Front Burner - Boycotts, threats and the limits of corporate ‘Pride’

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

In recent years, Pride Month has seen a flood of corporations using rainbow logos and products to show LGBTQ support. Whether the brands are being helpful or opportunistic has been cause for debate. But this year, amidst a wave of hate against queer and trans people, boycotts and threats are leading some brands to walk back their Pride marketing and merch. Today, Xtra Magazine senior editor Mel Woods discusses whether corporate support for Pride matters, and what brands giving in to homophobic demands could signal about rising hatred. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Saroja Coelho. Each June, the corporate world is flooded with rainbow logos and merch in support of LGBTQ pride. whether this is helpful for visibility or a hijacking of a rights movement for profit, as well as some tongue-in-cheek fun over things like Target's Pride collection. I can't tell if this Live Laugh Lesbian t-shirt is hilariously and unintentionally ironic,

and I would like it to be etched on my gravestone. I'm not sure what the point of this drag queen bird is, but I think it's hilarious and somebody's gonna have to stop me from buying it. This shirt says better out than in, which I'm pretty sure is a quote from the gay icon Shrek. Better out than in, I always say. But this year, questions about how companies should support Pride are returning to questions about whether or not they will. Do you support the sexualization of kids through Pride propaganda by corporate? Is there something that we can help you with?

I'm just asking people questions. Target is facing intense backlash over some of its LGBT pride merchandise. And now the retailer says it is removing some of the items after incidents involving displays being tipped over and even employees being threatened. Threats are also happening against pride events across North America as some politicians continue to stoke fear and hatred towards queer and trans people. Ottawa actually put up $1.5 million in emergency funding to keep festivals safe after some organizers said that insurance costs were soaring. So whether a rainbow t-shirt really does anything for queer rights or not,

there are fears about how brands are responding to homophobic demands and what this could signal about rising hatred. To break it down, Mel Woods is with me today. They're a senior editor at Extra Magazine. Hi, Mel. Hi. So over the past few years, we've of course seen corporations just going mad with Pride branding, lots of merch everywhere. And sometimes it was kind of like this contest for the strangest thing you could find to slap a rainbow on.

What are some of the weirder examples you've seen? Oh, my goodness. There's just so many. You know, everything from Funko Pops to Uggs. I always love looking at whatever Uggs does every year because it's always the most ostentatious rainbow slipper you can imagine. I know there was a food delivery service one year that made a menu specifically for bottoms, which if you know, you know. And then one of my favorites was from from a couple years ago you know you go to target's pride collection and everybody loves to talk about target's pride

collection because it always is quite expansive and they had a pet section you click on pet section and there are rainbow dog poop bags and it's like wow nothing says pride like rainbow dog poop bags it's it's it's quite quite silly it It is really silly. And at the same time, it became rapidly very political. So it was meant to be this kind of easy feel good moment. We see you, we hear you. But some of the response from queer and trans folks, in your opinion, was this ironic detachment. What did you mean by that? Yeah, you know, I think that there's this, you know, pride was a protest, right? Like the first pride was a protest. It's a very political movement. We're calling for not just equality, but advancement of LGBTQ2S plus rights overall.

And to see these big, huge corporations and banks and things, oil companies changing their logos to be rainbows in the month of June. And it's like, really? Like you're not actually doing anything. And, you know, in recent years, some of the corporate pride efforts have gotten a little bit better in the sense that they're actively making donations to organizations like the Trevor Project in the US or like Rainbow Railroad up here in Canada. But they also are only doing that in the month of June. And so it's kind of hard not to feel a little skeptical to side eye about them making a lot of money selling us our rainbow t-shirts for the month of June and then kind of forgetting about us for the rest of the year.

So 11 months where you're not on the radar at all and then an opportunistic thing is what you're seeing. Definitely, definitely. And I kind of just feeling like we're part of another marketing scheme. So we're going to talk a little bit more about brands that are now starting to pull back, beginning with Target that you just mentioned. Why have we seen a campaign to get Target to pull back that Pride merch? Yeah, well, it's so interesting. Target put out their Pride collection this year. And, you know, one thing that stood out to me was a Live Laugh Lesbian shirt, which I found so funny. And, you know, people on TikTok had a good gab with. Target's got the jokes today because what is this? Live, laugh, lesbian, okay? Live, laugh, lesbian. Now, a lot of people aren't gonna like this, but I love it.

If the Pride section is what we needed to produce this beautiful masterpiece, the live, laugh, lesbian t-shirt, then okay. You see all these fun online videos kind of poking fun at these pride collections, but became quickly not fun and not poking fun when right-wing media got a hold of an image of a tucking swimsuit. The line includes LGBTQ apparel for adults, children, and even their pets. One of those items is an adult swimsuit, which openly promotes tuck-friendly construction. I'll just let that sit. To wrap all of this up in pride, I think is a great insult to many people in this country.

