Local Writer Launches Line Of Gay-Themed Greeting Cards
By Melissa Wiley in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 24, 2013 3:00PM
Marriage? That’s so gay. Which is the whole wondrous point. It’s also the boldface copy hovering above a unicorn with pink, tumbling hair on one of Happy Happy Gay Gay’s printable greeting cards, created by local writer Emily Belden to celebrate same-sex love and marriage. A portion of all proceeds benefit the Trevor Project to help prevent suicide among LGBT youth.
“Growing up, I had a lot of friends who could have been a Trevor,” Belden explains of her decision to share the profits. “I have virtually no overhead on the production of these cards, so I thought why not give a cut to a foundation? My hope is that teaming up with a charitable cause persuades people to get their cards locally from my site rather than one of those sucky, generic cards from Hallmark.”
Straight as a unicorn horn, Hallmark is an apt contrast. Belden’s Precious Moments don’t nestle their pale watermelon heads together on porcelain park benches. Instead, they wear red stilettos and hiss, “Go home DOMA, you’re drunk.” Or invoke a Donna Summer-heavy wedding reception playlist. “The only thing gay marriage threatens is how good a straight person looks in Vera Wang,” reads another featuring a femme fatale in silhouette at card’s bottom right.
Belden, who conceives the cards’ message while art-directing the designs, promises new options monthly. “I knew I wanted equal parts satire, sass, and simplicity,” she muses. “Some err more on the silly side, some more sarcastic, some serious, so there really is something for everyone.”
Happy Happy Gay Gay sold its first card within minutes of going live early last week. “The customer was from Mexico and I reached out to him personally to thank him for his purchase,” she recounts. “He replied, ‘Oh, honey, thank YOU for doing this.’ Then he proceeded to invite me to use his timeshare. Hey-o!”
Discussing the project's impetus, she reflects, “My gay friend was one of the first to get married after DOMA died. My option was to send him a greeting card clearly meant for a straight couple or send nothing at all. So I sent nothing at all.”
The as yet online-only card company allows customers to either print or send their felicitations via e-card. Belden created the latter option once she became aware of “the global printer famine” plaguing many well-wishers and marking her biggest business challenge to date.
“It turns out not many people own a printer, which was crucial to my original business model. But I quickly adapted it so that each purchase comes not only with a link to a printable file but also to an e-card that can be sent to friends and family in just a few clicks.”
If you’re acquainted with the penny floor—because someone had to plate their bedroom in $600 worth of coinage—then you have an idea of Belden’s powers of concentration and foresee fluid, rapid growth for Happy Happy Gay Gay. Engayments, she offers, may well be next along with expansion into indie card boutiques.
At 27, she is also set to release a memoir titled 86’d, exploring the “scandal and serendipity” of her early 20s. “If Nicholas Sparks had some wild years and a thing for hard alcohol, then you’re about there,” she summarizes. “In other words, Lena Dunham stole my idea.”
All Happy Happy Gay Gay cards are available for $5.