If your Pride Month initiatives don’t centre trans rights, they’re missing the mark

Each year, as 1st June rolls around, some of us in the LGBTQ+ community take a sharp intake of breath. The beginning of June marks the beginning of Pride Month and the beginning of a barrage of corporate rainbow-washing. From fast-food giants to oil giants, plenty of (otherwise pretty unethical) brands spend all month promoting Pride merchandise, creating rainbow backdrops for their logos, and generally going on a Pride-Month-PR-bonanza. 

On the one hand, it’s amazing to see how mainstream LGBTQ+ inclusion has become. It’s now the norm for companies to proudly state their support for gay rights, when just over two decades ago it was still illegal to ‘promote’ (i.e. discuss) homosexuality in schools and local authorities in the UK. On the other hand, it’s clear that Pride has, in so many cases, become a cynical marketing tool - something that organisations squeeze as much promotional juice out of once per-year, to further their corporate objectives - then forget about until next June.

This year, we’ve seen the usual bombardment of statements and rainbows, but only a tiny handful  of campaigns mentioning trans rights in any capacity (shout out to Ben & Jerry’s). But why is showing explicit support for trans rights so essential? Isn’t putting out a more generic LGBTQ+ campaign enough? 

Frankly, no - it’s not enough. Right now, on both sides of the Atlantic, trans people and their rights are under attack. The past few years have seen a sharp increase in negative mainstream media coverage of trans issues (for the most part without including the voices or perspectives of trans people themselves), and ever increasing hostility towards one of the most marginalised groups in society. Prominent anti-trans figures refuse to condemn deeply harmful and widely debunked practices such as conversion therapy. Just last week, the author Helen Joyce said of trans people ‘every one of those people is a huge problem to a sane world’ in a recorded, publicly available video. 

This matters deeply. Trans people are facing an onslaught of abuse, hate crimes are rising steeply, whilst powerful figures & even government officials are normalising bigoted attitudes, and causing real psychological harm. Transgender people were on the frontlines of the Stonewall riots (the watershed event that is the reason we now celebrate Pride Month in June) fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. The same group that has done so much to further LGBTQ+ rights over the course of history is now being vilified and attacked, against a backdrop of brands making money through promotional Pride merchandise and rainbow PR. 

If corporate DEI is to be meaningful, brands must be willing to take brave stances that actually further equality. Those that have the least power need the most vocal allyship. Profiting off the LGBTQ+ struggle without doing the real-world work to support the most marginalised within that struggle is not only cynical, but actively harmful. 

There’s a T in LGBTQ+ - and, as cisgender allies it’s our duty to stand with our transgender siblings, now more than ever.