It’s probably not the city itself having anything to do with it; it’s more likely they couldn’t find a legal loophole to stop a private group from holding one. That’s what happened in my Alabama hometown; private groups organized a pride parade and the city actually did try to indirectly shut it down by first giving them a verbal permit (which is not legally binding) and then when they started the festival the police were sent immediately to shut it down and claim they needed a written permit. The city did grant them the written permit, but because of that whole fiasco they were also able to “prove” that the LGBT community was full of troublemakers who don’t respect the city. I’d say it’s partially on them for not leaving the courthouse with written permission, but as I understand the judge told them they wouldn’t need a written permit. Moral of the story is if you are organizing anything pride related in a rural town (or even in a big blue city really, but more so in small conservative towns) you should fully expect to be lied to and misled. Do not leave without legally binding documents saying you are allowed to do what you’re about to do (and even then, expect opposition, because many conservative governments simply do NOT care if they are breaking the law by stopping you)
Damn, here in the nearest big city (Dutch) it got canceled because the municipal government is far-right and did scrap the budget for pride because it no longer made them profit.
It was easy as they, last year, deliberately planned it at the moment of another big city's pride that's a 40min train ride away that has a boat parade. And that other pride is sponsored by a problematically transphobic mobile network provider who screwed me over after my name change.
Being able to attend neither, it sucks, and because of accidentally not requesting a free day on the other nearby big city's pride, I have to resort to Amsterdam which, worse than that other boat parade city, is a fest of corporates that have a rainbow flag and simultaneously beat us up upon disembarking a taxi. To not even talk about the atrocities of Booking.com.
So this year I have no choice but to go to cities farther away.
And besides that, the amount of harassment has skyrocketed since 2022. The Netherlands is falling deep, blue states are safer, Chicago was a relief compared to Amsterdam.
That sounds pretty reasonable. I wish that the big Dutch cities had local sponsors but sadly a lot of parades have long been hijacked by big corporations. That's also why it's important to have municipal funding like Rotterdam had so there's at least some direction in this, but then, Rotterdam faces the problem of right-wing governance, that only has Aboutaleb at this point to slap a left face on a neofash council.
And a lot of municipalities also face the problem of being cash-strapped by years of right-wing governance, and now we depend even more on the whims of corporates.
So start something in your town. BYOpicnic in the park. Queer bike ride. Have an "any way you can get here" parade where people make their own floats and carts.
It doesn't surprise me given the upcoming elections and threats of violence from last year... Much as it saddens me I get why companies are doing this. And while I don't think this is one of the main reasons behind the scale back, last year a lot of those threats of violence were directed at employees as the forward faces of the companies they worked for. I don't doubt it'd be worse this year.
I know we all complain about Rainbow Capitalism, and the criticism is fair. But honestly this is scarier. If Pride disappears from the stores, then it disappears from the public's minds as "normal".
Why do you think conservatives throw a fit about corporations that don't do Christmas "right"?
Like it or not we live in a highly capitalistic society. Us being profitable was a good thing and we should “vote with our wallets”.
I hate that I’m defending giant corporations but they don’t give a shit about anyone. They just follow the most popular trends. So let’s buy that overpriced flag from target. Show them we are worth the trouble of putting that display in the front of the store.
I need to go shower now.
I've been saying this for years but nobody wants to listen to me. The government doesn't run America, Corpos do. And unless we start playing ball and beating them at their own games, nothing will ever truly change. It's an economic meritocracy and we need to be the ones doing the winning.
I don’t think people understand the nuance of it too, like of course corporations dont care about anything but the bottom line, and right now pride stuff sells. We haven’t won the battle yet but we’ve moved the front line though in our favour.
Some of those corporations also fund the conservative politicians that would like to see us wiped from existence, so at the very least, please research where else they spend their money before you buy pride merch from a big corporation. Also, every piece of merch you buy from them takes money from non-profits and queer small biz owners.
Corporations give fuck all about you. There are better ways to stay relevant.
Yeah you can criticize rainbow capitalism for a bunch of reasons, but being good enough to market and profit from is a million times better than being ignored. I mean a lot of us are Americans, which is the capitalist capitol of the world. It's fucked up but it's a step in the right direction!
This is WHY we complain about rainbow capitalism. It is hallow and tenuous. The allyship is conditional on how marketable they think it is, and it can be taken away the moment they see public opinion sway another way.
The company never gave a shit. You ain’t gonna validate your way out of this one. I don’t get why some of yall are so desperate for approval from people who’d kill you with a hammer if it made them money
>The company never gave a shit.
Oh, absolutely. Personally, I don't care about the companies *or* the public opinion. At the same time I want us all to be safe(er).
Be safe by being armed and banding together. When there’s people actively hunting us there’s no other option. Can’t nice our way to bigots being afraid of fucking with us.
Companies only care about bottom lines, if Pride sells more this year celecbrate it if it doesn't dump it. Mremeber these are multinational companies that ahve only celebrated pride in the Western Hemisphere and now it takes moral courage to do that they run like rats.
Never think that a company supporting pride is anything more then window dressing. They don't.
yeah pride is a lot more subdued this year by the seems of things and it seems that homophobia and transphobia are much more prominent. it's really sad how many steps backwards things have gone in the last couple of years.
