Jordan Smith
Opinion Columnist
smithj16@uab.edu
Since 1969, pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts have filled the month of June in honor to celebrate the LBGTQ community. Pride Month is truly a celebration and a commemorative month.
Popular stores like J. Crew, Bloomingdale, McDonald’s, H&M, Nike, and Lululemon all symbolically support the LBGTQ community with a lack of visible support.
According to Vox.com, “H&M donates a portion of what their customers spend on pride merchandise to LGBTQ communities, J. Crew donates fifty percent of the purchase price of its pride T-shirts, and the Nike website says that Nike has donated almost $2.7 million since 2012 to its Be True campaign.”
But they only do this for one month.
The LBGTQ community doesn’t just want to be respected, exploited, or paid attention to for one month in a year because it’s popular or politically correct.
The brands have only committed to engaging with the community when it benefits their business. The businesses are capitalizing off of individuals that deeply support a community that has been harassed and targeted for acceptance and equality.
Companies should do more with the money by changing policies, serving more of the LBGTQ, and joining other organizations that support diverse individuals. Our society must come to the recognition that the LGBTQ community should not be treated as social outcast.
Your rainbow socks, t-shirts, water bottles, and other retail will soon disappear from stores after June ends. Businesses should be interested in building long-term relationships with their community.
While wearing a glittery rainbow shirt is a fashionable and a supportive method to show alliance with the LBGTQ community, perhaps another approach can be directly donating to organizations and supporting political events that keep your passion after the month of June ends.
Diversity is colorful and jazzy. We must continue to accept those around us, diminish the misconceptions, stop fueling discrimination, and communicate with those who are not like us to gain a more worldly view.
