Long live diversity! Lego unveils new inclusive set on the eve of LGBTQIA + pride month

May
24, 2021

4 min read

Perhaps for many a Lego set with the colors of the rainbow is just a curiosity, but for the Danish company and the fans of these small blocks it is quite a statement . A few days before the LGTBQIA + pride month begins, The LEGO Group presented a new model called ‘Everyone is Awesome!’ (They are all amazing). It includes 346 pieces and 11 figures that display the colors of the diversity flag .

“This sends a signal to everyone that this is what we stand for at The LEGO Group and we want to embrace them all, because creativity is for everyone. We think and heartily feel that everyone is amazing. We all have the right to be accepted, to be loved, and also to be creative. With this set we hope to show that we care about them, whoever they are, ”said Matthew Ashton , Lego vice president of design and creator of this set, on the company blog.

“This is one of the sets that I am most proud of. Because of its meaning, I am proud to work for a company that wants to have a voice on issues like this, “ added the executive.

We’re super excited to reveal our new set – LEGO Everyone is Awesome! Because we celebrate every LEGO builder #LEGO #EveryoneIsAwesome pic.twitter.com/J7KSz3zWik

– LEGO (@LEGO_Group) May 20, 2021

In the introduction text, Ashton relates that the set ‘LEGO Everyone is Awesome!’ is inspired by his own life story.

“I grew up in the 80s and was obviously a gay kid. Back then there was a lot of negativity around being gay. It was right in the middle of the AIDS crisis when I was a teenager and that was incredibly overwhelming and scary, ”says Lego’s vice president of design.

“Being a rather effeminate child, the adults around me constantly told me what I should and shouldn’t play with, that I had to behave like a ‘real boy’ and harden myself. (…) All of this has had an impact on me in many ways; it was really exhausting and it hit my confidence, ”he continues.

For the creator of this collection, “coming out is the period of your life when I think you can feel the most alone and insecure about what the future holds once you have taken that step .” He says that he took that step in his late teens, but finds that although now “it’s easier than it used to be,” it’s still “a really scary process” for some people.

“I knew I had to step up and make a resounding statement about love and inclusion and, in general, send a little LEGO love to those who need it,” said Ashton, who is sure that this set is a way of telling the LGTBQIA + community that things get better with time and everyone has a place in the world.

The executive believes that if someone had given him this game back then “it would have been a great relief to know that someone supported me .” Therefore, he says, this set “is not only for the LGBTQIA + community” , but also for all allies: parents, siblings, friends, schoolmates, colleagues, etc.

The LEGO Group reported that its new video game is inspired by Marvel superheroes and includes homosexual characters such as ‘Wiccan’ and ‘Hulking’, who have a romantic relationship.

The LGBTQIA + Pride March in Mexico City is scheduled for June 26 in digital format.