On 11 January 2011, Tel Aviv was voted the “world’s best gay city” of the year by a survey, beating London, Toronto, and New York, among other cosmopolitan locales. In his 2015 essay titled Homonationalism as Assemblage: viral travels, affective sexualities, Puar argued that Israel is the greatest benefactor of homonationalism, as it helps to portray Palestine as a “worse” country than Israel. In 2007, a gender studies researcher, Jasbir K Puar, proposed the term Homonationalism : the favourable association between a nationalist ideology and privileged (especially white) gay people. Riddle me cryptic or riddle me clear, what kind of comfort is born out of fear? Walmart, McDonald’s, Amazon, and many other companies, which are known to celebrate Pride, collectively donated over $1 million to Republican politicians who voted against the Act. In February, the vast majority of Republicans in Congress voted against the Equality Act. In March of this year, the Human Rights Campaign reported that 2021 became a record year for anti-LGBTQ legislation, with over a hundred anti-Trans bills being proposed in 30 US states, most of them targeting young people. “Pinkwashing not only manipulates the hard-won gains of Israel’s gay community, but it also ignores the existence of Palestinian gay-rights organizations,” Schulman writes, adding, “What makes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies so susceptible to Pinkwashing is the emotional legacy of homophobia.”Īlthough the definition of Pinkwashing has evolved since its conception, the intentions behind it could still be considered sinister - well, in most cases - if the primary goal behind it is one’s profit, monetary or not. In her most influential OP-ED piece ‘Israel and Pinkwashing’ (Published 22 November 2011 in The New York Times ), she writes about how Israel has been using this strategy to deliberately conceal the continuing violations of the Palestinians. This term was coined by Sarah Schulman, a writer, gay activist and AIDS historian. There is a word for this-Pinkwashing-the practice of presenting something, an organization, a country or a government, as LGBTQ+ friendly to soften or downplay aspects of its reputation that might be considered negative. What stands out, though, is that a brand doesn’t necessarily have to be accepting of the community to market to them. The same study also revealed that 41% of the participants thought that advertising in the LGBTQ media is more impactful to them than advertising in the general population media. What used to be a fight and celebration for basic human rights has turned into a corporate opportunity to exploit love, attraction and activism to produce capital in the name of “allyship” and “tolerance”.Ī 2019 survey conducted by Community Marketing & Insights reported that 72% of LGBT+ Americans are more likely to purchase products that were advertised in the LGBTQ media.
Riddle me easy or riddle me tough, what kind of hatred is disguised with love?Īs Pride Month comes to an end, thousands of brands and businesses are ditching the colourful filters and going back to their regular logos. Riddle me timid or riddle me bold, what kind of pride is meant to be sold? 9:37:29 PM CSMC, Chitkara University, Punjab