Pride is not for sale

Public solidarity for the LGBTQ+ community has increased among US corporations since the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, but the motives behind their ‘support’ aren’t driven by a devotion to human rights. Instead of partaking in meaningful advocacy or putting their money where their mouths are, major corporations participate in low-effort publicity stunts, like slapping a pride flag clipping mask over their logo, and try to profit off of rainbow-fied versions of their products. Moreover, many of them continue to perpetuate anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the same breath, whether it be through financial support to bigoted politicians or allowing hate speech on their platforms. 

Netflix is a prime example of this: in recent years, the streaming service has started marketing more towards the LGBTQ+ community, preaching the importance of LGBTQ+ stories and even creating a category for them on the site. But this, even paired with the ever growing number of ‘Netflix Original’ queer, two-dimensional side characters, fails to make much of an impact—because at the same time, Netflix continues to platform openly transphobic comedian Dave Chappelle. According to the New York Post, Dave Chappelle was paid roughly $24 million dollars for his most recent special, The Closer, in which he attempts to pass his transphobic beliefs off as comedy. Highlights of Chappelle’s anti-trans rhetoric include blatantly misgendering a deceased trans woman and criticizing those who are offended by misgendering. To make matters worse, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has stated that the company will continue to work with Chappelle in the future, according to NBC News. 

Companies like Amazon even take it a step further, funneling their money into practices that cause legal discrimination against queer people. Though, you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at their special pride sub-store, nested within their website, where you can buy pretty much anything you’d normally buy from Amazon, but now with rainbows!

graphic by mason hanks

During the 2020 election cycle, the Center for Responsive Politics reported that Amazon donated $450,000 to politicians in opposition to the Equality Act, a bill that would provide legal protections for marginalized people in the workplace. It’s true that Amazon and many other US companies donate to both Democratic and Republican politicians as a safeguard, which means their financial contributions may not be intended as a direct attack on LGBTQ+ people. However, in a reality where transgender death rates are at an all-time high, queer people are still facing legal discrimination, and gender-affirming care is still widely inaccessible, it’s impossible to see these acts of neutrality as anything else. 

Until these corporations put their money where their rainbow-painted mouths are, no amount of pride flags will make them true allies to queer people.