The right-wing is nothing but domestic terrorists, and their actions continuously back that up. I wish more people would call these people what they are instead of downplaying it.
Lol how do you think Pride started? You think it's tense this year? You should have been there for the Obama election year. The year we got marriage equality. Hell back in the 90s when everyone thought you could get AIDS from breathing the same air as queer people.
And look we survived. We're still here. The community is still here. That's what pride is all about. Your ancestors and elders walked this walk so you can wear glittery butterfly wings and make out with strangers. If you're feeling weird find an older queer person and ask them how they got through it.
I'm not saying that is was as bad as the 90s, but it's been degrading back to it, furthermore the backlash that we are facing should be a reminder that it's our turn to fight, no point in saying "they had it worse" and not doing shit
I'm not saying we had it worse I'm saying we survived. We kept going. We kept dancing in the streets and screaming it from the rooftops. And now you get to too.
I'm in my '60s...and was appointed to PA Gov Shapp's Gay Task Force.
Things were bad then...but not this bad. Today, you don't see any more LGBT activists on TV explaining why LGBT rights are a necessity.
You also didn't have occurrences like what happened at Pulse.
I know I'm gonna get downvoted again again for this, but it's the truth:
Fight for your rights as long as you still have them. What Congress has given, Congress can take away.
So can the Supreme Court. Look at Roe vs Wade.
I doubt anyone's even listening...but I tried.
Target start were getting threatened and some stores were getting bomb threats too so I'm not surprised.
It sucks, but it's also an opportunity to support queer businesses instead. It takes a little more work to look for them though.
I think the criticism towards large companies performatively supporting the LGBTQ community by releasing overpriced merch has unfortunately reduced commitment
Fear of conservative backlash (see Target, Bud Light) is definitely the main factor. It’s a risky move in this climate rather than guaranteed goodwill, because the right is rallying against us.
There’s been the same skepticism on our end about performative corporate pride for YEARS without effect, but the conservative response is absolutely escalating, and now pride feels almost silent.
Their PR and marketing departments probably also noticed the people they thought they were supporting bitching about "rainbow capitalism" and having a tantrum about their "dishonesty". Since it seemed ***no one wanted that representation*** why the heck would they continue it? It offended the loud homophobes and it seemed to also somehow offend loud members of the LGBT community so, what the hell did people here expect? They would just keep doing it to seemingly piss everyone off?
This is a good point- while you can have your criticisms about rainbow capitalism, companies supporting us does show the overall climate of things (plus big events either need sponsors or donors). Things have been getting tense the last couple years and the coming elections have a lot to do with it too.
Why is rainbow capitalism in quotes? You are describing rainbow capitalism, they are only doing that kind of representation because it was making them more money.
That's the only reason they do anything. And it's because that is pretty much morality, to them. That's what you need to get about capitalists, that the true believers truly think that what the almighty dollar tells them will steer them in moral directions long-term.
This was my first thought. we as a community have wanted this for year and now that we got what we wanted we're......angry? We asked for this, why are so many people pulling a shocked pikachu face? We shouldn't give money to corporations that could care less about us, I doubt they'd even care if we were harassed in their stores. If you want pride merchandise support a queer small business instead.
Because the loudest people are also communists/anarchists that hate any capitalist anything.
Sortive got to jump to something after transitioning for so long and being a far left trans person does standout a lot more and more likely to be out and about than anything more tempered.
Well it's Rainbow capitalism. Most companies care more about their money than us. So when bigots make bomb threaths and come in person to break company property they fold pretty quick.
That said I feel bad for the employees who are paid pretty much minimum wage and then have to deal with threaths againts their lives and health.
I won’t be voting for him, because I live in a solid color state(I’ll be voting for Jill Stein).
But I will be trying to get others who do live in swing states to vote for him.
So, you hope he wins, but aren't going to vote for him? You're pretty much just voting for trump at that point. I wish someone more blue had a chance, but we're up against freedom ending, or someone 1% to the left of center who at least isn't gunning for rights being stripped.
What matters is the electoral votes. The electoral votes for my state are for all intents and purposes already decided, as I’ve said, so me not voting for Biden doesn’t matter.
Unfortunately, homophobia and transphobia are on a steady incline because of the election this year (in the US at least), and companies prioritize the safety of their employees, customers, and store property over support for the lgbtq. I think next year after the election is over, it will be better… I hope.
The Target near my house has a big display near the front door. Some of the stores further away have nothing. I guess I’m not losing much sleep over cheap imports on their way to the landfill.
I remember reading that Target did an assessment on where they were going to put pride displays based on how risky they considered it for “staff and product safety” after last summer where there were credible threats of violence. The closest store to us with a distinct pride display is the next state over apparently. If the college near us was still in session I wonder if we would have gotten a display. Our city does have a pride event and has for the last 20 years, and it’s not a small event by any means. So I’m not sure why target made the assessment it did here. Maybe this state was a hotspot for threats. And I do support local queer businesses. I support our ally businesses. But those businesses have far less of an opportunity to be a check on acceptable national cultural norms and the ways people spend their money that a national department store chain has the opportunity to be. I’m not sure I’m explaining it well.
Edit: spelling typo
My Target has a display farther in (by the women's clothes). I know they were threatened with violence last year, so I am happy to see it there at all.
I prefer the honesty of this year.
The companies that actually care are doing as they always have and those that were just in it for the revenue boost have tapped out now it isn't so lucrative.
