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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Erdem x Gay’s The Word Derek Jarman T-shirt
Price: £120
Click: erdem.com
As Derek Jarman began to lose his eyesight to Aids, the British artist directed his film Blue, 79 minutes of a single, monochrome shot capturing the way he saw the world. It has informed Erdem’s T-shirt design for Pride month – which uses the word “Bliss”, the project’s original title – made in collaboration with Gay’s The Word, the UK’s oldest surviving LGBTQ+ bookshop. All profits from sales will go to queer charities such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, which supports people living with HIV. Jude Jones
Book Club at The Common Press

There’s a long, fraught history of queer books being banned from school curriculums and the wider public. The Common Press, a not-for-profit queer intersectional bookshop in Shoreditch (with a new Dalston location now open), offers a sanctuary for these voices. Later this month, the store will host a discussion of Henry Van Dyke’s Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes (a witty bildungsroman centred on a queer teenager) and Dean Spade’s Mutual Aid (a guide to building solidarity). Ella Mansell
Brunch at Rita’s

The American-style bistro hosts the Sip In, a brunch inspired by the 1966 LGBTQ+ rights protest at Julius’ in New York. It is partnering with taco bar Querida on a three-course menu (and welcome cocktail), including watermelon salad topped with queso fresco and tres leches cake, and all profits from the event will be donated to The Outside Project, a community shelter and domestic abuse refuge. Sarah Kennelly
Levi’s new Pride collection

Together, We Ride draws inspiration from queer motorcycle clubs, celebrating figures who helped shape queer history with biker-inspired denim, leather-look pieces (see the Night Rider chaps, £160) and archival graphics. The brand will also donate its annual $100,000 to Outright International, which advances LGBTQIA+ rights worldwide. SK
Yorgos’s colourful coffee designs

Price: £12.50 for 220g
Click: ozonecoffee.co.uk
London chain Ozone Coffee is celebrating the LGBTQ+ community by teaming up with street artist Yorgos on a joyful, rainbow-motif package design. Inside, the single-origin Brazilian beans offer sweet notes of milk chocolate, Caramac and sultana. Fifty pence from each bag sold goes to akt, a charity supporting queer youths facing homelessness. JJ
