Rainbow capitalism

LGBT Club Eldorado in Berlin during the 1920s

Since the last decades of the 19th century, bars, cabarets, brothels and even some magazines targeted specifically at the LGBTQ+ community have existed in cities across Europe and the United States. Although members of the LGBTI community were still often publicly persecuted, the creation of these businesses corresponded to the beginning of the first drive for LGBTQ rights. This first LGBTQ+ movement was attacked between the First and Second World Wars and the rise of fascism in Europe.[21][20]

After the Second World War, Western culture was influenced by the homophobia of fascism.[22] Although LGBTI consumption remained marginal, during this time various homophile associations were created to seek positive assessment of homosexuality by society through meetings, publications, or charity parties. These associations opposed behaviors associated with homosexuals deemed marginal and perverted, such as promiscuity, cruising, prostitution, saunas and erotic magazines.[23][24]

The Stonewall riots of 1969 marked the beginning of the LGBTQ+ liberation movement, characterized by increased public visibility of homosexuality, the aim of decriminalizing homosexuality, and increased social and political integration. The movement resulted in a negative social response, in part driven by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which in turn led to the development of the queer movement by discriminated gay groups.[25]

During the 1990s, the discrimination of the gay community diminished, broadening LGBTQ+ people's access to formerly heteronormative jobs. This resulted in increased purchasing power for the LGBTQ+ community, or the creation of "pink money". Homosexuals in particular represented a large portion of this purchasing power. The trend is closely related to that of DINKs, couples with two incomes and no children.[15]

These processes are especially evident in the dynamics of gay neighborhoods, which attracted LGBTQ+ people with their affordability and the social security provided by living with other sexual minorities. These neighborhoods, after decreasing social stigma made them "trendy", then gradually underwent the gentrification process. Rising prices expelled the LGBTQ+ population that could not afford the new expenses.[26][27] An increasingly specialized market developed around the LGBTQ+ community in parallel with these other events. This market specifically developed around the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, selling services and products exclusively designed to meet their needs. Different companies and firms in turn began incorporating the defense of LGBTQ+ rights into their company policies and codes of conduct, and even financing LGBTQ+ events.[6][8][15][28]

This kind of sociosexual relations appraisement is characteristic of gay modelling, which has its origin in the companies' new formation of a concentrated sexual market through rainbow capitalism:

In Spain, neither virile redefinition of homosexuality, nor gay model spreading, were made from the active homosexual movement of the time. [...] The penetration of the new model is carried out through private channels: by entrepreneurs who mimetically reproduce gay institutions already present in other countries".[29]

— Pink Society, p. 82–84[19]

Some argue that capitalist society has not accepted all sexually-diverse people equally and a greater social tolerance exists if LGBTI people have greater access to resources, tying discussions of sexual identity to discussions of gender, ethnicity, ability and social class.[32] Many critics maintain that only gay, cisgender, Western, able-bodied, white, urban and middle- or upperclass men tend to be accepted into the social context of consumption.[15][33][34] This framework may promote a homogeneous and heteronormative ideal of the gay man, who has a certain beauty, a muscular and hyper-sexualized body, masculine behavior, career success and a specific purchasing power, establishing which bodies are desirable and which are not and marginalizing those do not fit this aesthetic model, even from the gay community itself:[6][7][15][35][36]

In the pre-gay period, youth is worth of sexual exchange, but the elderly homosexuals were not stigmatized. With the extension of gay model and institutionalization that this entails, a sex market is formed where one of the most appreciated goods for sexual intercourse, as well as virility, is youth. The overvaluation of youth imposed by the gay style involves an underestimation of the mature adult male.

— Pink Society, p. 93[19]

Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in Europe¹

  Marriage

  Civil union

  Limited domestic recognition (cohabitation)

  Limited foreign recognition (residency rights)

  Unrecognized

  Constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples

¹ May include recent laws or court decisions that have not yet entered into effect.

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While rainbow capitalism has resulted in the achievement of some symbolic rights (such as equal marriage or recognition of gender identity), these rights are subordinated to the people's resources, income and social position.[7][10][8]

In this regard, the trend the gay movement has not defined the political agenda, but instead has adapted heteropatriarchal and heteronormative capitalism into a new form of patriarchal capitalism. This new capitalism incorporates the social vision of family, property, body, economic organization and sexual experience from the heterosexual community. It has struggled for equal marriage, without questioning the concept of marriage, making the fight for equal marriage a goal of the LGBT movement that makes it seem there is nothing else to fight for.[3][6][10][8][37]

Although the first political movements advocating sexual freedoms (like Queer anarchism) fell within the radical left, LGBTQ+ claims have only belatedly been integrated into the more moderate left political struggle – largely a result of rainbow capitalism.[6][8][35][38] Historically, the political left has treated the LGBTQ+ movement (similarly to the treatment of feminism)[39] as extravagance, without attending to the specific needs of non-heterosexual people, merely lumping them in with the rest of the working class.[40] Lesbians, transgender people and effeminate gays are relegated to unskilled jobs because they do not possess a certain patriarchal masculinity.[15][41][42]

Today, the LGBTQ+ movement is increasingly being used for political and economic purposes; the achievement of "symbolic rights" for the community is used to justify profiting off celebrations of sexual identity.[11] The requirement of the protection of LGBTQ+ rights to give aid to developing countries[2][43] and the use of LGBTQ+ equality to support nationalistic and anti-immigration policies are also examples of pink capitalism.[8][44] The LGBTQ+ community, traditionally skeptical of the governments, has become increasingly supportive of homonationalism.[10][45][46][47]

It has also been argued that homonationalism and rainbow capitalism are tools of neoliberal governmentality. Drawing on Foucauldian understandings of biopower, it has been suggested that by conceptualizing the neoliberal state as a provider and gatekeeper of sexual freedom, inclusive and intersectional liberatory efforts are limited and repressed.[48] Scholars have argued that neoliberalized sexual politics function to reify existing unequal power dynamics.[48] This perspective further recognizes and problematizes the neoliberal and Western valuation of cisgender-ness and whiteness at the expense of trans and non-white LGBTQ+ individuals.