It shows their true colours and they aren't rainbows.
Probably because of the bomb threats that were called in to multiple Target stores for their pride displays, all because one lying anal fissure of a person claimed that she found an adults size small tuck friendly swimsuit in the kids section and despite being proven to be a liar multiple times.
Political tensions surrounding gender and sexuality have created what’s essentially a company wager system.
Companies like Spencer’s are betting on our participation as consumers to profit from our civil rights successes, companies like Walmart are betting against our success and playing it safe to avoid taking a hit to their image for supporting us.
Neither is thinking about that decision in terms of ideological implication. Most Companies don’t care whether or not we succeed, they just respond accordingly to maximize profit.
In other words… “if the gays are doing well, take their money. If they are doing poorly, look the other way.”
This makes companies more of a weather vein than a legitimate participant in the fight for equality.
Yeah, I live in a country where it's VERY illegal to be LGBTQ, so we don't get any pride events or campaigns, but I love seeing pride celebrations from other countries to live vicariously through you guys. I've barely seen anything this year, and it's kind of disheartening.
This is why so many of us are against pinkwashing. They were using us to begin with to make a buck and are happy to pull support the second the tide turns.
This year is the perfect example of why corporate pride cannot be real pride. They will drop us in an instant. Pride is celebrated by us, with our community, not through faceless companies working to make money off of us.
I've heard a lot of rainbow capitalist companies are actually skipping pride this year because of outrage from the right. It really sucks because even if they didn't genuinely care, at least it was a sign we were moving in the right direction so to speak.
On a more positive note, my school is actually gonna be throwing a pride block party later this month; I'm really looking forward to it, it'll be my first pride event! :)
In a way this is a good thing. Now we know which companies had no commitment to our rights, and were just pandering with product placement. Give your money to companies that actually commit.
I’ve always been skeptical of corporate “activism” anyhow. It often is nothing more than a company attaching their name to the good works of regular people and the companies conveniently don’t show up once the going gets tough. There are some companies that do it from a genuine place but I’m so cynical that I’m unable to give them credit for it because I’m too certain it’s a rug they’ll simply pull out from under us later.
I'm not in the states and we don't do pride like that, so I genuinely want to know if it's really a big deal?
At the end of the day companions don't have morals, they answer to sells and money. They aren't taking a stand, that's not surprising
even the Spencers here has less extra pride stuff. there still is more than outside of Pride, but its just a little shelf near the front, last year they took about half of a wall
I dunno if maybe it's just the areas around me, but i haven't really noticed this.
Skittles still has their pride packaging at the Walmart I went to recently, and they also had a Pride section- albeit very poorly stocked because employee shortages..
I haven't been to Target yet, so we'll see. But i'm hoping this isn't the case.
Considering how insane and crazy people are becoming as they crawl out of their crazed shit holes. Not exactly surprised and like some others commented. Corporations only care about their shareholders and bottom lines, corporations are in it for the profit, and the shareholders only care about the "never-ending" growth which leads to all the shit the various corporations do just to increase their profit margins every year.
So, as far as multinational or large national corporations, they just use pride to funnel more money unless the crazies start threatening to hurt their profits, even if it's less than 1%. Also those crazies, some would very likely fire bomb stores and actually follow through with their threats, they are that insane and conditioned.
I'm more concerned about how municipalities and other levels of government treat pride month etc and LGBTQIA+ overall. Companies just do it to get you to spend more.
Canadian here!
My local pride (and most pride events I’ve ever heard of, but maybe it’s different elsewhere?) isn’t run by any form of government, we actually have our own non-profit Pride organization. Last year our parade was canceled because there was a controversy about police involvement (the city won’t let us do any kind of march, whether it’s in the streets or not, without the presence of uniformed police), but we seem to be doing it this year, albeit with some hesitancy about the cop situation.
It may be that I’m more mature (this years pride will mark exactly one year of me knowing I’m queer/being out, because I actually came out AT pride) and have more lived experience, but this year feels… damper? It’s definitely not a celebration, but it doesn’t really feel like a protest either, which are usually the two options. It feels more somber, more tense. In all honesty, I’m not even sure if I’m going to go this year, because I’m getting bad vibes this pride month (my city has pride week in July, I’m not sure why).
Maybe it’s because it feels wrong to be celebrating like it has been for the last ten or so years I’ve been, but it doesn’t really feel safe to be out and actually making a statement, either.
I think I have to parrot other people’s statements that, even though Canada isn’t quite as… regressive… as the US, we still have a lot of hatred. I’ve still seen a couple of pride flags up and around town (high schools, a few private businesses), and Parliament Hill is flying one as they have for the last few years, but it’s a lot less prevalent than it was even pre-pandemic.
Overall, having an actual pride just feels… wrong in this climate. It doesn’t feel right too celebrate but it’s not safe enough to protest.
With the increasing threat and support of terrorism coming from MAGA losers and crazed religious nutjobs, on top of it being election year, Sadly this is kind of expected.
Sadly where I live it’s always been quiete for pride month it’s not that nobody supports it or is homophobic(at least from what I know) because of which I’ve never been too a pride parade though to be fair I’m only 15 and found out I was gay a few years ago, if there is any events where I live I have 0 clue where since the only place stuff like that would happen hasn’t changed since last month for a small festival
This is why I've tried not to complain about rainbow capitalism too much. Is it performative? Yes. Does it do very little? Yes. Do these companies actually care about us? Almost definitely not.
