Pride 2019

It’s June.

LGBT+ Pride Month.

The full acronym is getting a bit long; so, I’ll just leave it as LGBT+, yet I hope I don’t offend anyone by leaving out their representative letter(s).

It’s like the world sprung rainbow everything on June 1. 

And that leads me to this very touchy post. 

I haven’t been to an actual Pride celebration for a few years. It’s not that I’m not proud to be gay. I’m proud to be me with everything that entails. I believe visibility is necessary and has had a positive impact for the younger generations. While Pride celebrations aren’t for everyone for a variety of reasons, there are a few reasons I don’t go, and I’ve blogged in detail about those reasons in past posts. But, here is a short reminder: the over-sexualization, the hypermasculinization, unwanted advances and the large crowd in small, cramped places can lead to extreme sensory overload.

But, what I really wanted to share was about celebrating Pride in the other gay neighborhoods; the shopping malls.

I went for a walk the other day in my local mall as it was too hot to walk in my favorite parks.  One of the first stores near the entrance had a nice window display with a glitter rainbow heart. Very sweet. I was touched. I felt seen. When I first came out, we didn’t even have an LGBT+ Pride month, the acronym consisted of only two letters, the parades were more political than festive, and the rainbow was just beginning to be widely used as an LGBT+ Pride symbol. I am from the Lambda/Pink Triangle generation. Seeing all this on display in a mall shows some progress. 

A few doors down, another store had a window display showing various tee-shirts with LGBT+ affirming slogans, while a store farther along the way had other rainbow themed clothing. In fact, about 5 of the 170 stores had a Pride display and/or merchandise. (As it was nearing 100°F, I stayed inside and didn’t check the outside shops.) 

While I applaud these stores who do honor Pride, I also wonder what their motivation is. I can hope they affirm their employees wherever they fall along the entire LGBT+ spectrum. It’s also not hard to see commercialization as a powerful reason to “celebrate” Pride, especially when all I could find in one store in their pride merchandise was a rainbow decorated tube of hand lotion. 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I did not enter each store to thoroughly search their merchandise, but drew my possibly erroneous conclusions based only what was visible in the front displays. 

Yet, I wonder how promoting a rainbow decorated tube of hand lotion promotes LGBT+ Pride. And from a candle store yet. I can understand how wearing a tee-shirt or rainbow colored spandex bicycle shorts would increase one’s visibility, but hand lotion? It can’t be the scent? What would Pride smell like? The aroma of the marchers after the miles-long parade in the hot sun? The fragrance of the beer spilled all over the various dance floors? Or would it just be lavender scented? And how would a non-LGBT+ person tell it was Pride lotion? Does it turn rainbow colored when applied? Does it contain glitter?

Again, I am truly grateful to these stores for celebrating LGBT+ Pride month, and I feel honored and respected that they do, but I must ask this one other burning question? Do they also honor the other Pride and History months as well? African-American History in February? Women’s History in March? Asian-American History in May? Hispanic Heritage in September/October? Disability Awareness in October? Native American History during November? I see plenty more opportunities for commercialization here as well. 

Yes, my cynicism shows. I own that. I do feel honored these companies want to do something, as have many companies in the past. A few years ago, Nabisco revealed a print ad for Pride month featuring a six layered Oreo cookie, one layer of each color of the rainbow flag and the slogan “June 25 | PRIDE." They drew flack for it. A couple of years later, Burger King unveiled a Pride Whopper. No, the meat wasn’t multicolored, the wrapper was. It featured the then-six colors of the rainbow flag with one word written on each of the colored stripes: We. Are. All. The. Same. Inside. They, too, took flack. 

Other companies have had television or print ads featuring same-sex couples; Campbell’s Soups, Calvin Klein Jeans and IKEA, to name a few. And yes, they all took heat and threats of boycotts. But, none backed down. But, to be honest, I also don't recall seeing similar ads in subsequent years. 

Yes, support matters. It also matters in larger circumstances than just during Pride month. The former Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, suggested what one shareholder could do with his shares when the shareholder expressed his belief that the company’s decision to support same-sex marriage would hurt his returns. It’s not clear whether the shareholder followed through with Schultz' suggestion that he was free to sell his shares if he felt he was in danger of losing money. Schultz went on to say some corporate decisions are not solely based on economics. (Source in link below.)

Let’s hope the other companies are putting our money where their mouth is and speaking up for all of us. Because everyone I mentioned above can also fall along the LGBTQQIAP spectrum.

Now, I need my Venti, extra hot, almond milk, no-foam caffe mocha. 

To read an account of Schultz' response to the shareholder, click here.


To view a Wikipedia article on various LGBT+ symbols, click here.