By Olivia Hom and Kiersten Hoff
Over the past few years the topic of “rainbow-washing” has become more and more prominent during Pride Month. It’s likely that you’ve noticed rainbow-washing, the near-instant switch at the beginning of June when companies like Amazon or Forever 21 roll out their recolored Twitter and Instagram profile pictures and pride-based merchandise, sporting the rainbow colors of pride in an attempt to show solidarity with the movement. Even ten years ago the thought of major brands promoting LGBTQ+ representation was largely unheard of, and in 2021 we are pretty fortunate that the narrative of love and acceptance towards the LGBTQ+ community has become more popular in many places. Though rainbow profile pictures and pride themed Vans sneakers seem like a thoughtful decision on the part of major companies in fighting homophobia and transphobia, the underlying foul taste of rainbow-washing has become increasingly obvious. Companies and organizations use the image of pride for their own profit, infiltrate LGBTQ+ spaces for financial gain, and cover up their own immoral practices by appearing to support an underrepresented community. Following Pride 2021, let us take a look back at some of the notable offenders, and their lackluster contributions to the image of Pride this year.
Raytheon
Possibly the most outlandish use of the pride flag this June came at the hands of Raytheon, one of the largest military defense contractors in America. Their rebranded logo sported the color of the progress flag, a more recent pride flag meant to highlight intersectionality in the pride movement. This show of “solidarity,” followed Raytheon’s history of LGBTQ+ inclusivity, as Raytheon boasts a perfect 100 equality index score from the Human Rights Campaign and has been designated by the HRC as a “Best Place to Work.” Given Raytheon’s inclusive image, perhaps this is why the company thought to co-opt the colors of pride in their June marketing. Considering the very nature of Raytheon’s involvement in the military-industrial complex, however, the thought of its participation in Pride is indeed harmful. Responding to the roll-out of the rainbow-washed Raytheon logo, many took to Twitter to call out this absurdity:
Raytheon is a major part of the American military-industrial complex. The company supplies militaries with missiles, drones, planes, and other tech. Profiting from its close ties to the Saudi-led coalition, Raytheon has actively fueled the bombings in Yemen since 2015, and has only been halted under the Biden administration. The defense contractor has been a willing participant in mass civilian killings and crimes against humanity, and has worked behind the scenes to push legislation allowing their weapons sales to the Saudi-led coalition to continue. When thinking of the image of Pride Month, should a war-profiteering company be involved? How could this company and its leaders preach love and acceptance on Twitter while profiting from the deaths of hundreds of thousands in reality?
At its core, the pride movement is anti-capitalist, anti-military, and anti-imperialist. Pride is a community driven endeavor which stands against violence at the hands of the hegemony and rejects power structures of oppression. It is insulting that a military defense contractor like Raytheon thinks that it could use the colors of pride to better its own image– because that’s what this was, an attempt to humanize and moralize an immoral company with performative activism in order to best ensure its continuing profits. Raytheon may claim to care about its LGBTQ+ employees, but it is still the duty of the company’s employees and the public to critically think about whether it even deserves to sport the colors of pride given the inherent conflict between the missions of Raytheon and Pride.
Big Oil
Of course, the only thing that could be on the same level of absurdity as a defense contractor for the great American oil company (military) using rainbow-washing this June is in fact a literal oil company also rainbow-washing its social media platforms for Pride Month. That’s right, the American Petroleum Institute, among others, threw up a rainbow-colored logo, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community while also destroying ecosystems, rallying against sustainable energy, and threatening the health and safety of millions. Major oil companies like this are anti-environmentalist and participate in environmental racism, frequently infringing on Native lands and poisoning disenfranchised communities. Why would an oil company think that their money and presence is welcome at Pride? Like Raytheon, the API is antithetical to goals of the LGBTQ+ community.
Amazon
Let’s discuss Amazon and what they do for Pride Month and their LGBTQ+ employees. Amazon has highlighted LGBTQ+ TV shows, movies, authors, artists, and businesses on their website. That is a good start, but what other actions are they taking? While researching, I found out that Amazon has 13 affinity groups (employee resource groups). One is glamazon, a group that supports the LGBTQ+ community. On the Amazon website, glamazon is described as helping “...Amazon be a great place to work by educating and informing employees about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and/or Queer (LGBTQ+) community and opportunities. The group mentors fellow employees (both LGBTQ+ and allies) and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Amazon also boasts that they are allies of the LGBTQ+ community because they sponsor Pride events around the world, and they have a transgender toolkit for employees who want to transition. Surprisingly, Amazon’s claim holds credibility because in 2021, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation lists Amazon as being one of the 767 best places to work for LGBTQ+ people. But having LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace isn’t really an achievement. Praising companies for doing the bare minimum is not very helpful. It should already be a given that LGBTQ+ workers are treated fairly. The fact that it is not is extremely disappointing.
While it’s great that Amazon is making the effort to support its LGBTQ+ employees and to teach others, Amazon being a “great place to work” is debatable. Because Amazon cannot claim to support LGBTQ+ rights while continuing to exploit its workers and causing the demise of many small businesses.
Amazon is notorious for its workplace controversies due to its anti-union stance. In fact, “there have been 301 federal investigations initiated against Amazon since 2012, resulting in 59 workplace violations” (Hayasaki). In addition, there have been complaints about how Amazon has reacted to the coronavirus pandemic. Some employees feel that the company has not been doing enough to protect them and to support those who don’t feel comfortable coming to work in person. Amazon, and other companies, like to brag about how inclusive they are while disregarding their unfair labor practices.
