EP39: Empowering Pride: Supporting Queer-Owned Businesses and Honoring Brenna Howard

Ever wondered how corporations leverage LGBTQIA+ culture for profit while failing to offer genuine support? Join us as we dissect the phenomenon of rainbow capitalism, or pinkwashing, which runs rampant particularly during Pride Month. We'll trace its evolution from a seemingly positive shift in the late 90s to its current state, where many companies only offer superficial support. By understanding the misuse of pinkwashing in both LGBTQIA+ and breast cancer awareness contexts, we reveal the problematic core that lies beneath these corporate facades.

Curious about how political figures and corporations exhibit performative allyship? We'll shine a spotlight on companies like AT&T and Target, whose public support for LGBTQIA+ rights often contradicts their financial backing of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. We'll also explore the Salvation Army's questionable stance on trans rights and delve into political pinkwashing, featuring figures like Trump and the use of LGBTQIA+ imagery by Israel to overshadow broader human rights issues. This chapter is an eye-opener on the true intentions behind some high-profile endorsements.

On a more empowering note, we'll discuss how supporting queer-owned small businesses can combat these exploitative practices. Highlighting inspiring personal stories and practical advice, we'll guide you on identifying truly queer-friendly businesses. We'll also pay tribute to Brenna Howard, the mother of pride, for her pivotal role in the LGBTQIA+ history. By supporting queer creators and businesses, we can foster a more inclusive and supportive community. Stay safe, stay queer, and enjoy the pride festivities with genuine allies!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

the hypocrisy is staring you in the face. It's hypocrisy, it just is. Y'all get it. Hey, y'all, welcome back. I just recently got a haircut. I'm obsessed. I finally have the bullet of my dreams, so that's fun Today here on the podcast me and my good friend Socrates, who is the rat now sitting on my shoulder don't worry, they're not real.

Speaker 1: 0:52

They and I are going to explain to you rainbow capitalism, slash, pinkwashing, what it is, how it's incorporated into all of our daily lives and the way it affects all of us both. You know good and bad, pretty much mostly bad, I hate to say it, but you know everything has its good sides and so does rainbow capitalism to a certain extent, especially when it, like, first started. So we'll get into that a little later. So, first off, what is rainbow capitalism? Rainbow capitalism is also known as pinkwashing, pink capitalism, homocapitalism or gay capitalism and basically, in the realm of economics, rainbow capitalism describes the commodification of LGBTQIA plus culture and the movement as a whole sold right back to us, and this is specifically rampant around Pride Month, and this is specifically rampant around pride wealth. So one of the reasons why rainbow capitalism, specifically in the realm of economics, was pretty decent when it first started out was because of the fact that for so, so, so many years, as we've discussed throughout this podcast before, we just weren't acknowledged. You know, like queerness was, it was either acknowledged as like an oddity, an inversion, something to stay away from, or it just wasn't acknowledged period. So in the early 2000s and, you know, late 90s, when businesses finally started recognizing us and catering to us like we are real people, it was really nice to see and it was also it showed a shift in public perception on queerness, like we no longer felt quite so othered, it showed that to a certain extent we were being accepted. But you know, obviously, as rainbow capitalism has aged and as these businesses who have partaken in it have frequently turned their backs on us and not actually put their money where their mouth is, only just tried to basically rob queer people, it's become clearer and clearer that these aren't actually good things. Like rainbow capitalism isn't actually a good thing, you know it, yeah, but in its early roots, when it first started out, it was like a breath of fresh air for queer people to finally be recognized. But some things must change and this is one of them. So rainbow capitalism not good. Not good At its beginning. Sure, now, not good, just not good.

