boomento.pages.dev

Gay gnomes

Home / gay topics / Gay gnomes

“You can buy a flag and you can hang signs up, but it’s really hard to get mad at a garden gnome with eyelashes,” Bennet-Martins laughs.

“They all come with personalities,” she explains. “I’m going to do one charity a month to go to whichever state needs the most help.

gay gnomes

“I was out of work because of the lockdown and we had just recently moved into this condominium complex that we live in,” Maura says. The silent protest is still ongoing. And then they have like a little bio of things, their likes and dislikes. “I just started painting all of my garden gnomes so that if she was talking to someone else, and referring to us as those dykes, they would know exactly who she’s talking about.

Two years later, Super Gay Gnomes is a thriving small business selling hand-painted, glitter-coated garden gnomes in a rainbow of colors. Whether you keep one in your pocket, on your desk, or gift it to someone else — each Gay Gnome is a symbol of pride, resistance, and the belief that change is possible.

Some are being left in strategic places — parks, coffee shops, libraries, community centers — with a QR code that brought you here.

I try not to do major organizations, and try to do more of the grassroots ones because I feel like smaller organizations spend the money to help people and not necessarily pay salaries.”

And as for the activism in her own front yard? I did one to protect trans youth and I had that up for a couple of months and then all of the proceeds for that went to a specific charity as well,” she explains.

You can follow Bennet-Martins on TikTok and Instagram for glittering gnome related updates, or head to her website to adopt your own.

 

 

.

On TikTok, Bennet-Martins has hosted giveaways and competitions, with proceeds going towards helping LGBTQ+ people in Ukraine and trans youth in the U.S. 

“For Ukraine, I had a friend of mine design a shirt and then 100% of the profits went to a charity that was geared to helping get LGBTQ people out of Ukraine and into safe houses.

That was a message: you are not alone, and you can make a difference.


Google Sites

Report abuse

Page details

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse

While some of us were baking banana bread or growing sourdough starters during the first quarantine, Maura Bennet-Martins was laying the groundwork for a different kind of hobby: turning straight garden gnomes into queer icons.

I think I have like 675K views on that. “I love how it is so much more to people than just like this cute little gnome.”

As well as becoming a full-time business for Bennet-Martins, who also works as a hairstylist, Super Gay Gnomes has also raised money for other causes. It was literally 60 seconds of me trying to put this eyelash on and overnight it just blew up.

“I have done a lot of custom ones: they have special tattoos for their partners or they say ‘This is their dog, can you put a dog on the back of the shirt?’”

Some people also keep in touch to share their gnome’s adventures after going to their new homes, which Bennet-Martins finds particularly satisfying.

“People tell me stories about how they want, say a bisexual gnome with this tattoo to represent their daughter who just came out,” she says. You know, this one’s a little mischievous—if you’re missing a sock, he’s probably got it—or this one likes to stash candy places.”

Custom orders are available too for those who want even more personalization.

These little rainbow clay gnomes may be small, but they carry a powerful message: we are still in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. People were just like, ‘Oh, do you sell these?

Bennet-Martins releases new gnomes monthly on “adoption days.” She chooses to frame the business this way because just like adopting a pet, each gnome becomes a member of the family and has their own special quirks and features.