Quilts tell powerful stories.

Breakthrough and our partners created this quilt to celebrate the vitality of LGBTQIA+ communities, express solidarity, and fuel continued activism in support of LGBTQIA+ rights.

As we call for a world that is just and violence-free, let it be a reminder of the love and solidarity that binds us.

Scroll through the images below to learn more.

#QueerYourPride Quilt 2021

This quilt is part of Breakthrough's yearly campaign, #QueerYourPride.

Alex Yakacki

Angel Cruz

ARTE

Black Youth Project

Breakthrough

Caela Collins

Cleveland VOTES

Deeds Not Words

ERA Coalition

Eutalia De la Paz

Expressions of Frida

Líderes Campesinas

Luna Vargas

Margaret Viboolsittiseri

Michelle Rodriguez

My Colorful Nana

By & For: Nia Asemota

NYC Commission on Human Rights

OutRight Action International

Priya Kvam

Sarita Kvam

Suzanne Herrera Li Puma, Ph.D.

Wazina Zondon

Women's Wire

Pride Quilt from Breakthrough on Vimeo.

Alex Yakacki

"This video is inspired by my back and forth with my insurance provider as I attempted to have my Facial Feminization Surgery covered. I quoted some of one of the denial letters I received."

Pride Quilt from Breakthrough on Vimeo.

Angel Cruz

Angel Cruz is a Puerto Rican drag artist. See more of their work on Instagram.

ARTE

"This is a collaborative effort by ARTE Team Members, led by Cameron Lee, ARTE Program Coordinator, and created through the joyful contributions of Deimoni Brewington, Sarah Rim, and Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario.We collaboratively designed a tarot card, inspired by tarot being about divination, asking questions, and receiving answers. It is about reassurance, introspection, and also finding love from within oneself. This piece is both hand-drawn and also includes digital elements.

We decided to focus on acceptance, knowing that acceptance breeds strength, creates brave new paths, and powerful new futures. It is a celebration of Pride, all of our LGBTQ+ ancestors who have created our present and with love and gratitude for those paving our future."

Learn more about ARTE at artejustice.org.

Black Youth Project

"As it is Pride Month, Black Youth Project (BYP) compiled an array of our contributors' articles on pride and queerness and pulled key words that exemplify those pieces. Pride Month is a time of celebration, community, and triumph. The Black Youth Project aims to portray this notion of both expression and happiness but also the opportunity and necessity for growth through our square."

Learn more about The Black Youth Project at

blackyouthproject.com.

Caela Collins

"I am not personally part of the LGBTQ community but there are very meaningful people within my life who I love that are. I wanted to give a glimpse into the perspective of an ally. Even though I feel like a very open and welcoming person, I'm not perfect. I may stumble along the way as I learn and educate myself but at the end of the day I genuinely have love for the LGBTQ community. It's coming from a mindset of loving without reason and understanding our innate human connection."

See more of Caela's work at www.caela.org.

Cleveland VOTES

"Inclusivity is a major component of Cleveland VOTES. The commitment of our work to advance democracy transcends elections, voter turnout, and ballots. Instead, the purpose of the work is to reclaim our narratives, acknowledge our similarities, and love our differences. This image is a manifesto of individuals coming together with the sole purpose of educating, connecting, and empowering LGBT youth in Cleveland to see themselves in a civic space that is for them and more."

Learn more about Cleveland VOTES at clevotes.com.

Deeds Not Words

"This graphic art by Deeds Not Words Art Director, Edith Valle, represents a reproductive justice framework intersecting with LGBTQ pride.

There are many factors like gender, race, sexuality, class, etc. that create barriers queer couples can face when trying to have their own children. In addition to prejudice, they face things like higher costs and not being able to use their own sperm donors. This predominately affects women of color in queer relationships, and is often overlooked when it comes to discussions around Pride.

Being an organization that fights for reproductive justice for all, this was the particular intersection we wanted to highlight with this work."

Learn more about Deeds Not Words at deedsnotwords.com and see more of Edith Valle's work on Instagram @edithvalledesign.

ERA Coalition

Bamby Salcedo, President of TransLatin@ Coalition says it for us when she explains that the rights of trans people and women are intertwined – they are one in the same.

“I know that the ERA is significant for many members of our community and I think it's important for us to understand and really realize that institutional violence has been portrayed against trans and gender nonconforming people for centuries.

And obviously through the policies that are enacted to pretty much try to erase our existence is something that has been pervasive against our community, and certainly the ERA will obviously support the livelihood of trans and gender nonconforming people. I think it's also important that we understand where trans people are situated in 2020, and unfortunately because of the global pandemic that we're experiencing right now it's also important that we understand that trans people are going to be set even further behind than how we were situated in our society already.

And so the ERA will not just set a precedent, but I think will empower our community for us to really advocate for the changes that need to happen in our society in order for us to be in a better place, and better our livelihood really."

Learn more about the ERA Coalition at eracoalition.org.

Eutalia De la Paz

"Aking Sinta [the name of this piece] means "my love" in Tagalog. I wanted to create a dreamy and heart-fluttering feeling of intimacy through the colors of the Pride flag. These lovers' bodies intertwine into the shape of a heart, and the decorative pearls symbolize femininity, loyalty, and preciousness."

See more of Eutalia's work at behance.net/edelapaz.

