The Capitalist Appropriation Of Gay Pride
By Annie Utterback
Last weekend, a stranger fell sobbing at my heels on a public street. The bouquets amassed in thickets outside of the historic Stonewall Inn had hooked several of us in, and we stood palely before the memoriam honoring 49 lives taken in the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
I had not come to grieve. My intent was to flicker by, on my way to somewhere else, but I was stopped short by the intimacy of this mourning. Here was a compassion that was not self-indulgent or misdirected. The collective response to the recent mass shooting in Orlando has underscored firearms safety and gaps in national security, volleyed the word “terrorism” more than occasionally, and muted LGBTQ concerns by bulking up security measures at Pride events this month. Absent from the media have been real efforts for helping the larger communities most directly impacted by the tragedy, specifically queer people of color who regularly experience high rates of hate violence.
Have we all been cutting corners in our compassion?
Over the past month of Pride, I have failed to see support for the LGBTQ community extend beyond the scattered use of photo filters and rainbow flags on social media, especially by allied corporations. Instead of actively confronting the complex and difficult issues at play in the…
