Introduction

Gay pride or LGBTQ+ pride is the promotion of people who class themselves as bisexual, transgender, lesbian, gay, non-binary and queer as a social group and aims to remove the discrimination that is associated with being gay. Gay pride allows like-minded people to come together and celebrate their sexuality and also create a sense of community as many gay pride events attract thousands of people which further increases their visibility as a social group. It is also a time to celebrate gender variance and sexual diversity. The gay pride in new York city attracts up to 2 million participants a year and the event is so common that according to (Philip 2004), even in 1996, floods of people would come to see gay pride and even go to the lengths of being subject to sitting on the top of a phone booth in extreme heat. This year, there have been 14 individual pride events that took place all across Scotland and the largest main pride event was held in Edinburgh on the 22nd of June. It is a very colourful, fun and vibrant place to be in but also has deep meanings attached to it. The more people that attend an event and the more publicity it receives increases the chance of its continuation and also allows that specific topic to be shown in a bigger spotlight which can, in turn, raise more awareness and promote the cause (Malouf 2012). 

Gay pride is celebrated annually around the world and different countries will have events on at different times that aim to reduce the stigma around being homosexual as being openly homosexual was frowned upon for many years and it has taken many years for the gay community to feel included in today’s’ society. Being openly gay in the early 90s was not acceptable and homosexual acts remained illegal in every state except Illinois, even to the point where bars and restaurants could get shut down for having any type of association with a homosexual in any way, shape or form. On June the 28th 1969, in the neighbourhood of Greenwich village situated in New York, a bar called the Stonewall inn, was raided by police and as a result of this, the gay community ended up violently fighting back. The stonewall riots which lasted six days and attracted a substantial amount of media coverage is now heavily recognised in history as the kick start to reforms and the point in time where attention was given to even consider the human rights for people in the LGBTQ+ community. The following year on the same day, people took to the streets in other locations across America, in places like Chicago and even as far as San Francisco and it is for that reason that the stonewall riots is commonly known to be the starting point of the move that is now known as Gay pride. From then on, as society started to become aware and accept the LGBTQ+ community the number of people participating in the marches grew exponentially and the gay pride movement grew enough power to shape politics in a way never seen before.

CONTENT

A vast number of people no matter of age, race, gender or sexual orientation will gather in the streets of the selected city that the gay pride march will take place in, in crazy costumes ranging from the queen to spiderman and even people on stilts. The differentiation and gathering of people in one place at one certain time who all have different ideologies and beliefs, come from different places across the world and who all have different sexual orientation, will play a huge part on how people view themselves and others in a world which tries to make people conform to the norm (Blundetto 2018). Thousands of rainbow flags, as well as flags from all over the world, can be seen being waved around by participants and the noise of the whistles and the ‘hoos’ and ‘woos’ from the crowd can be heard from miles away. Balloons, high vis vests, football tops, coloured wigs, glitter, banners, cheerleaders, squads of motorbike riders revving their engines as well as buses and trucks that have been heavily decorated and normally have groups of people dancing on them, is not an unusual sight at all at a gay parade. According to (Derret 2016), the more different elements there are at an event, as long as it ties in with the given theme, can give the event more character and life which will help it prosper.

Groups of people from different cultures and religions in which being gay is still frowned upon, come and celebrate and put on traditional dances to support this cause which is very important as events like these are designed to bring people who would not normally find themselves together to find themselves together and so a sense of diversity and inclusion is built as well as a sense of communitas which is very important (Sonder 2004). This is further backed up by (Surbeck 1998), who says that diversity, inclusion and people feeling a sense of community and belonging plays a vital role in events as a catalyst to promoting change.

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All is not merry in the lights of (Henscher 2004), who thinks that gay pride may be “turning into what is fatuously termed “the gay Christmas”; an excuse to get merry without really thinking about the principles which started it” and (Rae cited in Atak 2006), says that “Each year it sort of fluctuates between a parade and a political statement”. Some places in America still do not agree and accept gay pride and so when a gay parade was scheduled to take place in a small community called Wausau, there was a community backlash and so it had to be cancelled. This just emphasises the fact that as much as many people think this event is a positive change in the right direction which it is for the most part, many people believe that it is not and this can create social and political issues. (Preston 2012), says that even when events are there to make a positive change there will always be something it could improve or add to it to make it for sustainable.

On a more positive note, gay pride is designed in a way in which everybody can see everyone for who they are and what they believe in. It is very clear that there is a real sense of community and support which according to (Jones 2014), people felt an increased degree of self-realization and personal fulfilment when engaging in community activities rather than partaking in activities individually.

MARKETING

The marketing of this event can be seen everywhere coming up to the month of June which is good and bad. From huge retail giants like apple and Ikea bringing out rainbow coloured products to your local bakery having a selection of rainbow cupcakes, it could be said that gay pride month is becoming too commercialised. Are these companies making a difference or just ticking boxes? There is a difference between actually having policies and rules in place, at a workplace, that supports the cause and what gay pride stands for, compared to just fulfilling a brand purpose. According to (Horovitz 1990), the commercialisation of gay pride is almost like businesses are “selling a human virtue respect for others”. Many companies hop onto the bandwagon and don’t want to be seen as uninclusive during the time that gay pride is on. In addition to this, many companies in the past have run ads with same sex couples in it as to put across the idea that they are inclusive but that is just the industries tactic to embrace a greater number of potential buyers (Steinberg 2015). Many businesses feel the need to slap a rainbow onto their products and show the public that they are ‘supporting’ the LGBTQ+ community when in fact all they are doing is trying to be perceived in a positive light in the public eye and take advantage of a good marketing tactic to be able to sell their products which takes the deep-rooted meaning of why gay pride is celebrated away and doesn’t represent what gay pride is actually about. Check out this website that talks about the issues with pride marketing: https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-strategy/pride-marketing-problems/

However, companies adding rainbow coloured features onto their products can also be seen as a positive thing as it provides the LGBTQ+ community with more support from businesses and allows people to see how much support is being given to this cause. According to (Shone and Parry 2010), the more positive media attention that is given to an event, the quicker it will grow as it is seen in favour of the public eye. Gay pride is a good time to allow companies to relate and share the same beliefs as their customers. Many companies such as Adidas go the extra mile and when releasing a rainbow laced pair of shoes, adidas proceeded to give a portion of its earnings to a small charity supporting gay teenagers. Furthermore, companies who donate to charity can not only make their customers happier but also receive customer loyalty back as according to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, if a company donates a portion of its earnings to a charitable cause that their customers are in favour of, it can increase sales. Check out this website that explains the benefits which can incur when businesses get behind Pride: https://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2018/july/7-stats-that-show-business-support-for-pride-has-a-lasting-impact

Video of GayPride in London 2019

1. Red means life
2. Orange means healing
3. Yellow means sunlight
4. Green means nature
5. Blue means harmony
6. Purple means spirit

OTHER Websites to visit:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American-History-Month

https://www.agoda.com/blog/pride-month-2019-gay-parades-lgbtq-marches?cid=-218

https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-timeline

Word Count: 1586

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