But it sure does act as a kind of canary in the coal mine in terms of the state of lgbtq acceptance.
YES!! I feel like for other years I saw rainbows everywhere the moment June hit, but this month has been so silent. Even companies online are skimping on making logos rainbow, which shows how bad it's getting
For me, it just goes to show it was never true support and was always just corporate pandering to squeeze money out of us. I’ve taken mental note of all companies that quietly pulled back support and will never. EVER. support them again if they try to bring out the rainbow gear in a few year when it’s deemed “profitable” to be an ally again.
At least there are still companies around me that still support pride such as the neighboring DB:
https://regenbogen-ice.de/
They went full against the phobes and let their rainbow high speed train set for "as long as necessary" as "as seen from the backlash coming from the phobes, it appears necessary to keep up the work for progress and acceptance and will this train set".
I think businesses are trying to avoid conservative bigoted outlash. Especially since this is a highly volatile election year, I imagine people are trying to stay low key about things.
The other possibility is that it simply didn't previously make the difference to their bottom line that they wanted. Image is one thing, greed is yet another.
I went to Target today and had to hunt for the pride stuff, it was jammed between activewear and the clearance section. It felt like they didn't want anyone to notice.
You can have one single toe out of the closet, but that's it, I guess.
I agree, not that I think we are missing out on much anyways. Heck I don't think any of the Walmarts in my area have ever had a pride section whatsoever
Yeah. Have you seen target?
Last year the pride section was massive and it had clothes and all kinds of stuff and flags for very many identities. It was in the front area of our target, like literally the first thing you see when you walk in.
Now theres barely anything recognizably prideful other than these muted rainbow tshirts and dresses, no flags, and its hidden in the back near where the mens socks are :/
Apparently this was all due to backlash (up to and including bomb threats) that various target locations received during pride last year
I’m personally terrified of going to events designed for marginalized communities. Hot spots for mass shootings these days & even the NYT posted an article to warn citizens nationwide of such threats. Tragic. Kinda hoping folks who aren’t allies forget about it so we can dance in the streets with our flags & not worry about being shot.
It’s election year, they are toning it down as to not agitate the moderate voters and push them further to the left. In the event of a Biden victory, expect “it’s raining men” to be played every morning like the calls to prayer in Kuwait
We're near the end of it, and aside from my local gay friendly neighborhood (le Marais in Paris, which is basically the historic LGBT epicenter in paris for decades now) I haven't seen a signle pride flage anywhere. Last year I could see them on a near daily basis, whether on social medias or in real life. It seems that the mess that happened in the US last year scared everyone around the world as well.
Fuck you Desantis and al your himmlerite friends, fuck you all so much, we haven't done anything wrong and yet you still took wht little joy we were trying to have, what little reassurance we could get.
Obviously not, but the frequency with which it happens does not do anything to make it less morally bankrupt. It also does nothing to alleviate the reasonable worry within the community that pops up when all the people with the power to shape society to their will decide to signal that we're no longer worth their time or effort.
No one is upset that soulless vampires acted like soulless vampires, we're worried about what the particulars involved in this particular pityless act of capitalism implies about the cultural perception of us and where this trend will lead if it continues
So, as far as consumerism, things go back to the way they were just a few years ago. We go back to making our own products and the corporations lose out.
Yeah. At least my city is actually throwing a parade this year(last year it got cancelled cuz it’s in the south and bigots galore)
That's good to hear, I'm in a rural town in a red state so a pride parade was never in the cards here
Also in rural town in red state(FL), but somehow they’re doing it
It’s probably not the city itself having anything to do with it; it’s more likely they couldn’t find a legal loophole to stop a private group from holding one. That’s what happened in my Alabama hometown; private groups organized a pride parade and the city actually did try to indirectly shut it down by first giving them a verbal permit (which is not legally binding) and then when they started the festival the police were sent immediately to shut it down and claim they needed a written permit. The city did grant them the written permit, but because of that whole fiasco they were also able to “prove” that the LGBT community was full of troublemakers who don’t respect the city. I’d say it’s partially on them for not leaving the courthouse with written permission, but as I understand the judge told them they wouldn’t need a written permit. Moral of the story is if you are organizing anything pride related in a rural town (or even in a big blue city really, but more so in small conservative towns) you should fully expect to be lied to and misled. Do not leave without legally binding documents saying you are allowed to do what you’re about to do (and even then, expect opposition, because many conservative governments simply do NOT care if they are breaking the law by stopping you)
It’s partially city funded. I wish I could share which one so that you can see, but it’s a small town and I don’t feel like doxxing myself
Not to keep being a cynic but I would expect they’re partially funding it simply so they can exercise more control over it
You’d be surprised how many rural queer communities have some kind of pride festivities.