They were selling a bathing suit that had instructions on how to tuck. Well, to tuck, so without getting too anatomical. A tucking garment is something that's really great for trans femme folks. It's an important item. It's akin to like a bra in a lot of ways. And it's really cool that Target is selling a tucking swimsuit. But right-wing media got a hold of an image of the swimsuit and falsely suggested that it was being marketed towards kids,

which was not the case, which even if it was, that would be fine. But yes, they suggested it was being marketed towards kids, which was not the case, which even if it was, that would be fine. But yes, they suggested it was being marketed towards kids. It was not the case and drew up a huge fervor over that. And this huge kind of transphobic push back against Target that has just led to threats against staff, threats against stores. Get out of my face, stupid girl. Don't walk up to me. You're promoting pedophilia. To be honest, I'm quite happy. Hey, excuse me. Do you guys support this? They do. Do you guys support the propaganda? Yeah. You do? Yeah. Huge calls for boycotts to the point that Target actually

holds some items from the Pride collection. And that's, it's scary to see. While looking at some of the kick against Target, I came across that video. You've probably seen it, Boycott Target. It's a rap song. It reached the top of the iTunes charts. Do you know the one I'm talking about? I do, yes.

That seems to be like quite an explosive and well-organized response. What did you think when you saw that? Yeah, you know, I think that what a lot of people are getting wrong about this is that they're thinking it's just some like idiots, some random people who are making a fuss online and there's nothing to it. But it's a coordinated attack. of us online and there's nothing to it, but it's a coordinated attack. These people are smart and they're poking at very specific fears and ideas that, you know, have tendrils that trace right back to the bigger kind of transphobic push we're seeing right now around drag bands and anti-drag storytime things and kids in schools. Like it's all kind of connected. And so I think

that video and these other efforts are just part of that larger push. Then we have other campaigns that we're seeing like Bud Light, and that is being boycotted quite successfully to the point that Bud Light is no longer the best-selling beer in the U.S. Why is that boycott happening? So that all traces back to one single piece of spawn, and I cannot stress this enough. It was not like a huge, massive pro-LGBTQ campaign they're doing. It was a video done with the TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who went quite viral last year for documenting her transition. Hi, I got some Bud Lights for us.

And Bud Light did a piece of Spawn with her like they would do with any other influencer. They made a can with her face on it to celebrate her transition. She made a video about it. This month, I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood, and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever, a can with my face on it. And again, these kind of bad actors on the right from right wing media got a hold of this and just spurred this huge transphobic backlash against Bud Light and called

for boycotts. You saw a video of like Kid Rock shooting up a platter of Bud Light. of like Kid Rock shooting up a platter of Bud Light. Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch. Some of it was very silly to see, but at the same time, it also, again, led to threats. It led to this huge mobilization of transphobic hate against Bud Light. And Bud Light and Budweiser did not handle it great, if you ask me.

You know, instead of affirming their support for trans rights or forming their support for LGBTQ2S plus folks, they kind of basically said that they did not want to get into a debate that divided people. The Bud Light marketing executive who oversaw a partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney is taking a leave of absence and will be replaced, according to reports from Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth writes, we never intended to be a part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer. But that did not even appease the opponents. And it's, again, much like the Target stuff,

kind of scary to see something like this become so politicized. so politicized. You're really helping us see kind of the wider landscape of things here. I want to give one last example of the big organizations in sports. Why have some NHL teams and baseball's LA Dodgers changed their pride nights? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I think that sports team pride nights have been a thing for a while. Like they've definitely ramped up in a really positive way. We're seeing more involvement from celebrities. We're seeing more, you know, special team jerseys being put out. I went to Dodgers Pride Night in LA last year and it was because I loved the Dodgers and it was so exciting. You know, JoJo Siwa was there. Demi Lovato was there. There was, I got a rainbow Dodgers hat and a very expensive

beer and a big rainbow cup. That was very fun and very kind of cool for me because, you know, sports are historically really a bad place for LGBTQ2S plus folks. And so these Pride Nights are really good and exciting. But in the last few months, we've seen this kind of pivot hard back away from them from some players coming out on the hockey team saying, you know, I won't wear that pride jersey. And that's leading to these whole teams having to reevaluate doing their pride nights in the first place. The Dodgers, you know, they invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which is a longstanding queer charity nonprofit that's raised over a million dollars for AIDS research since the 1970s. Shirts and signs sprinkled in the crowd calling for a boycott of the Dodgers after the team invited the sisters to accept a community

hero award as part of tonight's festivities. You know, this far-right Christian space was mad because the sisters of perpetual indulgence basically do drag as nuns. And it led to this huge backlash where the Dodgers uninvited the sisters, and then they brought them back. And then thousands of Catholics essentially picketed Pride Night last weekend for the Dodgers. So let's pray. So it's important to understand that this is a prayer and not a protest. We're basically praying for the so-called nuns.

praying for the so-called nuns. What the judges are doing, allowing this group to be here, it goes against the Catholic faith. It's really kind of, yeah, there's symbolic gestures. Pride Night is not going to change the world. They didn't throw the first brick at Stonewall so I could drink an expensive beer out of a rainbow cup. But it's nice, and it's nice to be acknowledged and to have that kind of effort put in,

and to see it getting spiraled back and back and back is really, really worrying. And actually, last month, Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass shared a video on Instagram where a man is calling for Target and Bud Light boycotts and he says that Pride's support is demonic. And after that, Anthony Bass was booed at a game.

