$12,590 raised by 11 donors
63% complete
$20,000 Goal
Preserve the Past. Engage the Power of the Present. Shape the Future.
Founded in 2022, Badge Of Pride was born from urgency—and love. In the face of escalating attacks on LGBTQ+ rights and identities, we knew we had to act. So we turned to our most powerful weapon: our stories.
Built on a rare and growing collection of 10,000+ artifacts spanning from ancient times to today, Badge Of Pride is on a mission to honor, preserve, and activate LGBTQ+ history. Through exhibits, education, art, and advocacy, we ensure these stories not only survive—but thrive.
Why It Matters
For too long, LGBTQ+ stories have been buried, erased, or overlooked. But history belongs to all of us. When we lift up the voices of our LGBTQ+ elders, trailblazers, activists, and everyday heroes, we remind the world—and ourselves—that we have always been here. And we’re not going anywhere.
Every gift brings us closer to a world where LGBTQ+ history is seen, celebrated, and protected. Here's what you're helping us do:
Educate & Engage
We’re producing our first major museum exhibition, BADGE OF PRIDE: FROM SILENCE...TO CELEBRATION! Opening June 2025 at the Irving Archives & Museum in North Texas, this groundbreaking exhibit takes visitors on a journey through more than a century of LGBTQ+ history—and the lives that shaped it.
This groundbreaking collaboration is powered by local and national partners—joining forces to weave North Texas into the global tapestry of LGBTQ+ history.
Visitors will embark on a century-long journey through real stories, rare artifacts, and remarkable lives that shaped our past, present, and future.
When it opens, it will be one of the most significant exhibits on LGBTQ+ history ever mounted in the state of Texas—an event you won’t want to miss!
In the lead-up to the exhibit, we’ve been engaging thousands of people by hosting LGBTQ+ history pop-ups, community programs, and workshops across North Texas. Because LGBTQ+ history doesn’t belong behind glass—it belongs in the streets, classrooms, libraries, and lives of everyone.
Lift Up LGBTQ+ Voices
From oral history projects to workshops at the intersection of art, activism and history to live performance series, we’re turning artifacts into action. We collaborate with artists, historians, and community members to reclaim the mic and spotlight the voices that history tried to silence.
Promote Inclusion & Intersectionality
We know that the LGBTQ+ experience is not monolithic. Our programs center the lived experiences of people across lines of race, gender identity, ability, and class—because every voice matters.
Badge Of Pride collects and activates artifacts from LGBTQ+ history to inform, enrich and engage the power of the contemporary Queer experience.
Badge Of Pride seeks funding to develop an immersive museum exhibit showcasing over a century of LGBTQ+ history, with a focus on North Texas. We also need supplies for our public programs, which educate and engage the community, and support for outreach efforts for our Oral History Project to capture and preserve diverse LGBTQ+ stories. Your support will help us honor and share the rich heritage of the LGBTQ+ community.
We understand that identities (e.g., gender, gender expression, race, economic status, sexuality, disability, age, etc.) intersect and we celebrate them. We welcome and encourage these intersections, and we invite our community to bring all aspects of their identity with pride to our work. We believe that the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community is one of our greatest strengths, yet deep disparities exist -- especially for those who sit at the intersection of marginalized identities.
We further recognize that racism is pervasive in our society - including within the LGBTQ+ community - and we unconditionally reject it in all forms, embracing the necessary change to dismantle systems of injustice and inequity. We commit to being open, transparent, and accountable, centering the voices of Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) communities in our work, and aiming to create lasting change by listening, learning, and amplifying marginalized voices and histories.
We recognize that much of LGBTQ+ history is and has been fragmented, and that the very nature of privilege - past and present - has dictated whose histories are and have been preserved. We believe contextual awareness of the past informs our actions to affect change today, and the work of Badge Of Pride aims to bridge those fragments to build community across generational, cultural, racial and socio-economic divides.
Organization name
Badge Of Pride
Causes
LGBTQIA, Arts & Humanities, Human Rights, Civil Rights & Advocacy
Operating Budget
Less than $100,000
Counties Served
Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant
BIPOC Leadership
Neither/None
Address
300 S. Montreal Ave