06/07/2022
By Sam Thomas
Pride Month over the years has slowly began to be used by companies as a marketing tool, to increase sales and productions over the course of the month of June , while still claiming to be an “ally”.
Although June has historically been taken as the month for Pride and acceptance among those in the LGBTQIA+ community, we should not forget about the Stonewall riots which was what started to push for LGBTQIA+ rights and for the community to be where it is today.
In the 1960’s there was constant raids against gay bars, as at the time people were unfriendly towards the LGBTQIA+ community, so many went to gay bars to be themselves in a place where they can be accepted.
Before 1966, anybody who was suspected of being a LGBTQIA+ member, or even proudly considered as, they were unable to be served liquor. At the time the New York State Liquor Authority would shut down any bars that served them alcohol.
After activists, LGBTQIA+ members could be served alcohol, but if they were to partake in anything related to their sexuality it would still be illegal. Police harassment of gay bars had increased over the time.
Even before the Stonewall Riots there was LGBTQIA+ rights activists, such as the Society for Human RIghts(SHR), The Daughters of Bilitis, and the Mattachine Society. SHR was founded by Henry Ge**er, and the published several issues of “Friendship and Freedom” which was the countrys first gay newsletter. They were asked to disband by the police.
The Daughters of Bilitis was Americas first le***an rights organisation, created in San Francisco on September 21, 1955. The Mattachine society was created 3 years before the stonewall riots occur, and their main focus was to go into bars and openly declare that they were homosexual, and dare wait staff or managers to turn them away at risk of being sued.
Police raids were reduced when the Commission on Human Rights, an organisation that was established in 1946 to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms, had declared that gay individuals had the rights to be served in a bar.
The Stonewall Riots occur at Stonewall Inn, which was registered as a “bottle bar”, where patrons would bring their own liquor. When raids would occur, corrupt police officers would tip off mafia-run bars, which would allow them to clear out.
In the morning of June 28, the police raided Stonewall Inn. Police entered with a warrant, found bootlegged alcohol, and arrested 13 people. Of those 13 people, they were employees or those who were violating the state’s gender appropriate clothing statue.
The aftermath of the riots left angry patrons and neighborhood residents who had watched those get aggressively manhandled out of the bar. At one point, an officer had hit a le***an over the head as he forced her into the van, while she was screaming for onlookers to act.
Within minutes a riot had broken out, where people were throwing pennies, bottles, stones, and other objects at the police. A Village Voice writer, a few prisoners, and the police had barricaded themselves into the bar as the riot tried to break down the barricade and set it on fire.
Although it didn’t start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanising force for LGBT political activism, acording to History.com.
Historically in the month of pride, a lot of companies come out in support of the LGBTQIA+ community, and although that is appreciated, it is still harmful.
Amy Gillette, a Junior here at McNary, is one of the many students apart of the LGBTQIA+ community.”I identity as biromantic and asexual. Biromantic is romantic attraction to two or more genders and asexuality is a person who feels little to no sexual attraction to anybody…Biromantic is the romantic attraction, bisexual is the romantic attraction and sexual attraction” she said.
A lot of companies in the month of June, use the tactic of pride as a cover to acquire more money. You can see this often in a lot of companies nearby like Chick-Fil-A which historically in the past, is a christian owned company which supports a lot of negative effects to the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I think it is just another marketing scheme by most companies who don’t actually support the community. They are just looking to make a couple extra dollars off of us, because in reality a lot of them still donate to legislatures and laws that are anti-LGBTQ+, and they donate to political campaigns that are more conservative”she said.
There are still a good amount of companies that are trying to support the community without “rainbow washing” everything. Rainbow washing entails companies that think sticking a rainbow or two on a product will increase its sales. Of course it works, but the idea that from June 1st to June 30th they are “supporters”, and then July 1st all of the “equality” between society and the community comes down.
Companies like Target, which for this year's pride collection got people of color in the LGBTQIA+ community to help create the line that we see today in their stores. There are even companies like google that are standing in support of the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically this year with the post from a blog by Juan Rajilin.