Speaker 1: 3:20

It's also important to note when discussing specifically pinkwashing, like when using the word pinkwashing specifically, that is a term that is also used widely throughout the breast cancer awareness and breast cancer research but then doesn't actually donate a meaningful contribution toward breast cancer awareness and breast cancer research. So it's basically the same thing as rainbow capitalism, or the same thing as pinkwashing for the queer community, just for breast cancer awareness specifically. So, just so you guys know, if you hear pinkwashing in other contexts, that's the other context that it is mainly used in is for breast cancer survivors and breast cancer awareness. So rainbow capitalism, like I said, at its beginning, had a what's the word I'm looking for. It had good intentions, you know. It had roots where, especially from queer people's side, we just wanted to be seen, we just wanted to be accepted, we just wanted to be treated like normal people and when we finally saw these companies that up until this point, if they were advertising to us, were only advertising to us extremely vaguely, finally put us in the spotlight, you know, it kind of felt nice. It felt nice, but at the end of the day it is problematic at its core and from the moment it begins, and the main reason for that is because a lot of these companies painting themselves rainbow for one month out of the year, a lot of these companies posting all of those things about queer lives being important to them and their queer employees and all that jazz for one month out of the year, will spend the other 11 months of that same year donating egregious amounts of money to anti-LGBTQIA plus organizations, legislation and politicians, and that's not okay. That's where rainbow capitalism and pinkwashing and all of these things become truly problematic. And that is where we are at with basically every major corporation that is partaking in rainbow capitalism. Walmart is guilty of it, basically all of them. So that's why at its beginnings wasn't so bad.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Nowadays has definitely just is not, is plain and simply not good. So naming every example of a business doing something like this, we would literally be here all day. I would never be leaving this chair and I'm going to be so chair and I'm gonna be so real. I'm already getting a little overstimulated with just like general other body things I got going on. Disability really do be disabling sometimes. So like I'm not feeling super hot. I'm not trying to be here all damn day reading out every business's shittiness. So we're just gonna go through a couple examples. At&t is a big example. They douse themselves in rainbow once a year, you know, to just scream all about pride for all you know, and were caught by corporate accountability action, donating $200,000 on 327 different occasions to anti-LGBTQIA plus legislators since 2016. So from 2016 to I believe it was last year, because obviously they don't really have this year's numbers quite yet, we're still in the middle of it, so I believe it was last year is where these numbers cut off. On 327 different occasions they donated over $200,000. Like it's insane. So like fuck AT&T. Like that's not cool.

Speaker 1: 7:16

The infamous Target I think we're all pretty much aware, but you know, target is the definition of your ally, friend, who you know promises they're going to be there for you and promises they got your back and all that jazz. And then the moment that they're met with even like a fourth of the discrimination that you face on a daily basis, they're just, they're gone, they're out there, they're stabbing you in the back, they're not defending your pronouns. We've all known someone like that. I know I have or they get mad at you and then they start misgendering you because they're just, they're, they're mad at you for other things, but now they no longer can be bothered to respect your gender. Ooh, ooh, don't get me started on those types of people. Oh my God, if you do that, bro, it's we're throwing hands on site. Like that is plain and simply outright disrespectful. Like, no, I don't care if that person is call them a cunt, but call them by their proper gender. While you're calling them a cunt, plain and simply use the right pronouns. But I will shit, talk them all day with you, but use their right pronouns. It's not that hard. So anyway, yeah, the infamous target.

Speaker 1: 8:25

And last but not least and this one actually shocked me Salvation Army. I've always known them to be just a straight up anti-queer organization, but they also post their obligatory June human rights for all everyone deserves love post only to, in the winter months, be seemingly completely content allowing trans women to freeze to death right outside their shelters. You know we love some of that good, old-fashioned christian love around here. So so, yeah, uh, uh, fuck the salvation army. Do not, do not go, just don't. Just. There are so many other thrift stores with better quality, cuter shit and just better people. Plain and simply like just ew, no, like you can get good furniture at other places too. I promise you, as someone who has relied on thrifting for furniture, you can get furniture at places that aren't salvation army, too. Stay away from salvation army, please, thank you.

