THE UK’S LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY THE UK’S BLACK & POC LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY
LIVE PROUDLY
THIS PRIDE
PRIDE ISN’T ABOUT PRODUCTS. PRIDE IS ABOUT PEOPLE.
This year’s Pride season came at a time where our queer community - especially our trans siblings - are facing more noise, more scrutiny, and more discrimination than ever before. We knew that silence was not an option during this time, and we felt that the LGBTQIA+ community needed our platform, our love & our unwavering support.
That is why this year, we teamed up with the incredible contemporary artist Thomas Lelu, to help us create a set of simple yet powerful artworks that would send a strong message of empowerment and affirmation to the LGBTQIA+ community. Our message is:
Beauty isn’t about fitting in – it's about standing out, speaking up and showing the world exactly who you are. There is beauty in your difference, joy in your uniqueness, power in your identity – it is a light in you that should never be dimmed
We hear you. We see you. We are Proudly Pro-You. And this Pride season, we want to remind you that you have every right to Be Proud & #LiveProudly.
Have you seen one of our artworks on your feed? Did you scroll and see one of our incredible creators share their own message of empowerment on social media? Or perhaps you may have seen our artworks on a billboard somewhere. Wherever you may have come across our message, we encourage you to encourage your LGBTQIA+ community to #LiveProudly this Pride season.
Proudly Pro You
SPOTLIGHTING OUR 2025
COMMUNITY LEADERS
With our community telling us that they need more LGBTQIA+ safe spaces & places across the UK, NYX Professional Makeup, via our Proudly Pro-You brand cause platform is proud to be spotlighting and supporting these organisations and their leaders in 2025. Learn more about the incredible queer-safe spaces and places they are creating:
Jasmine
West London Queer Project
The West London Queer Project is a non-profit driven by the desire to connect, support and give voice to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and other sexual and gender identifying (LGBTQ+) people in West London. Their organisation aims to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people in West London and beyond. They offer fun events, a safe space, a welcoming, supportive and safe environment to uplift, empower, and connect as well as advocacy, awareness-raising and change making activities among local policy-makers.
https://www.instagram.com/westlondonqueerproject/
Royston, Kylon, Shan & Ken
The Connection Party
The Connection Party is one of London’s sexiest Queer POC experiences in celebrating the culture in a safe space for all. They are a social network and an event organiser where the LGBTQI+ members of POC & Allies can network, engage with like-minded people. The organisers aim to collectively celebrate their cultural music, dance and fashion in a safe, diverse and inclusive space.
https://www.instagram.com/theconnectionparty/
Mark-Ashley
Jungle Kitty
Jungle Kitty is a London-based club night. It serves as a vibrant and safe space for Queer People of Colour (QPOC) to express themselves authentically. The events feature a dynamic mix of music genres, including Afrobeats, Amapiano, Dancehall, Jersey House, Reggaeton, R&B, and House, aiming to celebrate and foreground music from Black and Latino cultures.
https://www.instagram.com/junglekittyclub/
Sadie, Mimi, Mr Blaque, Ezme & Donna
The Cocoa Butter Club
The Cocoa Butter Club is an award-winning performance company, showcasing and celebrating performers of colour! A first of its kind, TCBC gives a voice to Black, Asian and racially othered performers with showcases, classes and professional productions, including cabarets. Founded in 2016, the organisation is a creative clap-back to cultural appropriation, lack of representation, and imitation, such as black-facing in performance
https://www.instagram.com/thecocoabutterclub
Adjoa-Sinead, Nicholas & Hazi
Black Queers Connect
Black Queers Connect is a UK-based community group creating affirming, joyful spaces where Black LGBTQ+ adults can show up fully, unapologetically, and be celebrated for exactly who they are. Whether you’re coming to laugh, find your people, build your Black queer circle, take a breath, or learn something new – their events are rooted in connection, care, and community joy.
https://www.instagram.com/blackqueersconnect/
Joe & Ruby
Fluid
Fluid is a London based urban LGBTQ+ club event promoting an inclusive space for the community to connect and party. They holds an event roughly every month at different locations with different performers often with a celebrity-level line up of entertainment.
