Why I stopped crabbing about corporate Pride events
Angry crab in rainbow colors
It's June and that means Pride season has begun! It also means that businesses change their logo into rainbows and share photos of their queer and trans staff on their advertising. The pink washing of everyday products, the reminders to use proper pronouns, the "commitment" to change (what change exactly? Can we get specific goals?) by organizations, and Mother Martha P. Johnson's face on t-shirts at Target.
Cue older queers (anyone who identifies under the LGBTQIA2S+ banner) crabbing about the commercialization of Pride and various versions of "back in my day" rants. I totally get it--I did it too and sometimes find myself pulling out my list of complaints on the topic.
What changed for me was working with queer and trans youth at SMYRC (Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Center), a youth specific program and resource center, a program of New Avenues for Youth.. Every year SMYRC participates in Portland's Pride Parade and waterfront village activities. Staff conversation began thinking about the logistics and my eye roll was ready to silently express my feelings.
Next came conversations with youth. What theme did they want? What kind of decorations should we do? What should we have in our tent at the waterfront? The sheer excitement that young folks shared, and by shared I mean it was just bursting out of them! Voices sharing how this is their first year at Pride, some folks sharing that their parents/chosen family would be attending this year, some sharing about their past experiences and the feeling of being outside in the world where everyone, EVERYONE, was rooting for you, excited to celebrate THEIR lives and just being super gay. What I wasn't getting or maybe forgot about is the joy that comes with these events for young folks who are newly out, finally getting family to accept them or even finally finding a place where they are just accepted in all their truths. Finding people who want you to succeed and are willing to actually support you. That's what is amazing about Pride, not the rainbow logos that appear for one month. The people who have little support in their everyday lives are surrounded by hundreds of loving faces and chants of support. That's Pride. That's what I choose to focus on every June.
The pink washing by corporations and their empty promises is still a real frustrating thing that I totally agree with. By all means, let’s hold them accountable! Let’s make them keep their promises towards equity by reminding them of their words and making decisions with our dollars.
Here's a chance to show YOUR support for young queer and trans youth--donate to SMYRC here: https://newavenues.org/donate/
Share the information for the queer and trans youth organizations close to your heart in the comments
