OTTAWA—Happy Pride, I guess.

The anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion backlash is aimed at vulnerable communities for the crime of spotlighting the structural and social barriers that keep them at a disadvantage compared to their white peers. Over the past few years, we learned about the analytical framework of intersectionality, one that recognizes how various marginalized identities are tied together to create different forms of discrimination. We learned about policing according to race through the 2020 murder of George Floyd. We began to talk about how technologies affect various communities’ ability to move around freely and the systematized discrimination that occurs to deepen the racial, gender, and class divisions in our society on a grand scale. We learned about queerness.

Or we should have.

Transgender communities have been on the receiving end of constant political attacks and violence. The policing of their bodies, their identities, and access to care have been weaponized to cement their marginalization. There seems to be a national obsession with pronouns, deadnaming—the act of referring to a transgender or non-binary person by their birth name after they have chosen a new name to reflect their new identities—and bathroom stalls. It’s twisted.

“Radical gender ideology” is what the Conservatives call trans’ people’s right to exist in society, and access services that support their physicality. What is cute is their weaponization of women and gender-based violence to push trans people out of female spaces.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told CTV News, “I’m not aware of any other genders than men and women.” I’m only aware of one anti-LGBTQ party, and it’s the Conservatives. The party uses trans rights as red meat to the ignorance of social conservatives, and to pacify right-wing media for whom Jordan Peterson is their golden calf. Their political stances intersect with those of the Ottawa Convoy. As reported in The Walrus, “Action4Canada, a right-wing group that was instrumental in the Freedom Convoy, took credit for getting the [school pronouns] policy introduced in Saskatchewan.”

Everyone’s favourite patriotic premier, Alberta’s Danielle Smith, threatened to use the notwithstanding clause “to protect a new law that bans youth under 16 from accessing gender-affirming hormone treatments as well as top surgery,” according to Amnesty International Canada. The human rights organization called the threat “cruel and unnecessary.” The cruelty is the point.

Corporations hijacked social justice movements to build their social capital, and now they are retreating due to right-wing populism. These are acts of betrayal. But they were never allies, they pink-washed their way to positive publicity. The re-election of President Donald Trump in the United States is affecting diversity initiatives in Canada. Pride Toronto is going to have a tough time this year since Home Depot—whose CEO is a known Trump supporter—rescinded their financial support; Google, which gave US$1-million to Trump’s inauguration, also dropped out. “The non-profit in charge of the 2SLGBTQ+ festival is facing a shortfall of around $700,000 as a result of all the most recent withdrawals,” as reported by CTV News. While corporations turn tail and run, the city stepped up to make up part of that shortfall with a $350,000 grant. But it’s not enough.

If we are truly committed to celebrating Pride, we must stand for LGBTQ rights, and queer liberation. But how?

Take Target as a case study. The L.A. Times reported that Target told their staff to “reduce or even eliminate their Pride-themed displays or move the merchandise to less conspicuous sections of the stores.” The company rolled back their DEI initiatives, “including a commitment to expanding Black employee representation by 20 per cent,” CNN reports. You know how Black Americans responded? Black churches organized boycotts of Target, spurred by Black social media spaces. The Seattle Medium notes: “The movement began as the Target Fast and gained national momentum as the company pulled back on its DEI pledges.” In an op-ed in Black Press USA, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. and Bobby R. Henry Sr. of the National Newspaper Publishers Association state: “Let us be clear: we will not shop where we are disrespected. Our dollars will not finance our own marginalization.”

And that’s the whole point. We can’t let corporations come into our movements, take over our spaces, and then stab us in the back when their “support” is no longer convenient; we can’t support those companies that bow to white supremacy. (White supremacy includes gender normativity.)

Is the boycott working?

Even Target had to concede in their U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that “we recently announced that we modified and concluded certain of our initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which resulted in adverse reactions from some of our shareholders, guests, team members, and others.” No kidding. This past February, traffic decreased 9.5 per cent compared to the previous year, using foot traffic as a proxy for sales. The stock price hit a five-year low of $94 in April after a January price of $142 per share. Anti-woke stances are expensive.

This year, instead of pink-washing our Instagram feeds, maybe we should jump into the fight for queer rights and let these corporations know that their anti-LGBTQ stances will cost them.

Erica Ifill is a co-host of the Bad+Bitchy podcast.

The Hill Times

 

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