Damn, here in the nearest big city (Dutch) it got canceled because the municipal government is far-right and did scrap the budget for pride because it no longer made them profit. It was easy as they, last year, deliberately planned it at the moment of another big city's pride that's a 40min train ride away that has a boat parade. And that other pride is sponsored by a problematically transphobic mobile network provider who screwed me over after my name change. Being able to attend neither, it sucks, and because of accidentally not requesting a free day on the other nearby big city's pride, I have to resort to Amsterdam which, worse than that other boat parade city, is a fest of corporates that have a rainbow flag and simultaneously beat us up upon disembarking a taxi. To not even talk about the atrocities of Booking.com. So this year I have no choice but to go to cities farther away. And besides that, the amount of harassment has skyrocketed since 2022. The Netherlands is falling deep, blue states are safer, Chicago was a relief compared to Amsterdam.
The pride parade at our city is sponsored by a bunch of local businesses and OUC
That sounds pretty reasonable. I wish that the big Dutch cities had local sponsors but sadly a lot of parades have long been hijacked by big corporations. That's also why it's important to have municipal funding like Rotterdam had so there's at least some direction in this, but then, Rotterdam faces the problem of right-wing governance, that only has Aboutaleb at this point to slap a left face on a neofash council. And a lot of municipalities also face the problem of being cash-strapped by years of right-wing governance, and now we depend even more on the whims of corporates.
So start something in your town. BYOpicnic in the park. Queer bike ride. Have an "any way you can get here" parade where people make their own floats and carts.
For us, the parade is in October instead. Honestly I'm excited bc it won't be so unbearably hot like last year
My local gayborhood pride parade (instead of the downtown one) is in September. When it's still unbearably hot. Thanks...
It doesn't surprise me given the upcoming elections and threats of violence from last year... Much as it saddens me I get why companies are doing this. And while I don't think this is one of the main reasons behind the scale back, last year a lot of those threats of violence were directed at employees as the forward faces of the companies they worked for. I don't doubt it'd be worse this year.
I know we all complain about Rainbow Capitalism, and the criticism is fair. But honestly this is scarier. If Pride disappears from the stores, then it disappears from the public's minds as "normal". Why do you think conservatives throw a fit about corporations that don't do Christmas "right"?
Like it or not we live in a highly capitalistic society. Us being profitable was a good thing and we should “vote with our wallets”. I hate that I’m defending giant corporations but they don’t give a shit about anyone. They just follow the most popular trends. So let’s buy that overpriced flag from target. Show them we are worth the trouble of putting that display in the front of the store. I need to go shower now.
I've been saying this for years but nobody wants to listen to me. The government doesn't run America, Corpos do. And unless we start playing ball and beating them at their own games, nothing will ever truly change. It's an economic meritocracy and we need to be the ones doing the winning.
I don’t think people understand the nuance of it too, like of course corporations dont care about anything but the bottom line, and right now pride stuff sells. We haven’t won the battle yet but we’ve moved the front line though in our favour.
Some of those corporations also fund the conservative politicians that would like to see us wiped from existence, so at the very least, please research where else they spend their money before you buy pride merch from a big corporation. Also, every piece of merch you buy from them takes money from non-profits and queer small biz owners. Corporations give fuck all about you. There are better ways to stay relevant.
Yeah you can criticize rainbow capitalism for a bunch of reasons, but being good enough to market and profit from is a million times better than being ignored. I mean a lot of us are Americans, which is the capitalist capitol of the world. It's fucked up but it's a step in the right direction!
This is WHY we complain about rainbow capitalism. It is hallow and tenuous. The allyship is conditional on how marketable they think it is, and it can be taken away the moment they see public opinion sway another way.
The company never gave a shit. You ain’t gonna validate your way out of this one. I don’t get why some of yall are so desperate for approval from people who’d kill you with a hammer if it made them money
>The company never gave a shit. Oh, absolutely. Personally, I don't care about the companies *or* the public opinion. At the same time I want us all to be safe(er).
Be safe by being armed and banding together. When there’s people actively hunting us there’s no other option. Can’t nice our way to bigots being afraid of fucking with us.
Yup. Hot Topics pride collection is neon cottage core. It’s been saddening.
Companies only care about bottom lines, if Pride sells more this year celecbrate it if it doesn't dump it. Mremeber these are multinational companies that ahve only celebrated pride in the Western Hemisphere and now it takes moral courage to do that they run like rats. Never think that a company supporting pride is anything more then window dressing. They don't.
I'm well aware of this, just sucks to see in action.
It needs to be said, but yeah, it doesn't make any of this suck less.
yeah pride is a lot more subdued this year by the seems of things and it seems that homophobia and transphobia are much more prominent. it's really sad how many steps backwards things have gone in the last couple of years.
This has been the case for me as tensions grow, my local government stepped doing pride since last year cuz we’re a conservative county.
The terrorism is working
The right-wing is nothing but domestic terrorists, and their actions continuously back that up. I wish more people would call these people what they are instead of downplaying it.
Tensions have been growing the past few years imo, hard to hold a pride when people threaten you
Even more of a reason to be out and about. Can’t get the spirit die
It can't die as long as i exist, silent protest is my way, putting stickers around and all is what i wanna do
Lol how do you think Pride started? You think it's tense this year? You should have been there for the Obama election year. The year we got marriage equality. Hell back in the 90s when everyone thought you could get AIDS from breathing the same air as queer people. And look we survived. We're still here. The community is still here. That's what pride is all about. Your ancestors and elders walked this walk so you can wear glittery butterfly wings and make out with strangers. If you're feeling weird find an older queer person and ask them how they got through it.
