBase list. I’m grateful my ad agency, Pheno, which specializes in paid media for cannabinoid brands, businesses, and revolutions, is included. Donate to keep CannaClusive’s important work going. Together, let’s move beyond simply being included on marketing mood boards to representing leadership in boardrooms.

6. Advertise your Pride specialty products with publishers that demonstrate their commitments to their LGBTQIA+ staff and readership. Cheers to Pheno client Evergreen Herbal for advertising in Seattle’s alternative The Stranger this June to spotlight their “Loud & Proud” infused cocktail made with HiLite™ Strawberry Lemonade. Download all 16 seasonal recipes from The Gin & Chronic Project website.

7. Get involved with Proud Mary your queer cannabis network in the newly legal state of New York, or those representing your local communities in the legalization movements and growing cannabinoid industries.

8. On Pride (and all year long), buy, amplify, signal boost, and heart LGBTQIA+ owned enterprises, a couple of my personal favorites: Sonder (@sondertime) and The People’s Dispensary (@thepeoples.cannabis).

9. Make a sign; lift it high. Friendly reminder to allies and accomplices: Be mindful to centralize your LGBTQIA+ pals, messages, and hashtags, while always first ensuring they are out and okay with sharing their name, pronouns, and faces in your protest and revelry posts.

10. Join me in NYC at the Dyke March on Saturday, June 26th. Going on 28 years strong, the march has never been a parade; it’s a protest advocating for our queer sisters – and not just our cisters. Step off at Bryant Park at 5 pm sharp. On Sunday, the day we commemorate the Stonewall uprising and riot, join the Queer Liberation March on June 27th to reclaim Pride. The gathering begins at 2:30 pm in Bryant Park. I’ll be marching for everyone who still suffers @whereloveisillegal.

Onwards to a more inclusive, equitable, and happy world. Hope to see you in the streets.

Share your pride at #happymunkeypride.