PRIDE + Sass = Fab tees for marriage equality!

Courtesy: David Andrusia, Edge Publications, Monday Jul 20, 2009

"If you’re in a position to help someone, you should- and if you’re not, you’re missing the ball on humanity."

So believes Jason Vincik, the 33-year-old founder of Bitchyteez.com, a fashion t-shirt company whose recently launched 40 years of Pride shirt benefits the fight for marriage equality legislation in California and New York.

Bitchyteez.com began as the "whim of a small guy who could never quite find clothes that fit- even t-shirts marked ’small’ seemed too big." (This is probably as much a testament to Americans’ eating habits as anything else.)"I also wanted to wear something I hadn’t seen on a thousand other people. So I sketched out a design, had it screened on a t-shirt, and started wearing it to the bars- and tons of people asked me where I’d gotten it. It was a snowball effect from there."

Now, in addition to the company’s most popular fitted men’s t-shirt, there are classic, ringer, and other styles online, with a full complement of -yes, bitchy- sayings.

Take a tee and fund the fight!"I wanted these to have a catty perspective, as if a drag queen had written them," Jason says. The top seller? "I think your boyfriend is cheating on me."

Spurred by recent events, Jason designed the "40 years" t-shirt ($20, available on his site) to help fund the battle for marriage equality. ("Most people don’t realize how expensive this fight can be- with advertising, publicity, legal and travel fees, it’s incredibly expensive.") A full 25% of net sales from this tee will go to Equality California and the Empire State Pride Agenda. (To test your own knowledge of gay history, visit www.tinyurl.com/lgbtquiz As Jason rightly says, "Knowledge is power!")

Now based in New York, where he’s initiating discussion with major manufacturers to product the tees on a larger scale, Jason can see the fruits of his labors- beginning with his own family.

"My 29-year-old heterosexual brother, who’s an architect, has taken up the fight. My family has always been wonderfully supportive, but it wasn’t until after my brother learned more about gay history and the struggle for equality that he’s become fully involved. Now he’s constantly on blogs, in chat rooms, and doing other online networking to make sure people know why marriage equality legislation is so important to us all."

Get the tee at http://www.bitchyteez.com/