With Pride celebrations in full swing around the world — and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling for marriage equality — on-demand companies aren’t squandering their chance to market to the jubilant LGBT visitors flushing into San Francisco. So we’ll kick off this week’s roundup of on-demand news with a bit of very specific Airbnb marketing.

medium.com/ondemand

Instacart Makes Some of Its Contractors Part-Time Employees

A belated olive branch was held out as Instacart faces a labor lawsuit over classifying its personal shoppers as contractors. TechCrunch reports that the company is allowing some pro grocery shoppers to change status.

Uber For Benefits: An Idea That Could Transform America’s Economy

And for those still working as contractors, Fusion argues it’s time to create an on-demand benefits service to preserve the middle class.

The Hunger Games: An On-Demand Dinner Battle

There’s about a kajillion on-demand apps competing to bring you dinner, but nobody ever says whether they’re any good. At Medium, we pitted six apps against each other in a brutal San Francisco rush hour race.

Hey France, Uber Is Not The Problem

While we were munching, Paris was burning as taxi drivers mounted a formidable, fiery protest against Uber. Rhodri Marsden tackles the question of whether we can ever fight the march of technology.

The Long History of the Fight Against Uber

Journalist and investor Om Malik takes to NewYorker.com to compare cabbies to Luddites, and says the on-demand economy trades in our increasing impatience: “Our phones make us more productive while we wait, and yet we don’t ever want to wait.”

Uber Says Drivers and Passengers Banned From Carrying Guns

Drivers will have to defend themselves against the angry masses with old-fashioned fisticuffs, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The policy responded to an Uber driver-turned-vigilante in Chicago this spring, who fired at a gunman already shooting at others.

Britain’s ‘Sharing Economy’ Is Creating a Desperate Servant Underclass

Uber and France show that Europe isn’t responding entirely favorably to the U.S. exported economy and its reigning labor model. Vice outlines how the era of instant everything is preying on an urban underclass in the UK.

~~~RESPONSE OF THE WEEK~~~

Medium users can reply, respond or build on any story on the platform — or even any story on the web. Here was one of our faves from this past week, from @CityEyrie.

Postmates Raises $80 Million in Push Toward $1 Deliveries

Postmates — also facing lawsuits — is aiming high. The company announced it wants to offer hugely discounted delivery, which has some scratching their heads as to how they’d ever be able to get the price that low.

App Lets You Use a Clean Bathroom for $25 a Month

We were checking the calendar for April Fool’s Day with the announcement of a new app in New York, Louie, that allows restaurants to rent out clean bathrooms for “subscribers”: paying $25 a month for unlimited access. That New Yorker piece was right: we really don’t want to wait.

Ubers of Marijuana Stick Workers With the Risk

Cannabis app delivery drivers beware: the SF Weekly argues that messengers could be left on the hook if the cops ever pull them over during deliveries.

~~THREE PEOPLE YOU REALLY, REALLY SHOULD BE FOLLOWING ON MEDIUM~~

Just hit up their profiles and press the green button, and you’ll instantly become 10 percent smarter.

@AspenInstitute
OK, so it’s not a person. But with the Aspen Ideas Festival in full swing, the institute is going to be interesting to watch.

@Shervin
The uberinvestor of the new economy (partly because he invested in, um, Uber) has started sharing some interesting details about companies he’s backing.

@DeLong
And in a world where economics is everything, you’d be crazy not to follow Brad DeLong, Berkeley economics prof and former assistant to Larry Summers.

~~ AND FINALLY ~~

I’ll Edit Your Erotica — On Demand
If you’ve ever wondered what kind of person spends their days trawling through the text of 50 Shades-like material, then we have an answer for you. Meet Kaite Welsh, who does it for bargain rates — and explains why.