naamahdarling:

lizardlicks:

susiephone:

since pride month is coming up, that also means we’re getting closer to the month when there’ll be 10000 posts reminding us that all the gay pride merch is just a corporate cash-in, that these corporations don’t care about us, that the world isn’t really any better, that none of the pride merch and ads actually mean anything, that it isn’t really progressive, blah blah blah

let me just say

i know. most people on here know. you are not the sole thinking person in a world of sheep. i promise you that the person you’re making all these points to has heard it 100 times 100 ways from 100 other people. we know, tumblr. we know. 

but dammit, one month a year i get rainbow everything, and that’s a breath of fresh air after eleven months of straight nonsense. i LOVE seeing pride everywhere, even if it is just a corporate cash-grab. and it’s not like i can just opt out of this capitalist society, so fuck it, imma buy all the rainbow, pride-themed, gay merch i can get my hands on.

the world is a capitalist hellhole and there is no escape, so we may as well have what fun we can with it while we try and make things better.

happy pride, folks.

And hey, you know what you can do if you want merch that doesn’t just feed the corporate wallet?  Go on Etsy, Storenvy, Society6, or just about a bazillion other websites where independent artists sell their products,and support your queer/LGBT+ artists!  Directly!  Hand them cold hard cash, there’s no better direct action than that, my dudes!

Listen. I’m 40. When I was a kid, it would have been unthinkable to sell Pride merchandise in mainstream stores, or possibly AT ALL in the deeply conservative state I live in.

The fact that LGBT rights have advanced enough to be considered mainstream, that we are acknowledged to be a demographic large and powerful enough to be marketed to, is a wonder. It is astonishing. It amazes me.

So yeah, it’s a cash grab, whatever, I get it, and I think companies that want to market to the queer demographic then they should support queer causes because we ARE still very much disadvantaged.

But I can’t forget how it was when I was a kid. When it was much more dangerous to publicly show your colors.

Maybe it’s tasteless, but it speaks volumes about how far we have come.

And yes, there are LOADS of queer indie artists to shop from and I recommend that. But if you want to buy some mass-market sweatshop produced piece of crap and then WEAR IT IN PUBLIC, then DO SO. Because in doing so you are making us more visible. And that’s a good thing. Never forget the value that being visibly queer has for closeted people, especially the young.

Just my ten cents.