THE BATTLE OF THE BANKS: WHO’S PROUDEST?

 

Can the world have too many rainbows? 

 

There was a time when, if a business stuck a rainbow sticker in the corner of its storefront window, it said something. I remember in the ’90s, walking by or strolling in and stopping to make eye contact with a friend or boyfriend, either of us nodding at the statement. 

 

Back then, the rainbow sticker was as rare as a rainbow in the sky. There was a sense that the owner was taking a business risk. Homophobia was more open then. Gay rights didn’t exist in many areas. A lot of people still lumped gays in with pedophiles and generally reviled deviants. AIDS added elements of fear and disgust. Outside of the gay ghettos, a business owner risked turning away customers who opposed any positive gesture toward the LGBT community. Some couched it in terms of “When I buy antacid, I don’t want your political or cultural views jammed down my throat.” Go on, then. Live with your damn indigestion. 

 

When I’d make one of my occasional appearances at a Pride parade and the follow-up “festival,” my friends and I would be surprised, even elated, to see a Bank of America contingent holding colorful balloons and a large sign saying, “PROUD OF OUR LGBT EMPLOYEES & CUSTOMERS” as they marched behind the corporate banner. Having a large corporate entity show support felt like progress and gave legitimacy to the fact that queer people deserved respect and were worthy of calculated business solicitation. It almost made me think of switching banks. Almost. Such a hassle though.

 

The days of a business entity seeming like a standout in the midst of drag queens, PFLAG, Dykes on Bikes, the Speedo-sporting gay swim team and go-go boys in thongs dancing atop floats are long behind us. Nowadays, it feels like a competition for which business can have the largest parade presence and/or decorate its store space the gayest. As an established practice, it made me cynical. No longer a business risk, it turned into a business decision. Showing Pride means good business. Do they really care?

 

I’ve decided it doesn’t really matter. 

 

Sure, I want to feel welcomed wherever I shop or choose to do business. And, to be clear, I choose NOT to spend money at places that don’t support gay rights or are all-out anti-gay. As a vegetarian, I’ve never opened my wallet at a Chick fil-A, but I’ve informed a lot of my straight friends who have at least had to think twice if they really want a chicken sandwich. It’s also created a permanent rift between my brother and me after I saw my sister-in-law’s Facebook post about joining a long line to support the franchise at the height of the boycott. I objected and he did not respond at all. Moreover, after several years of joining college friends at annual bowl games when my alma mater, TCU, was doing well in football, I refused to attend the Peach Bowl in Atlanta because, due to corporate sponsorship, it became known as The Chick fil-A Peach Bowl. My friends opted out as well in support of me.

In a Red State, corporate participation in Pride events is still a statement but not in a place like California and certainly not in Vancouver, British Columbia. A few yahoos may choose to do business elsewhere, but it’s basically another opportunity for advertising the business name. Let us be your cable supplier, drink our beer, choose me as you real estate agent. Sure, sure, whatever. I’m no more persuaded than I am listening to a TV commercial or one of those pesky YouTube ads. (FYI, I will never ever subscribe to Grammarly.com!) 

 

I know there are queer people who aren’t just cynical about corporate infiltration into Pride event; they are adamantly against it. Why are we allowing bottled water companies to join the parade? It dilutes the focus on true pride, on bringing greater diversity into the event, on highlighting what still needs to be done in terms of trans rights and LGBTQ rights elsewhere in the world. 

 

This is black-and-white thinking. It has to be either-or instead of and. I see this all the time when someone online objects to a government or some other entity spending $ X million on the arts or paving a still-decent road when it could be used to establish housing for the homeless. Yes, more money needs to be spent on all sort of supports to address complex issues related to homelessness. And, true, there are limited pots of money…that whole robbing Peter to pay Paul dilemma. Still, not all money will go toward a single issue. Other things will get funded, some that you or I may agree upon, others to which we don’t. I got my hand slapped once when, as a teacher, I attended a public hearing about proposed educational budget cuts and suggested slashing one expenditure to reduce the number of teaching positions slated to be eliminated. While I still think my suggestion was valid, it upset people whose jobs would then be affected and I had a certain union really pissed at me. What I should have done was focus on the essential value of the positions that needed to be protected and leave it to the school board to make the tougher Peter-Paul decisions.

 

Let businesses jump on the Pride bandwagon. Regardless of how deep or shallow their belief in LGBTQ rights may be, their flags, banners and decorations expand the awareness and acceptance of Pride. Yes, it’s advertising for themselves, but they’re also advertising Pride.

 

Official Pride celebrations have gone from a day to a week to a whole month. (Plus, some places like Vancouver and Ottawa wait and have their many Pride events in August. When travel opens up again, you can have a Pride summer!) 

 

Pride has also extended in terms of people who participate, particularly in attending the parade. I’ve heard some complaining, but Pride has become a summer event. A couple of summers ago, I was immersed with a bunch of straight twenty-somethings and they were all excited to track down what they were going to wear for the parade. They spent a great deal of time planning for it. When I attended my first parade in L.A. in 1990, none of my law school classmates (almost all in their twenties) knew it was happening. A few may have learned about it after the fact by seeing drag queens—then considered way too Out There—in a polarizing lead story on the 11:00 news.

 

As I’ve been walking around the traditionally queer center of Vancouver this month, lots of businesses have rainbow flags hanging. The banks, in particular, seem to be in competition with one another. 

 

We’re the most pro-gay! 

 

No, we are!  

 

Early one morning, I walked by one financial institution that had not yet opened for the day. It had covered its entire façade with rainbow stripes. Alas, it was done with some sort of stick-on material and the sticking hadn’t stuck. The entire building looked like a giant child had hastily unwrapped it, with torn strips all over the ground. A week later, the rainbow décor was comparatively understated, only framing the windows. We’re pro-gay, but we don’t have their decorating know-how.  

 

At Halloween or Christmas, I don’t question businesses over how much they truly believe in, say, The Great Pumpkin or baby Jesus in a manger or a once-bullied reindeer flying Santa around the world in a sled in a single evening. I may curse them for creating an entire Valentine’s aisle on January 2^nd every year, but there are people who love all that love. Not a year goes by when I could possibly forget Easter—do these businesses have deep religious beliefs or do they just like bunnies…and chocolate? I’m a smidge Irish and I have no objection to other people without any trace of Irish blood wearing green and drinking beer while businesses hang shamrocks in their windows.

 

Businesses will always be first and foremost about the bottom line. It’s their raison d’être. If they want to decorate during the holidays, let them. All those years ago, back in the ‘90s, I’d have never guessed that Pride would be penned in on their holiday calendar.