An interesting take on pride.

I saw this twitter thread today and thought it was interesting.   The first quote is a combination of tweets by Jeff Giesea.   The rest are from Alastair Roberts and someone who identifies as sophisticated farm animal.   

“I'm gay and gradually growing to hate the rainbow flag. I'm all for gay equality & love all people, but don't like seeing these issues used as a subversive *political* vehicle. This movement has fetishized liberationism to the point of absurdity, at great social cost. 

Example: I used to see church banners with rainbow flags as a symbol of welcoming. "I'd be welcome here, thank you" I would think. Now I see them as emblems of a political ideology and agenda that feels anathema to the public good and my own values. It's a complex feeling. Corporate virtue-signaling during #PrideMonth  is over the top. It's become a consumerist Hallmark holiday **for an entire month**. This is not a contradiction in capitalism but capitalism ad absurdum.   Cultural power has swung so far in the our direction (the gay direction?) that I now believe we need to be more culturally sensitive to Christians and other religious folks. Look at the disrespect and outright bigotry towards Mike Pence. Respect needs to go both ways.  I'll still attend Pride events in DC next weekend, and there are many people I love and respect in the community. My comments aren't intended to hate on anybody but to criticize our culture. We need a new reconciliation, and I'm here to build bridges.”

He references the current Budweiser campaign as well as a post at blog.printsome.com about “pride” marketing campaigns.

“Pride is a coping sentiment. It's a way of creating cultural space for comfort in your own skin. I understand that, but it's been turned into a cudgel. 

In the days of the Mattachine Society the initial slogan was "Gay is good," which was the "It's ok to be white" of its day.”

“Thread. The co-option of the LGBTQ movement by capitalism and managerialism as an ideological vehicle for their cultural dominance really is something to behold (see @darelmass on this.  

“Yeah, I feel like I'm seeing more and more LGBT people satirizing and speaking out against the corporate co-opting of Pride. They don't want to be hostages to a legitimization and advertisement strategy for unethical businesses.   I suspect many may have been wary of it for a long time but felt that they needed all the support they could get before a social consensus was more firmly established in their favor.”

  “Yes, I think you are right about that, especially for the many who espoused radical politics.”

“Pride is distinct from actual gay people these days. It's mostly a vehicle for corporate virtue-signalling. Also, LGBT orgs answer only to these corporate sponsors. There's a huge fight going on between the LG and the T right now - which isn't reflected in any Pride propaganda.”

I’ve thought that since pride is at the root of virtually all sin, that celebrating pride seemed strange,   I hadn’t given much thought to the corporate aspect at all.  It’s an interesting discussion and a perspective that isn’t often heard.