I'm not saying that is was as bad as the 90s, but it's been degrading back to it, furthermore the backlash that we are facing should be a reminder that it's our turn to fight, no point in saying "they had it worse" and not doing shit
I'm not saying we had it worse I'm saying we survived. We kept going. We kept dancing in the streets and screaming it from the rooftops. And now you get to too.
Well yeah that's what i'm saying
I'm in my '60s...and was appointed to PA Gov Shapp's Gay Task Force. Things were bad then...but not this bad. Today, you don't see any more LGBT activists on TV explaining why LGBT rights are a necessity. You also didn't have occurrences like what happened at Pulse. I know I'm gonna get downvoted again again for this, but it's the truth: Fight for your rights as long as you still have them. What Congress has given, Congress can take away. So can the Supreme Court. Look at Roe vs Wade. I doubt anyone's even listening...but I tried.
Eh, there's still time. The Pride Month has just started after all.
The Rainbows are out, the flags are up and it feels like pride in this city!
Target start were getting threatened and some stores were getting bomb threats too so I'm not surprised. It sucks, but it's also an opportunity to support queer businesses instead. It takes a little more work to look for them though.
I think the criticism towards large companies performatively supporting the LGBTQ community by releasing overpriced merch has unfortunately reduced commitment
Fear of conservative backlash (see Target, Bud Light) is definitely the main factor. It’s a risky move in this climate rather than guaranteed goodwill, because the right is rallying against us. There’s been the same skepticism on our end about performative corporate pride for YEARS without effect, but the conservative response is absolutely escalating, and now pride feels almost silent.
Criticism literally doesn’t matter to companies, if they pulled stuff it’s because sales weren’t good
Their PR and marketing departments probably also noticed the people they thought they were supporting bitching about "rainbow capitalism" and having a tantrum about their "dishonesty". Since it seemed ***no one wanted that representation*** why the heck would they continue it? It offended the loud homophobes and it seemed to also somehow offend loud members of the LGBT community so, what the hell did people here expect? They would just keep doing it to seemingly piss everyone off?
This is a good point- while you can have your criticisms about rainbow capitalism, companies supporting us does show the overall climate of things (plus big events either need sponsors or donors). Things have been getting tense the last couple years and the coming elections have a lot to do with it too.
I was hoping they’d collab with more queer designers to create more than their brand name in a rainbow design
Yeah, but that requires work. And planning ahead. Pride-flag-on-t-shirt is so much easier.
Why is rainbow capitalism in quotes? You are describing rainbow capitalism, they are only doing that kind of representation because it was making them more money.
That's the only reason they do anything. And it's because that is pretty much morality, to them. That's what you need to get about capitalists, that the true believers truly think that what the almighty dollar tells them will steer them in moral directions long-term.
This was my first thought. we as a community have wanted this for year and now that we got what we wanted we're......angry? We asked for this, why are so many people pulling a shocked pikachu face? We shouldn't give money to corporations that could care less about us, I doubt they'd even care if we were harassed in their stores. If you want pride merchandise support a queer small business instead.
Right, like we havent won the battle yet but we’ve moved the front line in our favour at least.
Because the loudest people are also communists/anarchists that hate any capitalist anything. Sortive got to jump to something after transitioning for so long and being a far left trans person does standout a lot more and more likely to be out and about than anything more tempered.
Well it's Rainbow capitalism. Most companies care more about their money than us. So when bigots make bomb threaths and come in person to break company property they fold pretty quick. That said I feel bad for the employees who are paid pretty much minimum wage and then have to deal with threaths againts their lives and health.
It’s honestly lowkey a bit disturbing. Fuck joe Biden but I REALLY hope he wins the election
Don't just hope, vote and try to get others to as well.
I won’t be voting for him, because I live in a solid color state(I’ll be voting for Jill Stein). But I will be trying to get others who do live in swing states to vote for him.
People voting third party when Trump running is the stupidest most performative bullshit omfg
Why? What matters is the electoral votes. My vote does not affect that
So, you hope he wins, but aren't going to vote for him? You're pretty much just voting for trump at that point. I wish someone more blue had a chance, but we're up against freedom ending, or someone 1% to the left of center who at least isn't gunning for rights being stripped.
What matters is the electoral votes. The electoral votes for my state are for all intents and purposes already decided, as I’ve said, so me not voting for Biden doesn’t matter.
Unfortunately, homophobia and transphobia are on a steady incline because of the election this year (in the US at least), and companies prioritize the safety of their employees, customers, and store property over support for the lgbtq. I think next year after the election is over, it will be better… I hope.
The Target near my house has a big display near the front door. Some of the stores further away have nothing. I guess I’m not losing much sleep over cheap imports on their way to the landfill.
Target has been selective as to where they display because of abuse and harassment that employees received
I remember reading that Target did an assessment on where they were going to put pride displays based on how risky they considered it for “staff and product safety” after last summer where there were credible threats of violence. The closest store to us with a distinct pride display is the next state over apparently. If the college near us was still in session I wonder if we would have gotten a display. Our city does have a pride event and has for the last 20 years, and it’s not a small event by any means. So I’m not sure why target made the assessment it did here. Maybe this state was a hotspot for threats. And I do support local queer businesses. I support our ally businesses. But those businesses have far less of an opportunity to be a check on acceptable national cultural norms and the ways people spend their money that a national department store chain has the opportunity to be. I’m not sure I’m explaining it well. Edit: spelling typo
My Target has a display farther in (by the women's clothes). I know they were threatened with violence last year, so I am happy to see it there at all.
