End of Queer Pride review

As we round the end of Pride month, I would like to talk about impact. The impact of how society treats others just because they are “different”. For me, the biggest example of this impact is through corporations. There has always been an issue with rainbow washing. For those that don’t know, that’s when corporations go pro-queer in June to sell more things. This is very prominent from places like Target. See how many corporations are marching in the pride parades globally. You hear and see it in the TV and radio ads all month long. And the second July 1st hits, all gone. Packed away for another year. But it’s not just large corporations either.

I was on Etsy the other day looking for LGBT run businesses to buy some Pride swag from. The amount of stores selling pride swag that were not part of the alphabet soup was staggering. It made it quite difficult to find the stores I wanted. I also ran into this issue a few years ago. While looking for Black Lives Matters stuff, I found so many non-POC stored that were selling flags and shirts. Some with Blue Lives Matters junk in the same store. It broke my heart then, and it breaks my heart now.

I’m too old at this point to say this really affects me and my peers. It does, but that’s not what breaks my heart. What breaks my heart is the generations of queer or any marginalized groups that are bombarded with this image that we are to be tokenized and our existence is just a mere commodity. It breaks my heart to think these kids, these young adults, are potentially going to look at the world around them and not see the support they need. I understand that’s a bit of a leap to jump to, but think about it.

The world is not on the side of the queer community

I am privileged in many ways, but the one that matters here is that I was born and raised on the coast of the United States, which tend to be way more liberal than when you get more inland. In Massachusetts, where I’m from, we were the first state to legalize gay marriage. We paved the way and set the standard for everyone else in that aspect. But there is just as many, if not more right leaning states that don’t support the LGBT community the same way. As proof to this, look at the 800+ anti LGBT legislations currently trying to be passed. And for the record, Massachusetts’s is not without sin in this matter as well.

When I grew up, I looked at the world through a different lens than the LGBT youth does now. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, when it wasn’t entirely safe to be queer and out. In fact, when I was a kid, the term queer was something the bullies called you. Alongside the ever popular “faggot”. We not only have violence from the outside, but we also had the AIDS epidemic killing us from the inside.

It was a scary time, and even our politicians, when they would say the words surrounding being gay or AIDS, it would be formed in a way that we were being punished and this is what we get. Some very prominent religious leaders, one of which finally just recently passed, would say it was a plague from god. To this day I struggle with holding my husbands hand in public, in a liberal state, because of the hate I felt growing up.

But why does it hurt?

But I want to talk about that hate a minute, and I will connect it all together shortly. That hate is palpable, and that hate is still very prominent today. There are states I refuse to go to because I, not only fear my safety, but more I fear the safety of those I love most. That fear has and is and will destroy lives. There are many people out there that are no longer with us because of that fear. So many more today are living with that fear and think there is no light at the end of that tunnel. There is also so many more to come that are going to feel that way. And I believe a lot of this is due to corporate impact.

It’s one thing to be seen as a commodity, but when you see things like when Target balked and removed some pride stuff from their stores because of a small vocal group.  When you see the Dodgers franchise uninvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from an event, and then back petal. Or when corporations all over the country are canceling or “postponing” LGBT Pride celebration event, because that vocal minority spoke up, and the orgs got scared and made a harsh decision with little to no facts or thought of gaining perspective from those they decided to so boldly throw to the wolves.

Not only do the youth see this and think they are nothing more than that commodity I mention, but then they see the anti LGBT folks winning, and celebrating, and again hear themselves being called sinners, unnatural, disgusting, or any of the things we get called and got called when I was a kid. If you grew up being told you were worthless and an abomination to humanity.

How does it feel to be constantly told the way you are born, and had no control over, means you deserve to be treated like a lesser human. How do you think it feels, when you finally try to stand up, you get compared to a group of people that chose a certain career. The latter can change jobs any time, the former can not change their genetic makeup.

There can be hope

This was a little all over the place, but I have been dealing with a lot of extra rage this month seeing things develop around me. I hope, if nothing else, someone reads this and understands that it is tough and scary now, but it can get better, and most likely will. There’s many out there that’ve been through it, and would be happy to support you in any way we can.

Even if you are in the marginalized group, you can also be an ally to a subsection of that group.