Whilst Corporations Capitalise on Pride Month, LGBTQ+ Issues Are in Peril
Pride Month is well underway, but hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community continues when those with considerable influence don’t speak out.
Celebrations for Pride Month have becoming increasingly popular around the globe, with a nuanced public awareness campaign for LGBTQ+ inclusivity. To stay on trend, giant corporations have embraced the Pride flag by using branded content to highlight their supposed allegiance to the cause. From Comcast to Walmart, these highly recognisable companies claim to be doing their bit for Pride Month this June. If they are so pro-LGBTQ+, then why do these organisations turn a blind eye to anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and propaganda?
Corporations have huge influence and responsibility to espouse equality and diversity within their ranks. What is shocking to many, but sadly not to those in the community, is the donations from corporations to anti-gay politicians. Over the past two years in the US, 25 corporations who mark Pride month donated an estimated $10M to anti-LGBTQ+ politicians. Whilst they rake in the cash from consumer-driven Pride branding and content, they provide a platform to those wanting to shut down the celebrations.
The corporatisation of Pride Month is a meek exercise to stay prominent. If those companies really cared and respected the LGBTQ+ community, the money they generate through Pride branding should be donated to LGBTQ+ causes. Not doing so shows corporate Pride Month to be a sham.
As Pride becomes more ubiquitous each year, the LGBTQ+ community remains imperiled through legislative measures and antiquated social attitudes. According to the Human Rights Campaign, this year is on track to be the most dangerous for trans and gender non-conforming people in the US. Meanwhile in South Korea, two male soldiers were granted suspended sentences through an age-old decree that bans any form of consensual sex between same-sex adults. On top of that, the ultra-nationalist and ardently religious Hungarian government has placed a ban on LGBTQ+ content through television and educational materials. This all happened in 2021. Where is the outrage from these so called gay-friendly organisations?
Pride Month is not a celebration of how far we’ve come but to strenuously highlight how far we’ve got to go. Trans rights in particular have become such a contentious debate between gender-critical feminists and the trans community that it harms trans individuals in the mean time. Stonewall, the British LGBTQ+ civil rights group, have come under intense scrutiny for their views on self-identification and single-sex spaces.
The opprobrium targeted towards the LGBTQ+ community, particularly during Pride Month, is a disingenuous smear campaign. For companies to truly stand in solidarity with the community, it will take a lot more than flag-waving and branded social media. Governments across the world lobby against LGBTQ+ inclusion whilst “rainbow capitalists” look on.
For LGBTQ+ liberation to really take place, it will take a lot more than Pride Month.