How did the Jays deal with him? I mean, they didn't deal with him soon enough. He was, yeah, he was booed at the game, but there was also kind of statements that came out about, you know, working with him and some apologies, but not really apologies. I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine. And I am truly sorry for that. And then I even saw there was a rumor at one point that he was going to somehow be involved in Pride Night as some sort of like apology. And ultimately the Jays ended up cutting him,

which is nice to see. You know, it took too long, but that was the right reaction. And I think that it feels often that these businesses or these big entities like sports teams are kind of weighing the pros and cons of how much money they're going to win or lose when it's queer and trans rights that are at the center of this. And it feels kind of icky to watch it playing out over and over and over again. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization. Empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here.

You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo, 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. What do you think it is about this year specifically that has emboldened people

with homophobic views and allowed them to even make threats over pride branding? You know, I think that it is connected to and rooted in transphobia more than anything. I think there's a lot of causes. The far-right Christian nationalist movement that was really emboldened by the convoy here in Canada, looking for another issue to be emboldened by, and they're certainly making moves into this space. But I think it's all connected, and I think the more that it's kind of getting talked about and given a pass and being seen as acceptable. You know, you see in New Brunswick right now some of the discourse that's being put out by the premier of New Brunswick. We begin in New Brunswick and the fallout over changes to part of the province's LGBTQ policy in schools. Starting July 1st, students under 16 will need consent from parents to change their name or pronoun. You know, we see in Alberta a candidate who said that trans kids are like poop and cookie mix, getting 70% of the

vote and getting elected. These things being given a pass and being said that they're okay, emboldened more people to do them. When Bud Light walks back partnering with a trans influencer, you know, they win. The quote unquote bad guys win. And that means that other brands are going to be a lot more hesitant to do those sorts of partnerships because they saw how much vitriol and backlash that Bud Light got. And so I really think it's a snowballing effect that has its origins going back to the larger anti-trans movement that we see playing out legislatively in the U.S., but also in Canada. I think when the conversation really started to peak in the Canadian press, there was a constant look south across the border. And on this show, for sure, we have talked a lot about how U.S. Republicans have made this into a culture war, that there's a lot of sowing of fear of gay people, of trans people to capture conservative voters. of gay people, of trans people, to capture conservative voters.

But as we look across this country, you're describing so many examples. There's another one that comes to mind that maybe you can shed a little light on, which was a girl being harassed at a track meet in Kelowna, B.C. this month. What happened there? Yeah, so a young girl, a cis girl, I should say, with a short haircut, was competing in a kid's shot put event. I think she was nine years old. And a man in the stands, the grandfather of another competitor, harassed her, harassed her family.

I said, sir, that's my daughter you're pointing at. She's a girl. She has every right to be competing here. And he looked at me and said, oh, a girl. Insinuating that she wasn't a real girl or what have you. Basically accused her of being trans and that the sport wasn't fair because he was accusing her

of being a mixed gender event and all this sort of stuff because of this girl with a short haircut there. And it's a grown man harassing a child in this case. We have to really, really emphasize that. And the event ended up getting moved to a short haircut there. And it's a grown man harassing a child in this case. We have to really, really emphasize that. And the event ended up getting moved to a slightly different location.

And it's ultimately resulted with the man being banned from events in that school district and this sort of thing, which like good on the event organizers and school district and government officials for kind of calling it out. But the fact that this guy was emboldened enough to kind of say that and repeat these talking points that we're seeing in, you know, transport spans down in the States, those ideas are here in Canada. And I think, you know, I'm sure it's a common theme on this show that we in Canada like to think that we're quote unquote better than what's happening south of the border, but it's really happening here and it's taking hold. And again, I go back to what's happening in New Brunswick where, you know, the issue of kids

being able to use their own pronouns could cause an election there. Right. Maybe you could tell us a little more about what happened there. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's kind of a complicated legislative situation. But basically, New Brunswick has a policy that was put in in 2020, I believe, around kids being able to be protected to use their chosen name or pronouns in school without necessarily their parents being informed. And that's a really important thing because often kids may not have supportive families. They may want to be living in their true identity and not necessarily have their parents told about that. have their parents told about that. And the premier of New Brunswick, Blaine Higgs, has essentially decided he wants to roll back that policy after kind of pushes from parents' rights groups saying that, you know, it's the right of parents to know if a kid is using different pronouns or a different name in school. And I appreciate, you know, that not all

