What we learned from Calvin Klein's This is Love event

This is Love is the topic of the new campaign promoted by Calvin Klein curated by nss on the occasion of Pride month. The 3 workshops-from the Art Therapy experience to the Music experience to voguing classes-and the talk given by Jordan Anderson competed synergistically in demonstrating how a community needs a form of representation. Representation that passes through a path of personal investigation and acceptance-there was a photographic space entirely dedicated to the queer theme-which the event held on June 30 at BASE Milano reflected on in depth. 

We have selected five lessons to be taken into consideration in order to open a more interesting debate regarding inclusion and the LGBTQIA+ world.

It's called Pride

The open dialogue between Jordan Anderson (editor at large for nss magazine), Ethan Caspani, an activist and popularizer for the LGBTQIA+ community, and Ella Bottom Rouge (burlesque icon) raised an obvious point that is perhaps worth mentioning: talking about Pride ( and not Gay Pride) emphasizes the complexity of the nature and variety of sexual orientations. Until recently, the most popular wording was Gay Pride, focusing exclusively on homosexual orientations. This led to a reflection on the meaning of coming out, taking into consideration the inner journeys accrued on the skin of the guests themselves.

Assuming is wrong

Trying to guess people's sexual orientation on the basis of stereotypes, however valid they may be some times, is completely wrong. Just as assuming certain behaviors on the basis of sexual orientation can be terribly misleading. We need narratives that transcend the drama typically associated with LGBTQIA+ stories. 

Each path is unique

Identifying and identifying with a specific sexual orientation means coming to terms with a range of prejudices that, often, are difficult to get rid of. There are stories that bear witness to transitions- of orientation, gender, or sex-that cannot and should not be treated lightly or supeficially. Nor should they be reduced to passing stories: each stage, each point or impasse is part of a personal journey that does not need to be encapsulated in limiting definitions.

Discrimination is also internal

As much as this is an active community that has managed to create a space for interaction and self-reflection, there are forms of discrimination that start within the queer world itself: engaging in certain types of behaviors or not adhering to precise aesthetic standards may reflect firmly held tensions within the community. Others, on the other hand, may stem from a lack of support from families: according to a national survey conducted by The Trevor Project in 2021 on the mental health of LGBTQ youth, only 1 in 3 young queer people find support from their families.

   Love is serious business

The This is Love event and campaign sought to shed light on an element of the queer experience often overlooked by mainstream media: the family people choose. And love, in this discourse, takes on the same connotations: it expresses a sense of belonging so strong that it eliminates all the superfluous. At the end of the talk, the audience also had the opportunity to go over the milestones underlying their own journey of awareness, exposing the difficulties and challenges they had overcome. And so that rainbow proudly displayed on Calvin Klein underwear by most of the guests remarked that it was much more than just a symbol.