Lush might be best known for its eco-friendly approach to the beauty and body care, not to mention its array of eye-catching bath bombs. But the brand has a long histroy of using its platform to advocate for social change. And its latest campaign is lending a hand in the fight to secure trans rights.
As part of its 14-day #TransRightsAreHumanRights initiative, Lush has released an exclusive bath melt called Inner Truth that comes in the shape of a blue and pink heart, meant to evoke the complexities of gender, that swirl together in the bathwater into a beautiful shade of purple that has come to represent LGBT+ equality. The bath buy retails for $5.95 with 100% of the proceeds (save for taxes, of course) benefitting the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity in the hopes of raising $450,000 for the organizations. And according to Bustle, the funds will be used to support high school-based race and gender justice training for teens in the U.S. while the donations in Canada will fund resiliency training and community-building camps for trans youth.
The brand, which was recently named one of Forbes’s Best Employers for Diversity, saw the campaign as an opportunity to amplify the voices of employees and colleagues who shared the discrimination they face. “We are a diverse group of people with one thing in common — advocating for human rights,” Carleen Pickard, Ethical Campaigns Specialist at Lush Cosmetics North America, told Teen Vogue. “As an inclusive employer that champions equality, we simply couldn’t stand by. We needed to shed light on these daily discriminations and work to advance and secure their basic rights.”
And they’re not stopping there! Lush is also looking raise awareness by swapping out the vibrant bath and body buys in their stores’ windows for quotes and stories about gender identity, which come courtesy of its staff’s own experiences. Some of those stories are included in a recently released video about the campaign, which is part of a series of documentaries that feature trans allies discussing how to build a more accepting society. Plus, it plans to hand out 75,000 “How to Be an Ally” manuals to cisgender shoppers, host community events at 16 select shops in the United States and Canada, and use its Snapchat to share tips and resources for trans and questioning youth throughout the campaign though it will also mainatain a Trans Rights hub on its site an additional resource.
“What’s really special about this campaign is that our transgender and non-binary colleagues have genuinely impacted every aspect of it, from providing guidance and sharing personal experiences to educating us on how to become better allies to the community, ultimately creating a safer and more inclusive environment for all, ” Pickard said.
And that includes securing some of the most basic elements of life: freedom from harassment and violence, a safe place to live, and a secure job. One of the problems is that many trans people are faced with privacy violations, harassment, and even physical and sexual violence on the job — if they’re even able to get one, as some are refused employment because of their gender identity, which lead many to turn to sex and drug work to make ends meet.According to United States Transgender Survey (USTS), one in three trans people become homeless at some point in their lives because of violence, discrimination, and even rejection by their own family. One in four trans people have dealt with housing instability or discrimination, like getting being evicted from their homes or denied housing altogether. Worst of all, the survey found 300 reported cases of transgender people were killed by violent means, including at least 26 in North America. And the thing is these rates are much higher for trans people of color!
So if a bath melt can help open up eyes and educate others to join the fight for equality, all I can say is power to the purple and to the people!