Companies Capitalizing Off of Pride Month

June, aka Pride Month, is fast approaching. Pride Month was established as a way to celebrate the 1969 Stonewall riots. The Stonewall riots were caused by the constant police raids of gay clubs, in this case, specifically the Stonewall Inn in New York City. The police roughly handled patrons of the club and this would lead to the famous riots 

We all can acknowledge the journey the LGBTQ+ community has had and how far it has come as a whole. Now that the LGBTQ+ community is more accepted, major companies have started to capitalize on Pride Month. 

A few years ago, most companies would not publicly address or say anything related to the LGBTQ+ community nor acknowledge its large population of people, simply viewing them as undesirable customers. But as these things have grown over the last few years, the increase in selling Pride wear has also grown. Companies think that they can simply slap a rainbow on anything and call it inclusive. They have realized the growing population of the community is something that they can profit off of and so they advertise plenty of “pro-LGBTQ+” merchandise and wear to show that they “support” the cause when all they are looking for is capitalizing off of a growing population. 

The hypocrisy in these companies is real when it comes to their so-called support for the LGBTQ+ community, and yes, while many companies have made genuine efforts to support.  Bubly, the sparkling water company partnered with the Stonewall Community Foundation, which provides grant-making, training, and scholarship opportunities to the LGBTQ community. There are still many companies that simply slap a rainbow on everything and call that support. A great example of this hypocrisy is Donald Trump’s campaign and their “Make America Great Again” pride hats, despite the blatant lack of acceptance and support for the trans community when Trump banned transgender people from the military and attempting to eliminate their protections; the Trump administrations are obviously are anti-LGBTQ+ but then attempted to sell $35 hats that added a little bit of rainbow to them. 

Supporting small Queer businesses

As you can see, many companies simply make a profit off of the LGBTQ+ community’s special month, but one way you can support the community a little bit better is by supporting smaller Queer businesses. These businesses have people within the community, which is not to say that bigger companies don’t have anyone, but by supporting Queer business owners, you uplift their voices and help them be seen, as they are a more true representation of the community. The following are some queer-owned businesses that I think you should support this upcoming June: 

1. QueerKwe Designs

2. Bowtie Behavior 

3. Momo Metals 

4. Because 

5. Tifknits 

6. Queer Collections

7. Official Rebrand

8. FLAVNT Streetwear 

9. Everyone is Gay

10. Otherwild

11. Fluide 

Happy Pride Month!!

• Capitalism
• June
• LGBTQ+
• money
• Pride Month