Apple announced today two new rainbow-inspired Apple Watch bands in advance of this year’s LGBTQ Pride celebration, which begins in June. Both are available on Apple’s website beginning today, and they’ll both have matching Watch faces included in the next watchOS update.
Apple says that, through sales of the new bands, it’s able to support LGBTQ organizations including GLSEN, PFLAG, The Trevor Project, Gender Spectrum, The National Center for Transgender Equality, and ILGA World. However, Apple doesn’t state what portion of the proceeds go toward these organizations, nor how those funds will be divided. If you’re passionate about this cause and want to help, you’re probably better off donating to those organizations directly.
Rainbows for everyone —
Both new bands are — unsurprisingly enough — very rainbow-forward.
This year’s Pride Edition Sport Band is composed of colorful vertical stripes in order of the rainbow. The product info page says it’s assembled by hand from individual strips of color fluoroelastomer, making each band “artfully unique.”
Some Twitter users have pointed out that the band’s design could also be seen as a manufacturing defect. It’s unclear how intentional the wavy stripes are on Apple’s part.
The Pride Edition Nike Sport Band is a rainbow twist on Apple’s existing Watch collab with Nike. That one is a little more understated; the main band is white, and the rainbow colors are reserved for inside the band’s many holes.
Donate direct instead —
Apple has not disclosed what portion of the watch band sales go toward LGBTQ organizations. The new bands are great for displaying your support of the community, but they’re not a guarantee that you’re helping monetarily.
If you’re interested in donating funds that are guaranteed to help the LGBTQ community, we’d recommend checking out:
- The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ people under 25
- The Transgender Law Center, a national trans-led organization advocating for trans and gender-noncomforming people
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which fights for all civil liberties and has a long history of defending LGBTQ rights
- Immigration Equality, a national LGBTQ immigrant rights organization
