I’m tired of people saying they like queer people – or women, or trans people, or people of colour – while seeing that terrible things are happening and just putting up with it. I am tired of living in a world where major corporations are given the prime spots at Pride parades, and tickets to other Prides cost £70, while the queer nights that are dying out all over the country aren’t even allowed to bring in a truck with a boombox and some drag queens because the cost of participating is so high. I am tired of the constant belittling of genuine LGBTQ+ civil rights movements by people who then plaster pride logos all over their corporation or government bureau, who would love a photo with Elton John but would deny trans people desperately needed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. It’s hard to write this piece because I am tired. The idea that you can simply say you support gay rights, without actually supporting gay rights, is the most exhausting paradox of politics today. There is this belief, from people who would never dare call themselves homophobes, that supporting homophobia, or endangering homosexual lives, does not discount them from calling themselves allies. I raise Widdecombe and the Home Office because they are both two examples of the same thing, the same thing Esther McVey displayed recently when she fanned the flames of the ongoing debate about LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education for children in Birmingham. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. While the Home Office admitted that gay sex is punishable with up to 21 years in prison and LGBT people suffer harassment and even rape there, “The law is rarely applied and the objective evidence does not establish that LGBT persons are likely to be subjected to persecution or serious harm.” While their logo has been changed to a rainbow flag, people were quick to point out that the Home Office have also rejected another asylum application from Kenneth Macharia: a gay rugby player and asylum seeker who fears violence and persecution if he returns to Kenya. But too often the appearance of a rainbow flag, and a worthy video for social media announcing support and equality, doesn’t actually mean anything: the Home Office this year continue this practice apace.
![gay pride rainbow vs regular rainbow gay pride rainbow vs regular rainbow](https://pm1.narvii.com/7335/c4efbc3466270b1d6e8ccf66193b29859a6ee915r1-1536-2048v2_hq.jpg)
Other entities too put the rainbow flag up on their social media pages, making the same statements of belief in equality for the LGBTQ+ community that ever company does. What did it say to have an alcohol sponsor for the event? As happens whenever a corporate sponsor steps into the ring with Pride, people were put on edge: after all, queers still lack social spaces that aren’t loaded with drink and drugs. Budweiser started advertising drinks that were copies of each of the different pride flags (the rainbow flag, the flag for asexual pride, the flag for trans pride, etc). Even people’s dealers offered discounts on weed if you’re a sodomite.
![gay pride rainbow vs regular rainbow gay pride rainbow vs regular rainbow](https://piggotts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/gay-pride-rainbow-flag.jpg)
Then, this week, the Pride month adverts began to roll out.