Tagged pride

Next-Level Ally: How to Support Your Queer and Transgender Friends

June 04, 2026

Speak up, take action, and protect your community

How do you show up for the LGBTQ+ people in your life? You’ve figured out pronouns, you vote, and you don’t say hateful things, but you have a lot of unanswered questions and the strong feeling that you could be doing more. You’re committed to educating yourself, but where to start?

Author and activist Eli Sachse has created a practical guide to being a better friend, family member, partner, colleague, and community member to your trans and queer friends. With anti-queer and trans bias and oppression on the rise, it’s more important than ever for allies to step up with radical empathy. Allyship is a skill that anyone can learn, and Sachse is a kind, clear teacher.

With a focus on direct and effective communication, Sachse has filled this book with real-world examples for everyday people. Learn when and how to speak up at work and online without doing more harm than good. Create more inclusive conversations and challenge misgendering and harmful jokes. Learn to see and question your own implicit biases and assumptions. Celebrate and affirm your friends. Become a better friend, manager, or parent. Volunteer, march, and create true safe spaces. Further chapters advise people working in health and mental health professionals, educators, and law enforcement in how to do better by the trans and queer people they serve.

Read on for an excerpt from Next-Level Ally, shipping now from our site and available everywhere you find Microcosm titles!

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A Pocket Guide to Pride Flags: An Illustrated History of Queer Community Symbols

May 15, 2026

Beyond the rainbow.

Find your own flavor of pride with this definitive guide to pride flags of all stripes—their history, meanings, legacies, and cultural significance around the world. A whole spectrum of stories has unfolded since the original rainbow flag debuted in the 1970s. For the first time, here are over 30 pride flags collected together, accompanied by details about their symbolism, creators, usage, and sometimes controversial histories. It’s all presented with graphic flair by Icelandic designer and comedian Sindri “Sparkle” Freyr.

If you’re LGBTQ, you’re likely familiar with your community flags, but you’re not the only ones! Kinksters, bears, sex workers, and drag performers—there’s a flag for you. If you’re nonbinary, intersex, agender, genderqueer, disabled, polyamorous, two-spirt, ace-aro, or demi—you’ve got a flag, too. These flags and the motives behind them show us that there really is room for everyone. With both queer visibility and heteronormative hatred on the rise around the world, this bold, stylish celebration of vexillology (the study of flags!) shows how these symbols can help us share who we are, how we define ourselves, and where we find community.

Keep reading to learn more about pride flag history in this first-of-its-kind guide, shipping now from our site or available June 2 at your local Microcosm dealer.

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