Look at queer media—or even mainstream media—and you’ll notice multiple reports about Pride events losing corporate sponsorships this year, often to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. New York. San Francisco. Virginia. World Pride in D.C. Even St. Louis lost a 30-year relationship with Anheuser-Busch.
I’m beginning to wonder if that’s such a bad thing.
Over the years, Pride parades have become as rainbow-washed as anything else in June. Companies go out of their way to pander to the queer market. Beer trucks are as likely to be part of the parade as any queer organization. For one month, corporations worship at the altar of the almighty queer dollar—then so many go away until the following June.
Yet we’ve allowed it.
Somewhere along the way, the queer community has forgotten that Pride originally wasn’t about having fun. Marches in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles in 1970 were a way to commemorate what happened at Stonewall the year before. They were also a way to demonstrate for equal rights. I’m not saying the queers who ended that first parade in the Sheep Meadow in Central Park didn’t have fun—just that wasn’t the purpose.
You’re probably thinking, “Okay, Grandpa.” And I’m sure I sound like the crotchety Elder Gay at this moment. However, as the Orange Dumpster Fire currently leading this country continues to crack down on queer rights—and anyone who supports the queer community—maybe the time is ripe for a pivot. Maybe we bid farewell to the corporate partners who have decided it’s better to play it safe than stand up for the queer communities they do business with—or even their own queer employees.
Maybe we look back to those initial parades as inspiration for what may be required as we move forward in a hostile environment. We can cower. We can celebrate and pretend everything is okay. Or we can take this opportunity to shift from treating Pride parades as the next circuit party and return to making them about protest and visibility. Just not on top of a beer truck.
Not that I don’t love a good party! Pride in D.C. last year was incredible. We stood watching for a couple of hours and still hadn’t seen half of the parade. Plus, so many incredible groups and outfits. Being there by happenstance was such a treat—and unlike Dallas, the parade wasn’t tucked behind fences where civil society didn’t have to see it.
The one thing that’s been great to see as corporate sponsors pull back is how the queer community—and others—have stepped up to meet the moment. St. Louis Pride has had almost all of its missing dollars replaced. One would like to think there is enough money in other cities as well to make up the difference.
And if not, so be it. Scale back, step back, and rethink what’s been planned. Take the time to consider a bit more protest and a little less party. The queens in New York in 1970 weren’t worried about sponsorships. Not letting Stonewall happen again—or be forgotten—was the order of the day. Making sure queers everywhere were treated with respect and given equal rights was important.
Fifty-five years later, maybe the time is finally here to rethink our approach.