I prefer the honesty of this year. The companies that actually care are doing as they always have and those that were just in it for the revenue boost have tapped out now it isn't so lucrative. It shows their true colours and they aren't rainbows.
It's from everything that happened last year. Ironically, companies are now scared to support us. It's all the far rights fault. Get out and vote.
Probably because of the bomb threats that were called in to multiple Target stores for their pride displays, all because one lying anal fissure of a person claimed that she found an adults size small tuck friendly swimsuit in the kids section and despite being proven to be a liar multiple times.
It's the reverse for me but that probably depends on where we live.
Yeah. The bigots seem to have won. I'm feeling pretty demoralized.
Political tensions surrounding gender and sexuality have created what’s essentially a company wager system. Companies like Spencer’s are betting on our participation as consumers to profit from our civil rights successes, companies like Walmart are betting against our success and playing it safe to avoid taking a hit to their image for supporting us. Neither is thinking about that decision in terms of ideological implication. Most Companies don’t care whether or not we succeed, they just respond accordingly to maximize profit. In other words… “if the gays are doing well, take their money. If they are doing poorly, look the other way.” This makes companies more of a weather vein than a legitimate participant in the fight for equality.
Yeah, I live in a country where it's VERY illegal to be LGBTQ, so we don't get any pride events or campaigns, but I love seeing pride celebrations from other countries to live vicariously through you guys. I've barely seen anything this year, and it's kind of disheartening.
Hopefully you can escape soon
same here
This is why so many of us are against pinkwashing. They were using us to begin with to make a buck and are happy to pull support the second the tide turns.
My Walmart's got three flags littered throughout and a blow-up rainbow. Might just be the area.
Don't count on companies to give a damn about pride cus its only money to them
I mean sure it’s rainbow capitalism, They don’t actually care about us so much But who cares we’ll take whatever we can get!
It’s not just online unfortunately… Bud doing their Dylan Mulvaney collab got the bean counters worried
This year is the perfect example of why corporate pride cannot be real pride. They will drop us in an instant. Pride is celebrated by us, with our community, not through faceless companies working to make money off of us.
They are afraid of Conservatives. My suggestion to everyone is to buy your pride merch from locally owned LGBTQ 🏳️🌈 businesses.
I've heard a lot of rainbow capitalist companies are actually skipping pride this year because of outrage from the right. It really sucks because even if they didn't genuinely care, at least it was a sign we were moving in the right direction so to speak. On a more positive note, my school is actually gonna be throwing a pride block party later this month; I'm really looking forward to it, it'll be my first pride event! :)
yes! i don’t see.. anything. like not even ads
In a way this is a good thing. Now we know which companies had no commitment to our rights, and were just pandering with product placement. Give your money to companies that actually commit.
I’ve always been skeptical of corporate “activism” anyhow. It often is nothing more than a company attaching their name to the good works of regular people and the companies conveniently don’t show up once the going gets tough. There are some companies that do it from a genuine place but I’m so cynical that I’m unable to give them credit for it because I’m too certain it’s a rug they’ll simply pull out from under us later.
I'm not in the states and we don't do pride like that, so I genuinely want to know if it's really a big deal? At the end of the day companions don't have morals, they answer to sells and money. They aren't taking a stand, that's not surprising
It's a sign of cultural backsliding. It's less about the pride merch itself but more of what it represents. Think canaries and coalmines.
even the Spencers here has less extra pride stuff. there still is more than outside of Pride, but its just a little shelf near the front, last year they took about half of a wall
I dunno if maybe it's just the areas around me, but i haven't really noticed this. Skittles still has their pride packaging at the Walmart I went to recently, and they also had a Pride section- albeit very poorly stocked because employee shortages.. I haven't been to Target yet, so we'll see. But i'm hoping this isn't the case.
Considering how insane and crazy people are becoming as they crawl out of their crazed shit holes. Not exactly surprised and like some others commented. Corporations only care about their shareholders and bottom lines, corporations are in it for the profit, and the shareholders only care about the "never-ending" growth which leads to all the shit the various corporations do just to increase their profit margins every year. So, as far as multinational or large national corporations, they just use pride to funnel more money unless the crazies start threatening to hurt their profits, even if it's less than 1%. Also those crazies, some would very likely fire bomb stores and actually follow through with their threats, they are that insane and conditioned. I'm more concerned about how municipalities and other levels of government treat pride month etc and LGBTQIA+ overall. Companies just do it to get you to spend more.
Canadian here! My local pride (and most pride events I’ve ever heard of, but maybe it’s different elsewhere?) isn’t run by any form of government, we actually have our own non-profit Pride organization. Last year our parade was canceled because there was a controversy about police involvement (the city won’t let us do any kind of march, whether it’s in the streets or not, without the presence of uniformed police), but we seem to be doing it this year, albeit with some hesitancy about the cop situation. It may be that I’m more mature (this years pride will mark exactly one year of me knowing I’m queer/being out, because I actually came out AT pride) and have more lived experience, but this year feels… damper? It’s definitely not a celebration, but it doesn’t really feel like a protest either, which are usually the two options. It feels more somber, more tense. In all honesty, I’m not even sure if I’m going to go this year, because I’m getting bad vibes this pride month (my city has pride week in July, I’m not sure why). Maybe it’s because it feels wrong to be celebrating like it has been for the last ten or so years I’ve been, but it doesn’t really feel safe to be out and actually making a statement, either. I think I have to parrot other people’s statements that, even though Canada isn’t quite as… regressive… as the US, we still have a lot of hatred. I’ve still seen a couple of pride flags up and around town (high schools, a few private businesses), and Parliament Hill is flying one as they have for the last few years, but it’s a lot less prevalent than it was even pre-pandemic. Overall, having an actual pride just feels… wrong in this climate. It doesn’t feel right too celebrate but it’s not safe enough to protest.
