Snap has announced today that it is teaming up with Pride Media and several of its Official Lens Creators to create a series of new augmented reality lenses for Pride Month. The new Lenses will be available in the Snapchat app on iOS.
The goal of the new Lenses is to “spotlight diverse, queer-identifying changemakers advancing equity for all people in every US state.” As such, Official Lens Creators are representing five different regions of the United States: Pacific West, Mountains, Midwest, South, and North Atlantic.
The new Portal Lenses will allow Snapchat users to explore art gallery-style spaces through the five new Lenses. In these galleries, users will be able to learn about people including:
- “Mighty” Rebekah, a 13-year-old whose successfully lobbied her home state of New Jersey to greenlight an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum
- Brandon Wolf, one of the LGBTQ community’s leading gun rights activists and the first survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando to testify before Congress
Pride Media is the publisher behind LGBTQ+ outlets The Advocate and Out, and Snapchat is working with it on these new lenses. The Official Lens Creators had the following to say about this initiative:
“The world could use more love, now more than ever. I love how this project highlights the incredible accomplishments of people in the LGBTQ community. It shows that this community is something to be celebrated and be proud of.
My lens shows 22 Champions of Pride in the South and spotlights their accomplishments in advancing and advocating equality in the community. By showing this, I want the viewers who are LGBTQ, or know someone who is, to be proud of the community. On the front camera, a crown appears on the user’s head that says “Champion of Pride.” By wearing this augmented reality accessory and learning about the Champions, I hope the viewers can aspire and/or support to be a Champion of Pride and spark change and equality.”
- Cyrene Quiamco (SOUTH)
“I wanted to work on a Pride lens that was not just a celebration of the past, but a celebration of our future. I hope these Lenses can be an encouragement to everyone in the LGBT community. Encouragement that people as unique as you can have success in business, politics, art, or anything you can dream of. This message is important to me because this kind of success has not always been available to us. So many amazing people have come before us to pave the way and this is a celebration of their success and a guide to what you can achieve.”
- Brielle Garcia (PACIFIC WEST)
“For this Lens, the concept was to transport the user to the North Atlantic to celebrate the LGBTQ champions of the region. I had this vision of this industrial-esque New York apartment to serve as a photo gallery for the LGBTQ champions. This Lens really celebrates the diversity within the LGBTQ community and helps to bring attention to the accomplishments of figures within the community and within the North Atlantic region. The takeaways that I want people to have with this Lens is that there is incredible diversity within the LGBTQ community, that everyone can be a champion in their own way, and can bring changes to their own communities.”
- Joshua Keeney (NORTHEAST)
“As an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, I think it’s very important to support the ongoing effort to create equality and end oppression for LGBTQ+ people. I want to help teach people that fairness and justice should be equal for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation. The message behind my lens is to showcase incredible LGBTQ+ champions in my region in an inspiring, artistic way. I wanted to help by using the platform that I am privileged to have to uplift their voices and create a (digital) space to celebrate marginalized identities.”
- Alie Jackson (MOUNTAIN)
You can explore the new Pride Month Lenses through the Snapchat app or with the following links:
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