ttps://www.instagram.com/fluid_london/
HEAR FROM OUR 2025
COMMUNITY LEADERS
We wanted to platform the inspiring stories of the 6 Community Organisations and their leaders who have been supporting this year. So, we created a campaign around them and their stories. Check out our “I’m Proudly Pro-…” campaign below to hear the stories of our Community Leaders, and see how NYX Professional Makeup’s support has elevated their community-building projects:
SUPPORTING THE
COMMUNITIES’ QUEER
ORGANISATIONS
Since 2019, we’ve had the honour to support so many amazing queer organisations that share our mission of creating Queer-safe spaces and places, alongside amplifying the Queer community’s visibility in the UK. Check them out:
MEET THE UK BLACK PRIDE 2024
COMMUNITY ACTION FUND GRANT
RECIPIENTS
To support Community Leaders who are creating LGBT-safe spaces across the UK, from 2021 to 2024, NYX Professional Makeup has proudly donated to the UK Black Pride’s Community Action Fund. The grant scheme aims to support community leaders and their community-building projects. Meet 7 of the 12 2024 UK Black Pride Community Action Fund grant recipients:
Alisha
Glitter Cymru
Glitter Cymru is a Cardiff-based social meet-up group for the LGBTQ+ global majority community since June 2016. They meet every 3rd Saturday of the month at Cardiff Central Library and also run Glitter Pride, which takes place every August. Glitter Cymru highlights the art, cultural stories, artefacts and lived experiences of Wales queer minority communities, which include asylum seekers, refugees, and international students, who form a core part of Glitter Cymru’s community. All funding from their 2024 Pride event is directly invested into Wales LGBTQ+ ethnic minority community.
https://www.instagram.com/glittercymru/
Delwyn
Supi & Kink
Supi and Kink aims to redefine the concept of sex shops by transforming them into spaces dedicated to unpacking and addressing mental health, distress, trauma, gender, racial and disability justice through pleasure. This imagining is rooted in the urgent need to dismantle existing structures that perpetuate harm within these spheres promoting systemic change and fostering holistic intimacy spaces.
https://www.supiandkink.com/
Kelsea & Jade
Queerribean Dominoes Project
Queerribean Dominoes Project is a set of games workshop and conversational event that explores the experience of queer Caribbeans in the legacy of Windrush generation with community elders.
https://www.instagram.com/bareradicals/
Kemal & Marleigh
SE London Pride
Founded in 2022, South East London Pride is an annual pride festival in the South East of London that welcomes a diverse community of LGBTQ+ members and allies at their event with over 2000 attendees last year. Activities during their pride include a vibrant queer art market, entertainment from local performers, family games and children’s entertainment. SE London Pride also provides their most vulnerable attendees with support and guidance during our festival, by inviting organisations such as METRO Charity, LGBTQ Consortium, Lewisham Local, Insight and Lewisham Council to have a stall.
https://www.instagram.com/selondonpride/
Symoné
Melanin Power Up
Melanin Power Up aims to build communities of QTIPOC game developers and players, focusing on approachable and accessible games. The community created will be maintained via Discord for continuous relationships and collaborations. With a lack of representation of POC and LGBTQIA+ gamers, this project meets the vital need for diversity in games. With 75% game developers being white and 60% gamers worldwide being white, Melanin Power Up aims to address that vital need for diversity in games, both players and makers, as well as the characters within games.
https://www.instagram.com/symoneforever/
FEMI, VALERIE & VERONICA
BLACK LESBIAN WARRIORS
Black Lesbian Warriors is an initiative founded in memory of the late Audre Lorde, who famously identified as a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet." Following a successful inaugural event funded by private contributions, the founders recognised a significant demand for their services. Their latest program funded by the Community Action Fund, “My Sister’s Tools, provided a wellness day specifically designed for Black and POC queer women aged 40 and above. This event featured a range of activities, including yoga, breathwork, music, storytelling, healing practices, and letter writing, all aimed at fostering well-being and community connection.
https://veronicamckenzie.com/about/
PJ
Shaded Writers Collective
Shaded Writers is a collective which provides safe, sober, accessible workshop spaces for QTIPOC voices & stories. Their writing workshop utilises art pieces as writing prompt to help support QTIPOC people in areas of self-expression, skill-sharing, & professional/creative development, in a safe, nurturing, sober LGBTQIA+ group setting. The workshop series help address the problem of loneliness & isolation in the QTIPOC community, creating space for connection & opportunity for making friends.
https://shadedwriters.com/
HEAR FROM THE UK BLACK PRIDE 2024
COMMUNITY ACTION FUND GRANT RECIPIENTS
The recipients of UK Black Pride’s 2024 Community Action Fund were so inspirational that we created a campaign around them - we wanted to be able to tell their stories in full. Check out the campaign below to hear the stories of 7 of the 12 grant recipients, and see how NYX Professional Makeup’s support has helped them elevate their community-building projects:
WHAT OUR LGBTQIA+
COMMUNITY TOLD US
When we created the Proudly Pro-You platform in 2019, NYX Professional Makeup funded critical formal research known as the "We Will Be Heard" survey, in collaboration with UK Black Pride and Stonewall. We wanted to understand the key barriers facing the LGBTQIA+ community, especially the LGBTQIA+ community of colour, so that we could get clear on how we, as a brand, could help the community. The findings of the survey have formed the foundation and the strategy behind the Proudly Pro-You platform:
HOW WE ARE HELPING OUR
LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY
Based on the results of the “We Will Be Heard” survey, NYX Professional Makeup’s Proudly Pro-You brand cause platform has committed to helping the LGBTQIA+ community, especially the Black & POC LGBTQIA+, in the following three ways:
