This Pride, Are You Standing With Us Or Falling Silent?
Pride has lost its joy this year. In 2023, our community has been in the spotlight in the worst of ways, attacked with legislation, and generally used as political pawns. Just last year, Pride was a celebration. Today, the divisive atmosphere has Pride returning to her roots as a protest.
Unsurprisingly, us queers are watching closely to see which brands still stand with us, and which will fall silent in the face of controversy. As we watch all of this unfold, it begs the question: what does brand allyship look like for Pride 2023?
True allies will create safer spaces for LGBTQIA+ people.
Make sustained and substantial efforts to offer physical and psychological safety to LGBTQIA+ customers and employees. There are many ways to help us feel less vulnerable, but here are a few ideas to get started:
- Use inclusive language in your advertising and communications
- Encourage pronoun display in zoom calls, on name tags, and wherever possible
- Offer gender neutral restrooms in your corporate offices and/or retail spaces
- Represent the full spectrum of identities in your advertising, including trans and gender fluid people
- If your brand is doing these things, we’d love to hear about it this Pride. In years past, this may have been seen as pandering, but this year, we’re hungry to see the receipts
True allies will amplify modern stories.
Brands may be tempted to play it safe this year by avoiding some of the underrepresented identities associated with division in America. While this may go unnoticed by people outside our community, failing to amplify the voices of drag queens, trans people, and queer youth will speak volumes to the very people you’re intending to celebrate. The truth is, our trans and non-binary family is in crisis right now. So while we all love to reminisce about Stonewall and parade festivities, those stories will be received as lazy at best.
True allies will recognise the diversity within our community.
Pop quiz - can you name one person who identifies as all of the following: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and more? It’s theoretically possible, but in truth, nearly all members of the community identify as one or two of these. Add on top of that, we are represented in every race, profession, political party, religion, and beyond. That’s why nuance and intersectionality matter.
Finally, don’t forget that gray is a color in our rainbow too, and there are major generational differences within our community. Recognise that the dynamics and viewpoints of elder queers may be very different from gen z who have grown up with more access to their tribe and acceptance overall.
True allies will create nothing about us, without us.
Intentional representation on the creative and strategy teams is crucial when telling the stories of marginalized people. The involvement of diverse voices and trained DEIB professionals is necessary to ensure that brands grasp and honor the intricate and diverse nature of the LGBTQIA+ community, encompassing various cultures, generations, and identities. Genuine allyship entails not only recruiting and supporting LGBTQIA+ staff members but also engaging diverse agencies such as Newfangled Studios.
In closing, 2023 has been an especially tough year, but trans and gender fluid people have taken the brunt of it. True allyship means that if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us! Pride is an opportunity for brands to counter all of the negative energy with substance. It’s my hope that they take it very seriously - but one thing is for sure - we’re watching and taking note.
Macaela VanderMost is the founder and executive creative director of Newfangled Studios. As a creative production agency, Newfangled Studios produces inclusive social & video campaigns for the world’s most recognised brands. Macaela has produced LGBTQIA+ inclusive campaigns for Google, Bank of America, YouTube and more. You can view Macaela speaking on the subject matter in Newfangled’s inclusive marketing series ‘Nothing about us without us’
