Rainbow Capitalism
What does it mean to be queer? To exist outside the box, to shrug off societal expectations and pressures and be ourselves. To deviate from the norms and to fight them. To be queer means to be different. It always has. Once a slur, then reclaimed, now a way for them to profit off us. What a fucking shit show.
Rainbow capitalism has many names - pink capitalism, homo-capitalism, and queer capitalism. It has many faces too. From the mass-produced stickers and face masks with rainbows on them to the Rainbow Tick Certification, the leech that is capitalism has wormed its way into queer culture. It profits off our internalised homophobia. It makes money off our pain. It is not Pride.
When you grow up knowing that you aren't going to be the person your family and friends expect or want you to be, that's fucking scary. As Hannah Gatsby said in her brilliant Netflix special called Nannette, "the closet can only stop you from being seen. It is not shame-proof." Shame is powerful. It's a nasty feeling that businesses rely on. The beauty industry releases an eyeshadow palette for each day of Pride Month, it seems. You can never have too many rainbows, they say; shimmer, matte or even gloss. You'll be happier, you'll feel better.
It doesn't matter if you're a trans kid kicked out of home by your immigrant parents or a bi girl who is forced through conversion therapy by her church, or you just can't be yourself at home, school or work because you're worried about the consequences - fear not! The answer is definitely to buy more rainbow themed shit.
A person who is forced to hide in that closet and soak in shame is bound to be a little fucked up. And we are fucked up. Queer people need mental health support. We might not be able to make everyone stop being homophobic, but surely, we can boost funding for mental health providers? This last Government Budget only put $3.2 million towards rainbow-specific mental wellbeing. In Aotearoa, there are somewhere between 291,000 to 727,500 people who are rainbow. Averages out to about seven bucks per gay. Hey, at least you could put that towards the KiwiRail Pride Edition train ride. You'd just need to find another $162.
What is most curious about rainbow capitalism is how the rainbow community has recreated the status quo. You have to be a Ponsonby gay who goes to Pride and can afford gay themed shit to be cool. To be a "real" gay. What a load of shit. The queer liberation movement started as a riot. The liberation of the LGBTQ+ community will always be a protest. But we are assimilating. We are going quietly into the night, applauding rainbow crossings and profile pictures with rainbow filters on them. Businesses and governments are trying to convince us that if we are good and participate in the status quo by being good consumers, life will get easier. In truth, as rainbow folk, we have no choice whether or not we engage with capitalism. We gotta eat, pay bills, and make rent. We take jobs, I certainly do, where our queerness is commodified. That’s okay, but I am calling out the hypocrisy of rainbow capitalism. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
A huge part of how companies and organisations interact with the community is the Rainbow Tick Certification, a certification mark that says the group has completed a diversity and inclusion assessment process. It also asks staff to mark "occasions of relevance" like pride festivals and publicly sponsor or support community events or organisations, like having a banner and stand at a festival. As of 2019, Massey University had paid over $20,700 to Rainbow Tick. Massey employs around 3,300 staff, and an online rainbow training and a rainbow leadership training are currently available to them. In the past couple of years, there has been a questioning of these trainings and whether they are adequate.
George, a trans student, recalls when an “anti-trans hate group”, Speak Up For Women, made a private booking at the Dominion Building. They also remember just how far the community had to go to ensure hate speech was not condoned by the University. They spoke about having to push the board very hard just to get the event canned. "It wasn't until petitions that Massey was going to get their Rainbow Tick taken away that they actually started to take it seriously." Massey says the booking was cancelled, after health and safety complaints were made as the issue escalated, with the event eventually being held at Parliament.
In a very telling statement, George says, "It felt like they took having the Rainbow Tick more seriously than actually upholding the wellbeing of rainbow students."
George explains that Massey having a Rainbow Tick "more appropriately represents Massey's desire to look more progressive compared to other universities". To George, having that tick means little else than performativity and tokenism. Another student said that while they don't know that much about the certification, "taking a public stance supporting the community is a good start for Massey".
