Pride of place

TikTok darlings Matt and Omar focus their content on social issues, genderless fashion and their lives as a queer couple. The two have weathered an intercontinental move and life in a 500-square-foot studio together—Murphy bed and all. “We can make it through anything together,” Omar says.

Where do you feel most you?
Matt: Our van. We’re both very free spirits, and it lets us escape, disconnect and find inspiration.

What does Pride mean to you?
Omar: It’s about making sure everyone in the world has the same rights we do. We’re not liberated until we’re all liberated.

Why does representation matter?
Omar: Everyone should feel valued. Growing up in a traditional South Asian Muslim home, I wasn’t exposed to queer people like me—unless it was two white, cis, masculine men on TV who had to keep their relationship a secret—never gay men thriving.

To art director and illustrator Shanée Benjamin, Pride is being unapologetically yourself. This Pride, her exclusive print benefits The Trevor Project, an organization helping LGBTQ young people do just that by providing lifesaving crisis intervention as well as advocacy, research and education.

What inspires your work?
Love, my pets, being a Black gay woman in America and my Scorpio moon.

Do you have a favorite Pride story?
Pride 2011 in NYC, when gay marriage was legalized. We took to the streets and danced to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” I saw four weddings and a couple proposals!

Who’s an LGBTQ person inspiring you right now?
Myself!

Assistant director of NYU’s LGBTQ+ Center, Christopher shares the joy of plant parenthood while addressing Black resilience, LGBTQ advocacy and the need to increase QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) representation.

How does your home—featuring your 200+ “green gurls”—inspire you?
Each plant reminds me of a moment in time I want to hold on to.

What is Pride all about to you?
It’s an opportunity to reimagine and deconstruct oppressive systems that weren’t built for LGBTQ+ folks and to celebrate the magic we bring into this world. It’s also time for LGBTQ+ folks to rest and embrace the love and light in our lives.

And this Pride Month?
Let’s honor our LGBTQ+ ancestors who paved the way by existing unapologetically, joyfully and gratefully in our queerness! Let us continue to love ourselves and each other with our heads held high, knowing that we are fierce, fabulous and fearless.

Journalist Philip Picardi—host of Crooked Media’s “Unholier Than Thou” podcast and founder of @them—met emergency-medicine doctor Darien Sutton on their first-ever Hinge date. “I knew that night that I’d marry him” he says.

What are you thinking about this Pride Month?
The wave of anti-trans legislation across the country, which seeks to deliberately malign trans youth and prevent them from accessing lifesaving healthcare and athletics. Please consider donating to the ACLU and to a trans-led organization, like TGI Justice Project or The Transgender District.

Who from the LGTBQ community is inspiring you right now?
My friends: Raquel Willis, Tyler Ford, Kimberly Drew, Chase Strangio, Jenna Wortham, Zach Stafford, Tourmaline, Texas Isaiah, Tre’vell Anderson and so many more.

What about while growing up?
The original cast of [British TV series] Queer as Folk was very formative coming out experience. That show was a REVELATION.

Partners in life and work, architects Noam and Daniel use their dining table as an office space day and an anchor for conversation and entertaining at night.

How does your community inspire your work?
Noam: A lot of our clients are queer—gay, lesbian and everything in between—and we think about things usually neglected in design to tailer their homes to their lifestyle, from spaces for hosting to those for desire.

Who in the LGBTQ community is inspiring you right now?
Noam: Charles Renfro, the architect behind The Highline, Lincoln Center and The Shed, is both our friend and mentor.

What about while growing up?
Daniel: Growing up in the south of Tel Aviv, it felt like we heard about culture secondhand. I was drawn to figures like David Bowie and Andy Warhol—their gender fluidity and non-masculine masculinity helped shape me and allowed more layers.