The Intersectionality of BLM and Pride Month, and What Brands Should Be Doing About It

Opinion piece. Originally published June 19, 2020.

A BLM protest in Washington, D.C. in June 2020. Clay Banks / Unsplash

We’re midway through Pride month, and this year, it’s being commemorated a little differently.  

The global context of the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-racism protests has pushed Pride celebrations online and critically reminded us of the importance of intersectionality in civil rights issues.

PSB Research and the Human Rights Campaign recently released a research brief that shows how LGBTQ+ people of colour have been disproportionately economically impacted by the pandemic. These setbacks may include a higher likelihood of unemployment, a reduction of work hours or difficultly paying bills. This context makes the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to protect LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination in the workplace under federal law a timely victory.

Let’s also not forget that Black trans women have been trailblazers for the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement leading back to the Stonewall Riots nearly 51 years ago. These riots are the original spark for what we now recognize as Pride month. It would be ignorant not to acknowledge the deeply rooted intersectionality between race and sexuality at a time when acknowledgement and action is required from all of us. Black transgender women are disproportionately victims of violence, even now, as demonstrated by the recent deaths of Dominique Fells and Riah Milton in the U.S. last week.  

But the intersectionality between the Black Lives Matter movement and Pride month is proving to be a communications challenge for many organizations.

Behind the scenes of the ongoing global turmoil, brands have been quietly adding rainbow backgrounds to their logos and releasing Pride-themed collections online. Others have not acknowledged Pride month on their social media at all despite June being nearly over. The current anti-racism action doesn’t excuse us from overlooking LGBTQ+ rights. Rather, it should be a time when we take a deeper look at how we can support intersectional marginalized members of our society. For brands that want to actively support both causes without being performative or exploitative, it takes more than releasing a new collection or making a small donation in honour of Pride.

Pride-branded merchandise from 2019. Marvin Joseph / The Washington Post

In a 2019 op-ed for The Washington Post, musician and transgender activist Evan Greer says that it’s not entirely a bad thing when corporations market to queer and trans people during pride month, because it “is a symbol of our growing political and economic power.” In return, she calls on corporations to put their lobbying power into fighting for structural changes and a system where everyone is protected.

Corporations must become more involved in challenging existing structures and work to rebuild them. They should make an effort to donate to small grassroots organizations and individuals that will make a direct difference in their communities rather than national organizations.

The notoriously poor example from last year’s Pride month is AT&T. The service provider launched a campaign with the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis prevention for LGBTQ+ youth, called #TurnUpTheLove. What they failed to account for is that during the 2018 U.S. federal election cycle, AT&T donated $1.8 million to Republican politicians, including some who opposed gay rights bills.

It is important for organizations to follow through on their public displays of allyship. In doing so, they should be sensitive to the intersectionality of the current civil rights climate and follow through on their promises with meaningful action.

Let’s take a look at an example of a brand who is doing Pride 2020 right.

ASOS

Screenshot from June 18 of an ASOS Instagram post.

This will be the fourth year that ASOS has teamed up with GLAAD to release a Pride month collection. While other brands might donate some of the proceeds from their Pride collections to LGBTQ+ charities (ahem, Puma), ASOS has committed 100 per cent of the collection proceeds to the activist organization.

In addition, ASOS’s social media presence has been dedicated to amplifying Black queer voices. They changed their logo to a rainbow; the effect of this act is merely performative, but they’re at least supporting their allyship with other actions. Earlier this month, for example, they celebrated the queer women of colour who sparked the Stonewall Uprising. They’ve also begun to identify the preferred pronouns of models who appear on the ASOS Instagram page.

ASOS’s concurrent effort to amplify Black voices, support positive change, and celebrate Pride month demonstrates a progressive example for brands and marketing professionals everywhere.

Are there any brands you’ve seen that are doing a good job with marketing social causes? What about those who have missed the mark completely? Let’s keep the discussion going.