Pride · 2:08am Jun 29th, 2021
Every year, I've written a post for Pride Month in support of all the LGBTQ+ members of the herd. This is the 10th.
The comments section in the FB groups I modedate used to turn into a warzone. Every time. As moderator, keeping the peace became a full time job for me.
These days, we are all so accustomed to getting our pride messages from T-Mobile, that it's easy to forget how short a time ago that celebration of pride was not quite so normalized.
So, for starters, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how much has changed in so little time. I'd also like to talk about how it got that way.
For the USA, this culture of "corporate pride" started not long after the 2013 Supreme Court decision made gay marriage legally recognized in all 50 states, thus eliminating a lot of the controversy. Corporations only grew confident in showing their support once it was already safe. They have done a great deal to change mainstream culture - particularly workplace sensitivity - but we should all recognize that they are latecomers, and that their support of the LGBTQ community is contingent upon its profitability.
Even as Disney sells rainbow merchandise all over the place, they still remain hesitant to let their Disney Channel intellectual properties have real LGBTQ+ representation. (Alex Hirsch, creator of Gravity Falls, reports that he had to cut scenes with overtly homosexual couples because of Disney's concerns over how that would affect marketability overseas. Owl House has receently made a big leap in allowing a lesbian crush between main characters, but it has yet to be fully reciprocated). Hasbro itself remains cautiously behind. Scootaloo's "aunts" are queer-coded, as is Applejack’s relationship with Rainbow Dash in the series finale, but there's yet to be upfront representation in pony (except for the Lyra/Bon marriage proposition that the animators snuck past Hasbro).
Furthermore, I want to take a moment to recognize that, while matters of sexual orientation are widely understood, and gradually becoming a little more accepted and represented in mainstream society, issues of gender identity and expression are far behind both culturally and legally. Disney and Hasbro have failed when it comes to trans and nonbinary representation, ( though there's rumor that a Pixar project still in development will tackle the subject head on). Many U.S. states and countries are actively passing anti-trans laws.
This is a dualistic society - one that celebrates pride on a superficial level to the point that it may seem almost omnipresent, while the vast majority of people do not have even a basic understanding of the issues and challenges actually faced by the LGBTQ+ community. I could elucidate some of them here, but then this post would become enormous in its attempts not to exclude anypony.
Suffice it to say that we should all aggressively support one another. It's the Equestrian way.
Discuss.
-Sprocket
You right on point, Sprocket. Big corporations and big name supporters have only come out in support of LGBTQ people and issues once they saw it waas easy and that support would equal profit for them and their stockholders. It makes me very suspect of their true feelings and level of genuine concern.
Though I feel that ones sexual preferances and identity are personal, no one should be disrespected, discriminated against or made to feel unsafe for a personal choice. As you said, we should be supporting each other simply because it's the right thing to do and not just because its the popular thing at the moment. Love continues through the tough times, not just the easy ones. And with all that this country and the world has been through the past two years, we should know that supporting each other, caring for each other is what we should be doing, all the time.
Just as a note, things are steadily improving. the Loki Disney+ series has confirmed Loki as both genderfluid, and bisexual.
Admittedly, in ways that would be easy to edit out when airing it in markets that still see The Gayz as icky and wrong. Though, the fact the entire ep where it's confirmed he's Bi being utterly drenched in Bi pride flag lighting... not so much.
Thank you for your care for others. :)
There are a few companies that actually mean it when they drape themselves in a flag. Paizo, for example, has been actively pushing LGBT+ inclusion (and fighting racial stereotypes) in the TTRPG community for years.
And then there are the companies that wear a rainbow at the same time as sponsoring anti-LGBT politicians.
Still, however disingenuous the pinkwashing, it does at least help reinforce LGBT+ acceptance as normal in a growing section of the population.