parents' situation and children's situation are the same at home. But the policy's fundamental shouldn't kind of rule out all parents. And it's basically caused a huge rift in his party. A cabinet minister has resigned. Six conservatives voted against the government in a vote related to this policy. Some of the things that he's been saying specifically around it is repeating the misinformation

that we're seeing south of the border around kids and puberty blockers and gender affirming care. And he keeps on calling kids using different pronouns or a name a fad or a phase, which it's not. And there's much proven research and documented evidence that quote unquote higher rates of trans kids. It's not a fad or a phase. It's just more kids knowing that being trans is a possibility that they can have. So it's scary to see that sort of thing having a hold in Canadian legislation, like right now in Pride Month of all months, too. I want to come back to the question of what's happening with corporations and pulling back their active visual support for queer communities. Because in the face of that real world violence and these legislative threats, there's a question to be asked about why a mug with a logo on it even

matters. Why was support from brands a benefit of any kind to queer and trans people fighting for their rights? Yeah, you know, as skeptical and kind of detached I like to be from corporate pride, it at least is acknowledgement that we exist and that we are, you know, queer and trans rights are something that should be fought for and should be something that needs, you know, visible allyship and support. And rolling this back feels like a, it feels like a slap in the face. It's saying that not only do we not think of you as people, we don't even think of you as customers. The money math has worked out

and you're not even a valuable customer to us. You're not even a valuable demographic to target or group to acknowledge exists. We think it's more important to satisfy these kind of hate-filled folks on this side than to give you your rainbow mug. And that is a dark feeling because it means that those, you know, brands, those corporations, those entities aren't going to stand by when it

really matters. You know, I think about in the sports team context, you know, because you know there are going to be, there are closeted players in these big leagues. Yes, there's no active gay player in the full league of the NHL or in major League Baseball. But there's probably closeted players and these kinds of reactions don't really bode well for their prospects of feeling safe and comfortable coming out. Same thing with these brands. You know, the workers at these brands, you think about queer and trans staff at Target. You know, there were reports going around that Starbucks was taking down Pride merchandise this year. Workers at a Columbus Starbucks are accusing the company of banning workers from installing decorations celebrating Pride Month. Starbucks

Workers United alleges the company is directing locations in Ohio and other states to remove Pride displays. Starbucks strongly denies the claims. Their representative saying in a statement to News 3 Now, quote, there has been no change to any policy on this matter and we continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities, including for U.S. Pride Month in June. Whether that's true or not, as a queer Starbucks employee, you probably don't feel pretty good about how the company is doing that and that they would actually stand up for you when it matters. If you get hate crimes at your workplace or if you need to access gender affirming care and want it on your benefits plan, those things, it all trickles down. And so if a brand won't even see us as a valuable demographic to be marketed to, how can we trust them to actually stand up

for the things that really matter? And because the things that really matter are happening right now. So it's disheartening. Not that again, we didn't throw the first brick and stone wall to get a rainbow Funko Pop, but it is nice. And it's a sign of kind of broader cultural acceptance of queer and trans folks. You know, we've moved past the time of like Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris and these very kind of palatable, certain types of queer and trans people. And now we're a place where other kinds of queer and trans people are being accepted and being able to live our lives freely and openly. And this just feels like such a rollback in time. And it's scary. Mel, if I could give you the opportunity to speak to people who are in the boardrooms where these decisions are getting made, where they're deciding to cut their pride campaigns because they don't want to risk being harassed or they don't want to risk any kind of economic impact from that. What would you say to them? Well, number one, give money to

queer and trans folks. We love money and also pay your workers. But number two, you know, don't be a coward. I think the Bud Light thing is so cowardly and looks so poorly upon them. Like nobody likes Bud Light right now. Like we're mad that, you know, we being like a certain segment of queer and trans folks are mad because they were cowards and backed down from this. And then they actually didn't even satisfy the people they were trying to satisfy.

So nobody really wins there. And so I think you need to stand strong in your affirmations, stand strong in your allyship and recognize that in this current moment with so much terrible stuff happening to queer and trans people like literal lives are at stake and and backing down from that and taking the wrong side is not to be all like doom and gloom like it will be looked poorly upon in history but also it's well it looks it's looked poorly upon right now and i think that these are

lives and money are different things. And I recognize that these businesses are motivated by profit and all of that, but it is also not that hard to do the bare minimum of support and allyship. And so many brands and corporations are failing at even that right now. Mel, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. And that's it for today. I'm Saroja Coelho. This has been FrontBurner. Thanks so much for listening. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.