It's Pride Month !

Pride month!

This month is international pride month so queer culture is spread around like wildfire. Once June starts companies place a rainbow filter over their logo and while the awareness for queer culture is appreciated sometimes it can feel like exploitation.

Pride month is in June as a tribute of remembrance of the stonewall riots. The stonewall riots took place in June of 1969 and were a series of riots standing up for LGBTQ rights. A year after the initial riots the first parade took place honouring the steps taken in the riots.. Now every year around the world we celebrate stonewall for the whole of June.

So as the clock ticks over from May to June company's dawn their rainbow flags to show their ‘pride’. However, sometimes companies' readiness to only put on a show for one month and then ignore it the rest of the year often puts the LGBTQ community on edge. While we love to see the rainbow flag flown everywhere many companies fail to actually do anything to help the LGBTQ community even in pride month. But there is no Harm in changing colours.

Companies put out rainbow versions of their apparel and take all the profit for themselves and while it is their business they are directly profiting off the LGBTQ community and what it stands for. This performative activism tends to make companies some major bank. Personally, I love to see cool rainbow apparel because I am like 3 magpies in a trench coat and anything shiny or colourful catches my eye but seeing the amount of money they make rubs me the wrong way.

Many companies this year have switched the way they handle pride month most notably being skittles. Skittles are known for their rainbow packaging all year round but for pride month skittles have taken it back with the tagline ‘Only one rainbow matters during pride’. The brand partnered with an advocacy group by the name of GLAAD donating a portion of proceeds from the grey skittles to that charity group.

This year marks 52 years since stonewall and while we have made many strides in marriage equality there is still more to do. Same-sex is legal in 21 countries around the world the most recent legalisation was in Costa Rica in 2020. LGBTQ quality of living is increasing as the acceptance and normalisation of LGBTQ people in media increases. The following countries have found a 70% or higher increase in the standard of living for LGBTQ people with The UK at a 86% increase, Canada at an 85% increase, Argentina at a 76% increase and the US at 72%.

All in all, I personally think that companies can put a rainbow on for one month and call it support all they want and honestly I love seeing the rainbows everywhere. It makes me feel very supported but I do understand the concerns of others in the community around acts of performative activism. If you really want to support LGBTQ just being there all year round is enough.

Thanks for reading,

Myllo