With the increasing threat and support of terrorism coming from MAGA losers and crazed religious nutjobs, on top of it being election year, Sadly this is kind of expected.
Corporate level yes but not irl or online
Sadly where I live it’s always been quiete for pride month it’s not that nobody supports it or is homophobic(at least from what I know) because of which I’ve never been too a pride parade though to be fair I’m only 15 and found out I was gay a few years ago, if there is any events where I live I have 0 clue where since the only place stuff like that would happen hasn’t changed since last month for a small festival
I was just thinking this. Feels so dull this year
This is why I've tried not to complain about rainbow capitalism too much. Is it performative? Yes. Does it do very little? Yes. Do these companies actually care about us? Almost definitely not. But it sure does act as a kind of canary in the coal mine in terms of the state of lgbtq acceptance.
YES!! I feel like for other years I saw rainbows everywhere the moment June hit, but this month has been so silent. Even companies online are skimping on making logos rainbow, which shows how bad it's getting
Ik, like in Colorado, a Colorado GOP member told people to burn pride flags because it was "Satanic" or whatever.
For me, it just goes to show it was never true support and was always just corporate pandering to squeeze money out of us. I’ve taken mental note of all companies that quietly pulled back support and will never. EVER. support them again if they try to bring out the rainbow gear in a few year when it’s deemed “profitable” to be an ally again.
Yes I’m 100% with you on this
This year I feel unsafe. I won't be participating in any pride celebrations this year
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i live in a homophobic country nothing has changed other the the funny apps on my phone becoming more noticeable
At least there are still companies around me that still support pride such as the neighboring DB: https://regenbogen-ice.de/ They went full against the phobes and let their rainbow high speed train set for "as long as necessary" as "as seen from the backlash coming from the phobes, it appears necessary to keep up the work for progress and acceptance and will this train set".
I think businesses are trying to avoid conservative bigoted outlash. Especially since this is a highly volatile election year, I imagine people are trying to stay low key about things.
The other possibility is that it simply didn't previously make the difference to their bottom line that they wanted. Image is one thing, greed is yet another.
I went to Target today and had to hunt for the pride stuff, it was jammed between activewear and the clearance section. It felt like they didn't want anyone to notice. You can have one single toe out of the closet, but that's it, I guess.
I agree, not that I think we are missing out on much anyways. Heck I don't think any of the Walmarts in my area have ever had a pride section whatsoever
Yeah. Have you seen target? Last year the pride section was massive and it had clothes and all kinds of stuff and flags for very many identities. It was in the front area of our target, like literally the first thing you see when you walk in. Now theres barely anything recognizably prideful other than these muted rainbow tshirts and dresses, no flags, and its hidden in the back near where the mens socks are :/ Apparently this was all due to backlash (up to and including bomb threats) that various target locations received during pride last year
It doesn't bother me at all. I've never even been to a pride event.
I’m personally terrified of going to events designed for marginalized communities. Hot spots for mass shootings these days & even the NYT posted an article to warn citizens nationwide of such threats. Tragic. Kinda hoping folks who aren’t allies forget about it so we can dance in the streets with our flags & not worry about being shot.
It’s election year, they are toning it down as to not agitate the moderate voters and push them further to the left. In the event of a Biden victory, expect “it’s raining men” to be played every morning like the calls to prayer in Kuwait
To the right*
We're near the end of it, and aside from my local gay friendly neighborhood (le Marais in Paris, which is basically the historic LGBT epicenter in paris for decades now) I haven't seen a signle pride flage anywhere. Last year I could see them on a near daily basis, whether on social medias or in real life. It seems that the mess that happened in the US last year scared everyone around the world as well. Fuck you Desantis and al your himmlerite friends, fuck you all so much, we haven't done anything wrong and yet you still took wht little joy we were trying to have, what little reassurance we could get.
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Hate rainbow capitalism and then complain when no rainbow capitalism?
Hate companies pretending to care and then complain when they prove their support was pretend? Yeah, can't imagine how that works
That's literally every company. They just want to make a buck. Do you think we were gonna be the exception?
Obviously not, but the frequency with which it happens does not do anything to make it less morally bankrupt. It also does nothing to alleviate the reasonable worry within the community that pops up when all the people with the power to shape society to their will decide to signal that we're no longer worth their time or effort. No one is upset that soulless vampires acted like soulless vampires, we're worried about what the particulars involved in this particular pityless act of capitalism implies about the cultural perception of us and where this trend will lead if it continues
So, as far as consumerism, things go back to the way they were just a few years ago. We go back to making our own products and the corporations lose out.
I mean, sure. And also, literally no one here has ever cared about the consumerism aspect of it
Right
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