Homonationalism, a term coined by queer theorist Jasbir Puar, refers to the growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights by Western nations coupled with the complicity of LGBTQ+ individuals and organizations involved in nationalist politics. This ideology first arose within the context of the War on Terror, as the United States positioned itself as LGBTQ+-friendly in opposition to the seemingly homophobic Muslim world.[49] Some theorists consider homonationalism to be an extension of American neoliberalism, arguing that its modus operandi is to co-opt the LGBTQ+ cause in order to achieve nationalist and elitist goals.[48] A commonly cited example of homonationalism in practice is the Israeli government’s ongoing characterization of Palestinians as homophobic, thereby using Israel’s LGBTQ+ community as a tool to disparage the Palestinian cause.[50]

Activist groups such as Queer Strike have additionally drawn a connection between rainbow capitalism and the military-industrial complex, accusing major Pride events of excluding controversial anti-war figures from their organizations for fear of alienating corporate and military affiliates. When military whistleblower Chelsea Manning’s nomination to the board of San Francisco Pride was rescinded in 2013, local queer groups organized and distributed petitions, claiming that the rescindment was politically motivated.[51] Some community members claimed that the retraction was due to threats of disassociation from corporate sponsors, though this suspicion was not confirmed by SF Pride.[52] On the corporate side, weapons manufacturers Axon and Raytheon have drawn criticism for their use of Pride aesthetics, such as turning their social media profiles rainbow in June.[53]

Since its origins in the 1969 Stonewall Riots,[54] the celebration of Pride Month has become increasingly commodified. Each June, it is common to see corporations—including Apple, Disney, Fossil, Gap, and Target in 2021—launching rainbow-branded products or social media avatars as a form of virtue signaling.[55] They produced everything from rainbow-themed watch bands to stuffed animals.[56]  However, some argue that this branding, sometimes referred to as rainbow washing or pinkwashing, has diverged from the original meaning of the movement and is often not substantially backed with company action; it may even outright contradict a corporation’s political donations.  

Corporations like H&M and J. Crew, which donate portions of the product price in their Pride collections to LGBTQ+ charities, may represent a more ethical form of rainbow branding.[57] However, critics argue this normalizes the presence of a corporate middleman in the process of social donation, embracing low-effort slacktivism in place of actual change.[58] Furthermore, many corporations who show public support during Pride Month actively harm and work against the LGBTQ+ community year-round through political donations. A 2021 report from Popular Information highlighted twenty-five major corporations that have spent more than $10 million since 2019 donating to members of Congress and state legislators who push anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, many of which show outward public support for the community through social media and product branding.[59]

Another aspect of the corporatization of Pride is the increasing cost of celebration. Once a free event, day ticket prices for an LA Pride Festival reached $35 in 2016.[60] This paywall limits who can attend Pride events along the lines of purchasing power, pricing out queer women, people of color, and elderly people, who are at a proportionally greater risk of poverty.[61] This has led to the belief among critics that events are moving in the direction of being exclusionary rather than inclusive.  Additionally, the growing focus on merchandise sales at Pride events reflect its ongoing commercialization and overall transition from political statement to festival.  At New York City Pride events, T-shirts regularly cost up to $55,[60] while a cabana package costs participants $3000.[57] As the cost to celebrate Pride increases, the most intersectionally disadvantaged members of the community are pushed out.

Critical Pride 2015 (Orgullo Crítico 2015) arriving at Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Spain

Following the pass of Gay marriage in Spain, members of the LGBTQ+ community felt the Pride Parade was no longer protest demonstration and instead becoming a tourist business.[70][71][72] Since 2006, several demonstrations against LGBTI commodification have been held annually in suburbs of Madrid, called Alternative Pride or Critical Pride (Orgullo Alternativo or Orgullo Crítico).[73][74]

The first Indignant Pride (Orgullo Indignado) parade was held, calling for a different sexuality regardless of economic performance which should take into account gender, ethnicity, age and social class intersectionalities besides other non-normative corporalities.[75]

Later, the event retrieved the name Critical Pride (Orgullo Crítico), based on in part on objections to pink capitalism.[76] Movements in other cities, such as Barcelona and Seville, have also been organizing events in this direction.[77][78][79][80][81]

When Pride Glasgow started charging an attendance fee in 2015, a group of activists organised Free Pride Glasgow to be held on the same day (and on the day of Pride Glasgow every year since) as a radical, anti-commercial, inclusive alternative that focuses on the protest aspect of Pride.[82][83][84][85]

In the climate created by the George Floyd protests in 2020, activists in the United States brought increased attention to the issues faced by queer people of color, leading to marches under the slogan “Black Trans Lives Matter.” Activists and spokespeople from groups like The Okra Project argued that rainbow capitalism decentered the intersectional issues faced by black transgender individuals, including housing and employment discrimination and access to healthcare.[86]