Expressions of Frida

"Our digital square honors womxn and non-binary LGBTQIA+ creators across mediums, identities, and time who unapologetically expressed themselves through the arts inspiring countless future generations.

From internationally renowned visual activist, Zanele Muholi, who has photographed South Africa’s black LGBTQIA+ community fight for equality since the creation of the new constitution in 1996 post-apartheid to singer-songwriter, Janelle Monae who came out as a queer Black woman in America through the release of her album Dirty Computer in 2018 with songs such as “Pynk," which she describes as “a brash celebration of creation. self love.sexuality. and pussy power!” we thank the womxn and non-binary LGBTQIA+ creators who have made and continue to make art on their own terms."

Learn more about Expressions of Frida at expressionsoffrida.org.

Líderes Campesinas

"The youth of Líderes Campesinas were inspired to showcase the thought of equality and acceptance. Everyone should be treated the same because we are all humans at the end of the day. This art was made to look exciting, happy, and energetic with the use of various colors, because as the rainbow, although it is composed of a diverse variety of colors, they are all united and so should the human race when it comes to diversity. We need to stay united and love one another for who we are to make the world a happier inclusive place."

Learn more about the work of Líderes Campesinas at liderescampesinas.org.

Luna Vargas

Luna (age 9) is the daughter of Breakthrough's Creative Director, Moni Vargas, who has contributed this piece in celebration of love during Pride Month!

Margaret Viboolsittiseri

"Love is essential to world healing and to moving towards thriving communities. In order for the arts to thrive, we must have celebrate diversity. Artists should feel their pieces are safe and that their community cares. Pride is about celebrating narratives which share authenticity and authentic forms of expression."

See more of Margaret's work at poemythology.com.

Michelle Rodriguez

"In addition to recognizing Pride as a time of resistance and a call for equality, I wanted to capture that it is a celebration of love!"

My Colorful Nana

"As a collective, My Colorful Nana (MCN) honors individuality through our queer history led by Black Trans women who have had a profound investment in the growth and movements happening around us now. Based in NYC, we would also like to highlight the ongoing grassroots efforts for Black Trans rights happening every Thursday at Stonewall via @thestonewallprotests on IG."

Learn more about My Colorful Nana Podcast at mycolorfulnana.com.

Nia Asemota

"In this piece, I wanted to highlight the essence of Pride Month and the power of loving without limits."

See more of Nia's artwork at niasemota.github.io/Web-Portfolio/.

NYC Commission on Human Rights

The NYC Commission on Human Rights is the City agency that enforces and educates on the City Human Rights Law, one of the most robust civil rights laws in the nation.

Learn more about NYC Commission on Human Rights at www1.nyc.gov/site/cchr/index.page

OutRight Action International

OutRight Action International is a LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

Learn more at outrightinternational.org.

Priya Kvam

"When I think of Pride, I think of fire. And freedom. I think of the word "vibrant". And of the diverse textures of our experiences: the ways we live and how and whom we love. I've always been drawn to texture in visual art. This photograph, of a painting I made last spring, is my attempt to channel all that."

Priya Kvam is a storyteller and impact strategist with a deep commitment to gender and racial justice. She is the Director of Strategy & Advocacy at Breakthrough, leading the organization's communications, campaigns, and creative partnerships in the U.S. and globally.

Sarita Kvam

"This is my body. I paint to celebrate my strength, and I paint to manifest it when I feel its absence. I keep learning that my body is more than a vehicle, it is an extension of my mind and soul; it carries a history of hurt and love. This two by three foot canvas has accumulated paint from over ten years of reworking various compositions. It reflects stages of my personal and artistic development and changing material preferences (including oil pastel, chalk, acrylic paint, oil paint, ink, and charcoal). As I have come to accept nuances in my gender expression and sexual orientation, the more color the canvas acquired. The more I have come to embrace myself in my entirety, the stronger the contours became. My belongs to myself, but this image is for anyone to look at and feel power. I hope that through it, I can connect with you."

See more of Sarita's work at saritakvam.com.

Suzanne Herrera Li Puma, Ph.D.

Suzanne Herrera Li Puma, Ph.D. is an artist, educator and scholar working at the intersection of feminisms, critical theory and Latinx and Latin American arts. The series ventanas are process-based works that explore, con ternura, the way the minor gestures of loved ones are held and re-imagined by the hand. Dr. Herrera Li Puma is currently a Visiting Scholar with Breakthrough and an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow.

Wazina Zondon

"A work in progress, this piece is a reflection on the bittersweetness of Pride for me: the overwhelming feeling of prescription, why and how did I learn to *not* be proud of myself, who determines our markers of success and when will I be able to celebrate my other identities?

It is my prayer that we hold curiosity for and about joy and celebrations: why, how and when we experience it and how we continue to become ourselves through it and without it."

See more of Wazina's work at comingoutmuslim.com.

Women's Wire

"At Women's Wire, we know that Pride means different things to different people. This year, we're trying to make space for it, celebrate our joy, express love to the LGBTQ people in our lives, slow down and recenter, take care of ourselves, take action towards equity and justice, never deviate from an intersectional lens, and feel into what's truth for us this year."

Learn more about Women's Wire on Instagram @womenswire

Share the quilt!

Interested in contributing to this quilt or #QueerYourPride for the future?

Email michelle@letsbreakthrough.org for more information.