The Hollowness Of Corporate Pride
Performative displays of allyship are no substitute for substantive activism
Pride Month, at it’s core, is a commemoration of rebellion; a period to honour and remember the 1969 Stonewall riots; where predominantly POC members of the LGBT+ community rioted in response to the police raid of the Stonewall Inn. The riot was a turning point in LGBT+ activism, which beforehand had been predominantly non-confrontational and regrettably ineffectual. Stonewall ushered in an entirely new era of LGBT+ activism; one whose rewards the LGBT+ community are still reaping today — even if there’s still so much further to go.
It’s hard not to feel like, however, that Pride’s origin story has been buried deep these days; replaced with the slactivism of Corporate pride; of rainbow-coloured Twitter logos, Goldman-Sachs sponsored Pride banners and empty sloganeering. The recent backlash against the idea of ‘kink’ playing any part in Pride was a reminder of the sterilization of Pride; an attempt to deprive the event of anything truly subversive in an attempt to offset the concerns from the straight gaze.
Corporate Pride, hypothetically isn’t a bad thing; the willingness of corporations to don the colours of the rainbow in a show of allyship — however performative, it may be — is a welcome indicator of a…
