At some point during the past several years, so many Pride celebrations turned into a corporate affair. While marching in parades alongside nonprofits providing life-saving health care for queer people, we’d also see floats paid for by banks, fast food chains and petroleum companies. To some queer people, this feels like progress — or at least a belief that the LGBTQ community’s mainstream visibility would equate to permanent protections.
This year, however, something’s changed. Corporations such as Target, Comcast and Mastercard have pulled out of Pride celebrations around the country, citing “shifts in priorities.” Given this administration’s blatant rejection of diversity, we know what that means.
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If there’s a lesson to be learned from these pivots, it’s that corporate and state-sponsored Pride is fragile, simply because whoever is in power changes every few years. We now live in a country where the majority of voters chose a president who holds staunchly anti-trans views, and where it’s become financially risky to publicly support queer people.
