Profiting From Pride: The Corporate Gay Takeover

“It is blatantly obvious that many of these companies are solely here for profit rather than progress”

“Pride not greed”

With autumn on the way, Pride festivities have come to send off summer with style. In August alone there were over 40 Pride based events across the UK with some of the largest being Brighton pride (5th-6th) and Manchester pride (25th-28th)

Looking past the colourful parades and electric atmosphere for a moment reveals a concerning trend. The amount of businesses at these events. While it may seem that LGBTQ+ people are accepted more openly, it is blatantly obvious that many of these companies are solely here for profit rather than progress. 

However, we need to go back to the start to understand just why Pride needs to exist in the first place. The rights of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, questioning) people only started being widely accepted in the last couple of decades. In 1969 it was illegal to be queer.

Stonewall inn in NYC was owned by the mafia, so long as they got paid, they turned a blind eye. In the early hours of June 28th 1969, police tried to storm the building to arrest the queer people inside under the pretence of a warrant for illegal alcohol. This led to the questioning of the residents and the start of attempted arrests.

By 4am, the conflict hit a breaking point, beginning the infamous Stonewall riots, a 6 day long protest between the LGBTQ+ people and the police. The original Pride festival took place exactly 1 year later. The goal was to make a scene, stop the discrimination and to show the world that they are proud to be who they are.  

Since then, Pride has spread across the world. The first one here in the UK was London Pride in 1972.

Back to the present day, Pride is still going strong but the message has faded. If you look at company social media accounts in June, you’ll see a lot of rainbow icons and items for sale, yet the second Pride month ends, it is back to business as usual. This is a shameless way to pander towards the community to make easy money,, even if the companies are against queer people. This is not only immoral but it also takes away from the reason pride needs to exist.

While it is difficult to find just how much money companies make between sponsors and advertisement, it is safe to assume that it is a large amount. According to the Manchester Pride website, 31 partners / sponsors were a part of the pride parade last month. Also according to this site, an “amazing £120,062.38 for LGBTQ+ communities”. If companies are making even a fraction of that amount for helping to support the festivals then its obvious why they are a part of pride.

In 2019, according to the Argus, the main Brighton and hove newspaper, Pride brought over £20m into the city and that number increases each year. Big businesses would definitely want a piece of that action, hence the amount of corporations worming their way into the festivals.

As Brighton pride 2023 stated. “Pride is a protest”.  We need less corporations covered by a superficial layer of multicoloured paint and more community driven protest, Pride not greed.