Many alumni and current students who are part of the rainbow community have a lot to say. Most are frustrated. When our country is busy celebrating Pride, how are actual rainbow people feeling? Jem* is a bisexual student who says they haven't encountered any biphobia on campus. They acknowledge that just because they haven't been treated differently doesn't mean that other community members have got it easy. Jem thinks that Massey shouldn't be able "to get the tick if not all staff members agree to treat everyone equally with respect". They are concerned that Massey may not be expressing help for all members of the community. Most students reiterated that they felt safer on Wellington campus than expected, attributing it to "Wellington culture”. While individual staff have been supportive and keen to be inclusive, there's an underlying tone of unease for some rainbow students.
About their mahi, George says, "I felt a little bit uncomfortable being queer in the industrial space just because I feel it is quite commercial, and capitalist, and very heteronormative." But, the doctors, nurses and counsellors at Student Health Centres are helpful and supportive to transgender students; George says, "getting the access to physical medication I needed as a trans person... was very easy at Massey."
Another student describes their feelings around the commercialisation of rainbow people and culture by companies. "They will claim they celebrate diversity, but I feel like if you looked at the diversity within their organisation, you'd find it doesn't have representation for all members of our community.”
A spokesperson from Massey says that the university “wholeheartedly stands by our commitment to diversity and inclusion published on our website” and that they “welcome all staff, students and visitors, including diverse ethnicities, colours and national origins, gender and sexually diverse persons, people in various kinds of relationships and family structures, dis/abilities, ages, political opinions, and employment. Every person deserves to be treated with respect and should be able to enjoy a working and learning environment free from discrimination, harassment or victimisation.” Massey points to their participation in Auckland’s Big Gay Out and Wellington’s Out in the City, as well as the appointment of their new Diversity and Inclusion Adviser, as examples of their active support of the Rainbow community.
However, as one student says, “If they really celebrated us, they'd hire us, they'd provide sensitivity training for their staff, and they'd hopefully put their money where their mouth is and contribute to queer organisations, not just add a rainbow to their logo."
But the reality is, you might just get that promotion if you don't talk to the media about the money allocated to Pride Month social media campaigns when you're being paid less than your cishet co-worker. You'll get a glowing reference from your high school if you keep quiet about the transphobic teachers. Hey, if you're the least queer, maybe they'll treat you like they do the straights. If you don't fight or kick up a fuss and go along with it instead, you'll be rewarded. That's how rainbow capitalism works. It's a cruel joke. You come out of the closet, only to find it's pretty shit out here if you disagree with "the way things are". No matter how many rainbow-laced shoes or badges from Shmotton On you buy or Pride pics you post to Insta, the reality stays the same. I'm @-ing myself here.
Our needs are pretty low down the list for people in power. They couldn't care less about our wellbeing, and they're profiting off us. The people in charge of the money simply don't want to share it with us. Why are we spending money to make society feel better about our existence? Instead of just handing over the hard-earned money we make, how about we protest? 1 in 5 trans people have been without a home at some point in their lives. 71% of trans and non-binary people experience high or very high psychological distress. Rainbow young people are struggling. 68% of us are earning less than the median annual income. We have high rates of ill mental health. 84% of us have contemplated completing suicide. 47% of us have experienced sexual violence.
Combined with a disability, being Māori, Pasifika, or from an immigrant background, it's even more dire to be queer. Are you fucked off yet?
George calls out the blatant difference between how the corporate world sees us, versus what the community really is. “Businesses are celebrating Pride as if queer people are already equal in this world but we simply aren't.” Queer people aren’t just white cis gay men, they comment. On the contrary, George notes “all of the takatāpui, gender diverse and non-conforming people who are actually really struggling in the world because of capitalism”. They even went out to quantify that much of the crowd funding and resource re-distribution that happens today is run by queer people, especially queer people of colour.
George perfectly sums up how we, as a community, can move forward. “It is really inspiring to see all of the queer people who grew up in this world and are striving to buy land and build homes and create communities for all of the queer people and minorities who are hurting so that we can escape from it and live a life that isn't full of suffering.”