Speaker 1: 9:28

On the flip side of rainbow capitalism and all this stuff, there is the realm in which the term pinkwashing fits just a little bit better, and that is when we touch on governments and political entities doing pinkwashing. Pinkwashing, which is basically when a government, a politician, entire countries will pander to LGBTQIA people, will use LGBTQIA plus rights as good publicity for campaigning, or good publicity while committing an entire genocide, while actively working against queer people, or just not actually working for queer people, like basically, just, you know, using us to get good publicity and then not actually doing the hard work it takes to help us, or using us as a scapegoat when it's convenient. So I think a perfect example of that that we're going to step into immediately is Trump. Trump. I'm sure we all remember back in 2016 when he held up that rainbow flag. I think he held it up backwards at first, which made me laugh out loud. It said LGBTs for Trump on the flag. It was written on it and, I believe, sharpie, and it was passed to an aide from someone in the crowd and then from that aide was handed up to Trump and he held it up. Obviously, he did that during his 2016 presidential run only to once, winning the presidency, become a consistent thorn in the side of all queer Americans, specifically trans people. He is, I would say, at least IMO in my opinion. I would say he is pretty responsible for this recent uptick and confident wave. We've seen in anti-queer hate how confident people are in just being so fucking hateful. I definitely think that can be traced back to the things he did during his presidency and the things he just was so comfortable saying and doing to queer people during his presidency, and the things he just was so comfortable saying and doing to queer people. So, yeah, that is a perfect example of pinkwashing in government using us to campaign, using us to look good and then turning us into a scapegoat when it's convenient. You know trans people are now the scapegoat of the alt-right. It's just the way it's become. Goat of the alt-right, it's just the way it's become. So that is a perfect example of pink washing in the government, and our own government specifically.

Speaker 1: 11:56

Another example of pink washing is the rather infamous image that I would imagine most, if not all, of our audience have seen at this point. It was posted to Israel's official government social media account and it depicted an LGBTQIA plus member of the IOF holding up a pride flag over the ruins of Gaza and it stated rather proudly in the post about it. First pride flag to fly over Gaza, while at the same time, israel itself does not have comprehensive LGBTQIA rights. They don't even recognize civil unions between two queer people. They have no gay marriage whatsoever.

Speaker 1: 12:38

Ragging about flying a queer flag over Gaza, it is just absurd to think that queerness would ever stand behind the erasure of an entire identity, the erasure of an entire group of people, the literal, actual genocide of the Palestinians. It is absurd to think that queerness would in any way, shape or form stand behind that. It's a blatant hypocrisy and it's Israel erasing the entirety of Palestinian identity. It also erases the existence of queer Palestinians. It's foolish to believe that there are no queer Palestinians. It's not just foolish, it is downright fucking stupid. You can't at the same time, at a queer rights protest, say we're everywhere and then when you realize we're everywhere, it becomes fucking inconvenient, like we're everywhere even where it's not very convenient for us to be. Does that make sense? Like we are everywhere. So it completely erases the existence of queer Palestinians, which, in any realm of queerness, is not okay. It's not okay to erase any form of identity In the realms of humanity. It's not okay, like liberation for all or pride for none.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Marsha P Johnson said it best herself it is in our own history. Anyway, we have another example, and it is once again from Mr Cheeto himself. I'll never stop saying that I'm sorry himself. I'll never stop saying that I'm sorry he's orange. It's too easy. Cheeto in the toupee.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Anyway, after the events of the Pulse shooting in Florida, which I'm sure we all remember, it was an absolutely horrific blow to the queer community and is an event that is a stark reminder as to why hate of any form cannot be allowed to fester and grow and continue Like it has to be nipped in the butt. And that is a stark reminder as to why that should have never happened. Plain and simply. After the events of the Pulse shooting, which was an absolutely horrific event. Plain and simply After the events of the Pulse shooting, which was an absolutely horrific event, trump bolstered loudly for the queer community and used the ethnicity and religion of the shooter, to drive a wedge between queer people and Muslims, to promote his travel ban against Muslim people and once again, outright ignoring the existence of queer Muslims, as if those two identities could never intersect, which is why intersectionality is so important, because there are so many identities that every identity can intersect.

Speaker 1: 15:16

He used an absolutely traumatic experience for the whole of the queer community, every queer person. I mean, I'm all the way in PA, new Jersey area when that happened and I was devastated. I have uncles who went to visit the memorial and they sent me a bunch of pictures and it was you know. They called me on the phone and we were crying together. I remember that very well and it's one of those things where it was a very easy trauma to take advantage of, especially considering the fact that we as a country already have a huge problem with Islamophobia. Like we just do. That's something that we have to work on just as a whole. We, you know, we just do, guys. It was easy, it was super easy for him to do and he did it and it was a perfect example of pinkwashing, because again, he would then go on to become nothing but an insider of hate and violence against the queer community from there.

Speaker 1: 16:20

How could you Y'all get it? The hypocrisy is staring you in the face. It's hypocrisy. It just is Back to rainbow washing in, specifically, economics and the capitalism side of things. And on to a much brighter note, because that whole past section got a little dark.

Speaker 1: 16:38

It's fair to get heated. There's a thought process that I'm struggling to put into words. It's right at the tip of my tongue, though Y'all probably get that it is so necessary to get angry, to get upset, to let yourself feel about these things. Because, for one, if you've seen the footage coming out of these areas, if you've seen the things and you're getting heated about active genocides that you're watching happening, or the exploitation of a marginalized community for the sake of manipulating another marginalized community going through pain, you have to let yourself feel these things and think about these things and get heated about these things, or else you lose a piece of yourself. You lose a piece of that humanity that is so vital to hang on to. You lose a bit of yourself. You know, I just feel like that's the quickest way to start losing yourself is to lose the ability to recognize when there are things that are deeply wrong happening around you and get fucking angry about it.

Speaker 1: 17:43

It's the idea of righteous rage and how sometimes there are things that you're supposed to be mad at. You're supposed to let yourself feel that that anger is telling you something. That anger is telling you that there is an injustice happening. That anger is telling you there's something you're supposed to be angry at. Listen to it. Don't let it control you, but listen to it, talk to it, connect with it in a certain way, try to understand it and then maybe you could do something about it. I just listen if anyone wants to go on these random tangent discussions with me, because I could have these literally all the time, literally all the time. I'm thinking about starting up a little something of just I don't know philosophy chats and we can just talk just by myself on like a weekly or monthly basis, where we just talk about what's going on in the world and just how we all feel about it, what we know, what we don't know, what we wish we could know more about. Let me know what y'all think about that, because that's something that I would definitely be open to doing and I will be connecting with my co-host about. But yeah, let me know if that's something that would interest y'all, because that's something that I would really like to do and we'll see what we can do. We'll figure something out with that, let me know. Let me know I have so many mosquito bites.

Speaker 1: 19:01

Just real quick. My birthday just passed 28. I made it through the 27 Club. Somehow I smoked with so many white lighters. I have a poem about it, actually funny enough, but I still haven't posted because it's not finished, even though it's about being 27. But yeah, I have so many mosquito bites because my lovely, beautiful partner took me on a bike ride on railroad tracks, through the woods for my birthday and it was so fun, it was so nice. We stayed at an absolutely stunning I think it was an Airbnb. It was beautiful.

Speaker 1: 19:35

I kept saying over and over again I was like unhoused for my 25th birthday. What do you mean? I'm here for 28?. Listen, next time y'all think life can't turn around for you real quick, I promise you it can. I didn't believe it either, but it can. It can Just keep hoping, keep treating the people around you with respect and kindness. That's the best advice I feel like I can give is just always be kind genuinely. Just be a good person. Remember that you never know what other people are going through. It's that simple. Anyway, I just went on a whole last tangent, but you know, it do be like that and that's why I'm saying we should go live sometime, let me know.

Speaker 1: 20:15

Anyway, back to rainbow capitalism and the fun, happier, lighter side of things and the things we can do, working together to help promote businesses that aren't Basically. Let's work together to not fall into the trap of rainbow capitalism. Yeah, because I don't know about you guys, but I, as someone with the neurodiversities, am an impulsive bitch who is real bad with money. So having some tips it's nice, it's helpful, and I'm not going to bitch who's real bad with money. So having some tips it's nice, it's helpful, and I'm not going to say it's not, and I know y'all would agree. It's important to remember that queer-owned small businesses selling pride or queer-themed things in Pride Month, outside of Pride Month, whatever, that's not pinkwashing, that's not rainbow capitalism. That's actually the best way to combat rainbow capitalism and pink washing is supporting queer owned small businesses, because then the money is going toward queer people. It is that's the best way to be an ally to. To, as a queer person, support your own community is to actively support the individual people within it through shopping at queer-owned small businesses.

Speaker 1: 21:29

Another great thing to do is making your own pride merch. I made other side the camera's inverted. That fucked me up royally. I made this earring. I literally found this little equal rights symbol at a bead store in Lancaster a year ago and I made this earring with just beads that I'd already had. I made this necklace. It says liberation. Now it has two glow in the dark stars that I literally can't find right now.

Speaker 1: 21:57

I made a bracelet for Palestine for myself because I wanted to be able to visibly show my support. So I made myself a little Palestine bracelet. It has little heart beads that say Gaza. I made a bracelet that says trans rights. I made a bracelet that says ACAB, because we believe in ACAB around here. And yeah, like you can make your own pride merch.

Speaker 1: 22:14

I have a shirt over there that I painted that I kind of messed up on the hike, I think, just because it got I don't know it got a little melty, I don't know. I have to fix it, but it has a pink triangle on it. I'm obsessed with it. It's my new favorite thing. I wore it on my birthday. I looked so good girl. But yeah, make your own pride, merch.

Speaker 1: 22:31

I'm actually hopefully keeping my fingers crossed. Y'all, keep your fingers crossed. I'm hoping this summer starting working some art festivals and stuff like that with my own queer-owned small business, like places like that. You know, making your own supporting three to four, one to five man-run small businesses run and owned by queer people, you know, that's a really good way to not fall into the trap of rainbow capitalism. Also, if you're interested in keeping tabs as to when that jewelry thing is going to be starting, you can check me out at written amalgamation on basically all platforms. So, yeah, that is written amalgamation on all platforms.

Speaker 1: 23:18

So, yeah, please come on over, check me out, say hi, let me know that you came over from the podcast. Please come on over, check me out, say hi, let me know that you came over from the podcast. That'll make me so fucking happy y'all. Oh my God. Anyway, I totally lost where I was. Oh my goodness. Oh yeah. So here are, holy hell. Here are five signs that a queer business is here for the queer community, by the queer community, all that jazz. They aren't a Fortune 500 company. That's a pretty good sign. That's a pretty. That's a pretty here's your sign. That's a pretty good sign. If they aren't a Fortune 500 company, well, you're probably pretty safe. They are proud beyond June. The pride, merch, the rainbows, the flags, all that stuff. It doesn't just go away once June ends, it sticks around year round. And yes, absolutely yes, cheers to that.

Speaker 1: 24:08

They offer functionally queer products, not just aesthetically queer. That one's a little confusing to me personally. Honestly, if anyone has any, I think that more means like if they offer clothing, it is gender affirming. If they offer clothing, it is gender affirming, it is. It's not just covered in rainbow, it is also a. It's not just aesthetic, it is also. It has a functionality to it. It again, if it's a shirt, it's a gender neutral shirt. If it's, it has a sense of functionality to it as well. I think that's what that means. But that one, I'm not gonna lie, I had to read that one, four or five times and I was like what, what does that mean? What does that mean? But you know, I think that's what that means.

Speaker 1: 24:52

They employ queer people. That's the fourth. That's a big one. It's either queer owned or, if they have employees, those employees are also queer. That's huge. And they reinvest in their community. It's one of those things where, as they start making a profit, they start trying to give back to the queer community in their area, or even just the small community in general, trying to create third spaces. They're giving back to their community, which 10 out of 10? 10 out of 10.

Speaker 1: 25:26

And then, last but not least, we have our fun slash, interesting fact. Here we go by activists and lgbtqia plus rights pioneer, brenna howard, known lovingly as the mother of pride, organized the first official pride, known as christopher street liberation day, one year after the stonewall riots. Without her pride, as we know, it would not exist. So when you're at, you know your local or or whatever pride thing you're going to or you're doing this month, give, give a little thank you to Brenna Howard, the mother of pride, in the process of doing it, because, girl, we owe her. Alrighty, I love you all. Stay safe, stay queer and have a wonderful, wonderful pride. Thank you.