Additionally, for small businesses, Amazon is a double edged sword. On one hand, Amazon gives them an opportunity to sell their products to a wider audience. Yet on the other hand, Amazon is seen as a threat by many small business owners. As a large corporation, Amazon wields a lot of power, making it difficult for small retailers who are not partnered with them to compete. There lies the disconnect between Amazon and the LGBTQ+ community. Grassroots activism, predominantly led by trans women of color, has always been a huge part of Pride. Activism has always emphasized sustainability and local businesses, not multinational corporations.
Gap Inc.
Gap Inc., known for its brands such as Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta, is another example of a company that participated in rainbow-washing. Like Amazon, Gap Inc. is just doing the bare minimum to support the LGBTQ+ community. It would be too much to examine every brand that is part of Gap Inc., so I will focus on Gap. For Pride Month, Gap has collaborated with artists to create an exclusive line of t-shirts. Their website states “To support the LGBTQ community beyond Pride month, we're proud to donate $50,000 to GLAAD....” That sounds great, right? But $50,000 isn’t much, considering the net sales of Gap Inc. in 2020 totaled $13.8 billion (Gap Inc.). Surely Gap could afford to give more than a measly $50,000. It would’ve been better if Gap donates all the money they earn from these t-shirts to GLAAD. It seems very cheap because Gap’s profit will obviously be higher than $50,000. Overall, this collaboration feels like a cash grab. A lot of brands know of the buying power of the LGBTQ+ community, known as the “pink dollar,” so they pander to them by putting rainbows on everything. Pride is more than just a rainbow on a cute shirt or bag.
Furthermore, according to the site Good On You, which assesses the sustainability of clothing brands, Gap received the “it’s a start” rating. That means the brand is taking some steps to be more environmentally friendly, but it’s not enough because Gap isn’t “taking adequate steps to ensure payment of a living wage for its workers” (Good On You). Also, Gap Inc.’s associates (members, employees, owners, or family members) have donated money to politicians that seek to undermine LGBTQ+ rights, such Donald Trump.
The list of corporations who keep abusing the rainbow flag for their own profits could go on. The problem with rainbow-washing is how companies’ support of the LGBTQ+ community is insincere and performative. For one month a year it’s “happy sunshine pride, we love our LGBTQ+ people,” while the rest is funding PACs that directly support anti-LGBTQ+ policies, violence, discrimination, capitalism, anti-environmentalism, etc. What these companies don’t understand is that supporting the LGBTQ+ community is not just a one month event, it should be a lifetime commitment. They cannot support LGBTQ+ rights while also denying the rights of others. Now that Pride Month 2021 has come to an end, it is imperative that we remember to support sustainable, LGBTQ+ owned businesses, continue to raise awareness about issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, and donate to LGBTQ+ people in need of money or to organizations that will directly benefit the LGBTQ+ community.
Addendum
Revisiting these companies after June has ended, we see that many companies have switched back to their original, pre-Pride layouts across social media and on their websites. Many joke about the way companies drop the rainbow the second June is over:
It is clear that their support of the LGBTQ+ community was performative and a for-profit endeavor made to use the image of Pride for their own benefit. When companies take on the image of activism and progressivism it is important to take a step back and examine their motivations.
References
“Affinity groups.” Amazon, 2021, https://www.aboutamazon.com/affinity-groups.
“Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality 2021.” Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2021, https://www.hrc.org/resources/best-places-to-work-for-lgbtq-equality-2021.
“Gap.” Good On You, 2020, https://directory.goodonyou.eco/brand/gap.
“Gap Inc.” OpenSecrets.org, 2020, https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/gap-inc/recipients?id=D000000547.
“Gap Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020 Results; Provides 2021 Outlook.” Gap Inc., 4 Mar 2021, https://www.gapinc.com/en-us/articles/2021/03/gap-inc-reports-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-202.
Hayasaki, Erika. “Amazon's Great Labor Awakening.” The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/magazine/amazon-workers-employees-covid-19.html.
LaForgia, Michael and Walt Bognadich. “Why Bombs Made in America Have Been Killing Civilians in Yemen.” The New York Times, 6 May, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/us/arms-deals-raytheon-yemen.html.
“Raytheon Technologies awarded perfect score by Human Rights Campaign for corporate equality; company partners with HRC to enable program expansion.” Raytheon Technologies, 03 June 2021, https://www.rtx.com/news/news-center/2021/06/03/raytheon-technologies-awarded-perfect-score-by-human-rights-campaign-for-corporat.
Yoder, Kate. “Big Oil is awash in rainbows for Pride Month.” Grist, 4 June 2021,
Olivia Hom is a rising sophomore at Mount Holyoke College. She is interested in feminism and intersectionality in today’s world. On campus, Olivia plans to join the student newspaper. She also enjoys writing, photography, listening to music, and playing video games.
Kiersten Hoff is in her fifth year at the University of Michigan, and will be receiving a B.A. in Classical Civilizations and Arts & Ideas in the Humanities come this Fall. She is passionate about social activism as well as the arts, and hopes to combine the two throughout her future career. Outside of her academic and artistic life, Kiersten loves video games, playing piano, and hanging out with her cat.