Rainbow Capitalism

It's Pride month, y'all! What does that mean? Rainbow capitalism ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

What is rainbow capitalism?

Rainbow capitalism is when companies claim to support the LGBTQ community and causes but are really just grabbing for money. It is the extreme commercialization and exploitation of queer identities. 

Just because a company paints themself rainbow for a month does not mean they truly support you. Are they really here for you or just your money? Is any of that money going towards queer causes? Or… If this money is going towards queer causes, where else is it going? Many companies (cough AT&T cough) who have claimed to support queer causes and have donned themselves in rainbow cloaks have also willingly given their money towards anti-LGBTQ politicians. 

How have stores/companies done this?

Many companies will also make advertisements during pride month featuring queer couples. Real support would be showing queer people year round because we are here YEAR ROUND. Simply slapping a queer couple into your ad for pride month is… a weak attempt at support. While it is nice to see people like me in ads, they should be there year round. We do not exist to be profited off of. 

While some do show support, they back away upon facing backlash. A prime example is target. While Target does support the queer community, there have been some questionable things they have done over the past few years. In response to intense backlash, LGBTQ pride merchandise was either hidden or taken off shelves. Target claimed that this was for workers safety as many Targets were getting threats. While I do believe workers should be kept safe, more security can be put up. We can not show weakness. Do not back down easily. We will get nowhere if we back down.

What to look out for:

It can be hard to figure out if a company truly supports the LGBTQ community. Here are some things you can look out for!

• Inclusive language: This can include things like asking about pronouns/preferred names when hiring or sending emails with their own pronouns. These companies will also have training and policies having to do with appropriate language and gender inclusivity. 

• LGBTQ employees: An inclusive company will most likely have queer employees in all different levels of their business. 

• Donate to LGBTQ causes: This is one of the ones you have to be careful with. Try and find out where their money goes during the year to see who else they’re supporting. They could be trying to make themselves look good while they give money to people that actively make the world worse. Donations to good causes create positive PR, even if it’s small. 

• Speak up against hate: This company should not be afraid of backlash when speaking up against anti-LGBTQ topics. They should support the community through it all and be unafraid to do so. 

• Year long support: A lot of companies just paint themselves rainbow for the month for money and once it hits July 1st, they don’t care. That is, oftentimes, the only way they’re showing support. None of that money is going to donations. They take the money and run. 

A few ways to fight against rainbow capitalism:

• Shop from actual queer owned businesses. It’s that simple. I’ve already made an article about Etsy shops, but I will be writing about more shops that authentically support the community or are queer owned!

• If you run a business, try and actively support the community year round. If you sell Pride merch, maybe donate some of that to one of the plethora of LGBTQ organizations that exist.

• Support places that get their designs from queer artists! This shows Pride coming from its core and we get (in my opinion) some of the cutest and coolest designs. 

• Show Pride the way it started. My father would hate me saying this but… riot. Go to protests and get yourself out there (safely). If that’s too much for you, that is okay. Even just sharing posts online can do wonders for the community. Anything helps. 

What does rainbow capitalism mean for the community?

It basically makes Pride less about protests and freedom and more about financial gain. Instead of supporting actual queer people, you support a corporate scumbag trying to make a quick cash grab. Pride is NOT about consumerism, it is about taking a stand and fighting for the rights we deserve. I’m not saying all Pride merchandise is bad but PLEASE know where it’s coming from. Do not let a whole community be turned into something made to sell. If you are going to profit off of queer people and their community, at least actively support us even when Pride is over. We do not go away in July. We are never going away.

Happy Pride

-Dylan