Pride events around the country have been steadily raising their prices to keep up with higher and higher production value, further squeezing out queer people, who are more likely to have lower incomes.
The commercialisation of the rainbow flag and the queer movement has not only weakened the power of the symbol, but alienated LGBTQIA+ people from their own community. We should never platform organisations who both harm our community whilst profiting from our struggle.’ ‘Every year at Pride we are expected to march alongside corporations and organisations that don’t just harm our own community but also commit human rights abuses on a global scale,’ agrees Harry Gay, Campaigns Manager for the Outside Project, ‘The pink pound has never been so valuable. Still, any brand or corporation that has had no vested interest in Pride before, and is currently only engaging with queer people to monetise our identity and celebrations is incredibly damaging,’ explains Hunter Maalik, co-founder of the London Bi Pandas, a grassroots organising collective. ‘Some brands have supported the LGBTQIA+ movement since their inception, using their corporate power and lobbied for more rights for queer people. From fundamental Christians trying to ‘take back the rainbow’, to TERFs claiming the rainbow has become a tool for ‘silencing women’, the Citybus re-brand definitely isn’t the first time the queer community has had to defend our colours.įor an increasing number of LGBTQIA+ people and activists, protecting the Pride flag also means reclaiming it from pinkwashing corporations that only fly it now that it’s profitable for them to do so.Īs the work of generations of queer activists has paid off, and being LGBT+ is (somewhat) more accepted, companies have been cashing in on our movement, both by appealing to the pink pound and using Pride as a marketing gimmick to seem progressive.
This episode has highlighted how important it is that we all recognise the difference between the seven stripe rainbow, which has recently been used as a symbol of hope and gratitude for key workers during the coronavirus crisis, and the six stripe Rainbow Pride flag, which was created by activist Gilbert Baker as a rallying point for a community facing violence and oppression.Įver since its inception in the late 1970s, the rainbow flag has outraged queerphobes as much as it’s inspired feelings of community in queer people.