mieczyhale:
people who complain about “rainbow capitalism” have good points but they’re also some of the most obnoxious people to crawl out of the woodwork during pride
because there was a time, really not all that long ago, where you wouldn’t see a single goddamn thing with a rainbow (gay) on it. there was no pride merch at the store, companies didn’t put up pride flags, there sure as fuck wasn’t clothing with pronouns on them or fun (cringey to you) accessories and shoes and all manner of wearable items & collectable items. flags, drinks, signs. there was nothing at big stores, you weren’t going to see makeup brands or any brand supporting gays, there wasn’t going to be even empty support from alcohol companies - ESPECIALLY not ones beloved by stereotypical rednecks.
these companies might not mean any of the things they say during pride, but i personally don’t care all that much. we haven’t had this shit long enough for me to be tired of it, to be over the joy of seeing these sections and items for my community just.. out there in the world. loud and easily accessible.
for one month we are EVERYWHERE. we have visibility and we have gay power because the threat of losing hateful dollars apparently does not stand up to the threat of losing gay dollars. these places could roll back their pride stuff, could stop and bow to angry conservatives. and sometimes they do. but a lot of the time they don’t. and i’m sorry but that means something to me. this outcome wasn’t something i ever imagined as a small-town midwestern kid in a conservative family.
progress is being made. whether you’re happy with the pace of it or not it IS happening and i myself am thrilled by every little win we get
It’s important to call out rainbow capitalism being harmful where it applies and to push for actual support, not just empty words and gestures. But it’s equally as important to remember that this visibility, even if conditional to some extent, is still a huge and relatively recent win. One that deserves to be celebrated and recognized. And while it has its issues, it’d opened a lot of doors.
Behind every rainbow-coloured piece of plastic with a big logo slapped on top of it, there are more and more people who don’t have to live in fear of being beaten up because they dare to exist in public spaces owning something that vaguely resembles a rainbow. Behind every soulless and poorly designed T-shirt pushed by Target or Walmart or whatever, there are artists who can happily make their Pride-related merch and sell it at cons and on the Internet.
I remember being a young queer person, 10 years ago or so, and seeing a rainbow pin for the very first time at some convention among the merch sold by one of the smaller artists. I remember seeing it and being so incredibly happy. 3 years later, at that same con, nearly every stand and artist had at least one rainbow-coloured item. And after 2 or 3 more years, rainbow pins and other stuff was no longer restricted only to spaces like conventions and Pride marches. If you were lucky, you could get it in one of those small souvenir shops or in your local mall! And trust me, only a few years earlier that was absolutely unimaginable.
What we see as normal now was so difficult to even hope for not so long ago. It’s actually a little insane to realize how things changed in so little time. It’s easy to take it for granted. That’s precisely why we can’t take it for granted, though. It may seem small and silly, but that’s how it works. Once you set things in motion, once you introduce something and treat it as normal, as something that just exists in common spaces, it’s nearly impossible to go back to how things were. That’s why conservatives push so hard against it, too! They know, on some level, that it’s a losing battle. There’s no going back and that opens so many more possibilities for the future.
Step by step, we’ll get there.
Yes, but… Rainbow capitalism can be a bellweather. In June 2024, I saw a lot less Pride merchandise out in stores that could be consistently trusted to have a good display in prior years. In the last few months, I’ve been seeing less and less rainbow things among general products, and I’ve been seeing the little Progress flags in some storefront windows vanish during renovation or even just a routine seasonal deep clean, and not come back afterwards. I genuinely would not be surprised if June 2025 came with no seasonal uptick in Rainbow Capitalism. It’s kind of scary how fast the corporate weather can turn
