There’s Pride…and there’s rainbow capitalism. As Pride Month draws to a close, I ask you to pause and reflect. Are you genuinely supporting the Pride movement, or is the month just another “messaging opportunity” on your marketing calendars?
Have your rainbow logos just been for show?
Whether on the corporate or the individual level, if your “Pride” is purely performative, you have work to do. To paraphrase educator Jake Small: Pride Month is Over, But The Work Is Not.
Because here’s the thing:
- Virtue-signaling is not ok.
- Rainbow-washing is not ok.
- Performative “allyship” is not ok.
- Profiting via performative rainbows is not ok.
The Marketing ≠ The Movement.
I do not by any means claim to be an expert, but I do know that the work must be done. So I challenge you as an individual to:
🌈Resist the urge to take down your rainbows.
🌈Research the Stonewall Riots and learn how the LBGTQIA+ movement started.
🌈Learn about LGBTQIA+ history in general. Please do your own work and use Google as a starting point rather than burdening another human being with your questions.
🌈Fix your mouth. No off-color “jokes”, verbal microaggressions, judgments, or intrusive questions.
🌈Listen to, follow, and amplify LBGTQIA+ voices and activists.
🌈Support LBGTQIA+ businesses as well as brands that are giving back to the community.
🌈Be a safe person for your LBGTQIA+ family, friends, and colleagues to interact with.
Those are changes that can be implemented on an individual level. On a corporate level, companies have work to do as well.
🌈Fix your office culture. Make the workplace a genuinely inclusive and safe for LGBTQIA employees.
🌈Use people’s pronouns, and display yours all year round.
🌈Learn about gender identity and use the correct terms.
🌈Shut down bigoted conversations. Refuse to participate. Make it uncomfortable for bigots to be bigoted in your presence, and in your office.
🌈Speak up. Call out and challenge bigots in the workplace and wherever you encounter them. Their behavior is not ok, and by being silent, you co-sign.
🌈Resist the urge to take down your rainbows. (Yes, I repeated that deliberately.) Leave your logos, banners, and “Pride assets” up after June 30. Cause here’s a concept: Pride is 24/7 365.
Namaste and #happypride all day every day.
Like what you read? Show it some love! Leave a like/comment, follow me on social media, and support my work.
Unless otherwise stated, text and images ⒸLisa Hurley/@happyhappyphoenix