“While the Catholic Church joins with our nation in teaching that all lives are equal before God and the law and that all lives demand our respect regardless of race, gender or ethnicity, the flag with the emblem Black Lives Matter has at times been coopted by some factions which also instill broad-brush distrust of police and those entrusted with enforcing our laws. “Symbols can mean different things to different people,” said Rev. “Those things must be introduced at higher education when the kids are over 18 and they can think through.” But Breen says it is too shallow: “Companies should be allocating a much larger share of profits on that Pride merchandise to LGBTQ+ causes – why not 100%? If a company puts a flag on a collection, it shouldn’t be 10% going back, it should be the whole thing going back to the community.“It shouldn’t be introduced at that level,” said another parent named Sam. Labels such as Balenciaga, which is donating 15% from the collection to LGBTQ+ charity the Trevor Project, and Calvin Klein, which has pledged an undisclosed sum to charities, including The Trevor Project and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, have signalled some meaningful commitment. The question of who profits from rainbow capitalism is a sticky one. “How is that organisation changing their workplace culture to include LGBTQ+ folks in a real way?” “With issues around how fashion engages with social justice, there needs to be a much deeper engagement than an Instagram post of their Pride collection,” said Dr Ben Barry, an activist and professor of fashion, gender and sexuality at Ryerson University in Toronto. There’s a link to the expectations around Pride month. Many companies were called out for performative “black square” posts on Instagram that were not accompanied by systemic changes in the structures of their businesses. The issues of corporate accountability in fashion came into focus following the murder of George Floyd last year.
Victoria Beckham-designed Spice Girls T-shirt for Pride – the profits go to homeless charity akt. “But, as queer people, we can’t turn off our LGBTQ+ status when the logos go back to normal, so it’s important we examine whether brands support us year round.” “Brands view Pride as a time to change their logos to rainbows, sell merch and convey a message of inclusion and an embrace of LGBTQ+ communities and customers,” he said. Matthew Breen, an LGBTQ+ media and advocacy consultant, believes the integrity of a company comes to light after Pride month. Most critics call for consistency from brands. “They know the community,” he said, “what works and what is appropriate.” Many of us feel exploited.” Speaking to the Observer, Tatchell added that if Pride merchandise is to be made, LGBTQ+ creatives should be designing it. “Sometimes it feels like a box-ticking PR exercise to make the company look good and win over LGBTQ+ consumers.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell described the rainbow capitalism row as damaging to LGBTQ+ communities. The way companies conceive Pride campaigns is such a failure of the imagination.” “They’ve been doing the same thing for decades. Understanding that, why have corporations not really changed their strategy at all when it comes to Pride?” he said. “All companies are doing it so much every June that now brands are called out when they don’t do something for Pride. Writer and producer Fran Tirado, who has worked on LGBTQ+ strategy at Netflix, Out and Vice, says that while advocating for queer and trans communities has become a corporate norm, it’s often just lip service. Another wrote: “Don’t buy any Pride stuff from a big box store. It’s straight fashion rainbows on it, I’ll pass,” wrote one user, mocking rainbow-designed T-shirts featuring slogans “Come to the gay side, we have rainbows” and “I can’t even think straight” from Walmart. “All of the major corporations only care about us two months a year. Peter Tatchell says Pride merchandise should be made by LGBTQ+ creatives.