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Showing posts from June, 2021

Waving the flag is no longer enough for companies claiming to support LGBT+ people

In reaction to the flurry of gayed-up corporate logos, the Hornby story earlier this week, and a visit to my local Sainsbury's this morning, I ponder the subject of corporate pinkwashing and how sticking a rainbow in the (real or virtual) window is no longer enough to show support.   This morning, as I reached the tills in my local Sainsbury’s, I noticed a string of bunting bearing (pictured) the colours of the Progress Flag and proclaiming the company’s proud support to the LGBT+ community. A cursory look around showed no other evidence of this support being displayed in the shop. My immediate, and perhaps ungrateful, reaction was that not only most customers would most likely not notice the thing, it also felt rather tokenistic and half-hearted.   There was a time, perhaps ten to 15 years ago, when seeing a rainbow flag in a business you visited would be something meaningful, something feeling daring and perhaps slightly dangerous. It was in any case an occasion rare enough that