Pride Month

Happy Pride Month!

This month, one thing that caught my attention was the fact that several corporations have engaged in celebration and promotion of Pride month. However, as Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, several of the companies making statements and changing logos are also funding politicians who are harming pro LGBTQ legislation and policies around the country. The best example of this is the amount of money companies such as Comcast, Wells Fargo and others donated thousands of dollars to GOP senators who are blocking the passage of the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.

This type of promotional, hollow activism among corporations really frustrates me because it numbs us to the real situation of the state of rights for LGBTQ people while convincing us that these major corporations are all behind supporting their LGBTQ employees and customers. I also think that these cosmetic changes to logos and posts made by corporations are more about trying to win over social media and promote their brand than about making meaningful change.

If corporations really care about supporting the LGBTQ community, I encourage them to teach the history of LGBTQ activism to their employees and use their lobbying power to pass legislation that leads to equal rights and status for LGBTQ people in the United States. The time for performative activism and branding is long gone. It is time for action and for corporations to put their resources toward what their tweets and Facebook posts say. 

Link to one of the tweets