Pride Month: Looking for meaningful inclusion beyond pride flags and rainbow pastries

It’s no secret that corporations jump on the pride bandwagon, but inclusion of the community is a work in progress

A nondescript bakery in a sleepy Juhu lane in Mumbai suddenly lit up with pride lights and flags on June 1, 2019. On the face of it, this would have been a harmless gesture that the community is accustomed to — if it wasn’t for the way the staffers made a queer couple feel only two weeks before.

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The said lesbian couple had approached the new bakery with its hip signboard and cool quotes for a rainbow-themed cake celebrating their anniversary, only to be met with a chuckling receptionist and a security guard who passed a snide remark about their colourful clothes. The bakery was called out on social media and now, three years later, it’s business as usual.

What does meaningful inclusion look like? How can corporations prove their allegiances to the great, grand cause of queer liberation? The answer is really not that complicated, any queer individual will tell you: spare us the pride flags, the rainbow pastries and a 20% discount on little cups and bow ties.

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Instead, let’s talk money, use your platform to support our business, financially support the countless queer rescue shelters running on meagre funds across the country and use your resources to fund gender reassignment surgeries, sensitive schools and better jobs, beyond the clichéd ones.

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