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The new versions of the iconic bunny ears are part of Playboy’s long legacy of supporting gay rights. The seven queer artists Seth Bogart, Winston Elliott, C. Finley, Sarah Maxwell, Nina Palomba, Favianna Rodriguez and Loveis Weiss – created colourful, celebratory pieces for Playboy’s new campaign, called “Pride Is Good.”
The “Pride Is Good” campaign is raising funds and awareness for “50 Bills 50 States”, an initiative of The Trevor Project, an organisation that supports LGBT+ youth. The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organisation for LGBT+ youth. “50 Bills In 50 States” works in the US to protect LGBT+ youth from being subjected to conversion therapy. 100% of the profits from Playboy’s new bunny ears will go to the initiative.
“Playboy’s core mission is to support the idea that everyone, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race or religion, should be allowed to pursue pleasure, free from judgment and restriction,” Rachel Webber, Playboy’s chief marketing officer and president of corporate strategy, says. “We stand with and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, and we are honoured to support The Trevor Project, which for years has fought for the rights of this community and whose advocacy has been an important part of a successful movement securing the passage of legislation against conversion therapy in 18 states and counting. Playboy will continue to push for real policy change in all 50 states, and to remove the barriers to pleasure for all.”
Amit Paley, CEO of The Trevor Project, said that “An estimated 700,000 LGBTQ adults have been subjected to conversion therapy, with 350,000 of them receiving the dangerous and discredited treatment as youth – and sadly that number continues to grow by the thousands each year. We’re grateful to Playboy for supporting The Trevor Project’s campaign to protect LGBTQ youth by ending conversion therapy in every state in the country.”
Playboys efforts to end conversion therapy comes full circle with the “Pride Is Good” campaign as the company continues to give a voice to this important movement. In 1991, Playboy published its first nude pictorial featuring a transgender model; actress Caroline “Tula” Cossey. And recently, Playboy was awarded the 2018 British LGBTQ Award for Best Brand in the UK because of the company’s work with transgender supermodel Ines Rau.
