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Pride Month PSA!
4 years ago
During Pride Month, a LOT of companies and groups like to display rainbows and claim that they are pro-LGBT. When the month ends, the majority of that highly-marketable spiel ends.
I have been avoiding the news over the last few years for my mental health, but I recall the Conservative Party (the UK's main right-wing party, for foreign followers and friends) during elections in the past ten years and during past Pride Months, where they claim that they are pro-LGBT in order to get good PR.
Under Thatcher, the Conservative Party in Britain introduced Section 28 into law, banning local authorities from 'promoting homosexuality', which led to a great many support groups and organizations being forced to close, and it wasn't repealed until 2003, after successful lobbying by Stonewall UK.
I remember when I was in sex education in secondary school and I asked about LGBT matters, and the teachers said that they couldn't so much as discuss it due to the then-current law.
If a company or group are claiming they are pro-LGBT or splashing rainbows over everything this month (Conservatives, Unilever, you name it), don't just accept it at face value; look at their current and past policies before believing that they ARE indeed a pro-LGBT organisation.
To round off: General Elections may still be a few years away, but next time you head off to vote, remember the support you showed during Pride Month. If your support was sincere, then don't won't vote for parties that have historically persecuted LGBT people and currently engage in a mixture of open and/or discriminatory dog-whistle politics.
In summary: don't vote Republican, Conservatives, UKIP, DUP, or whatever right-wing equivalents exist in your country. You might not like the Democrat, Labour, Lib Dem, or left-wing candidates (as was the case with the widely-reviled Jeremy Corbyn and the equally dislikeable Hillary Clinton), but you need to look at the party as a whole, not just the head. Not voting for a pro-equality party just because you don't like their candidates led to two bigoted blond buffoons effectively (or rather, ineffectively) running the Western World.
Thanks for reading and have a safe month, everyone! x
I have been avoiding the news over the last few years for my mental health, but I recall the Conservative Party (the UK's main right-wing party, for foreign followers and friends) during elections in the past ten years and during past Pride Months, where they claim that they are pro-LGBT in order to get good PR.
Under Thatcher, the Conservative Party in Britain introduced Section 28 into law, banning local authorities from 'promoting homosexuality', which led to a great many support groups and organizations being forced to close, and it wasn't repealed until 2003, after successful lobbying by Stonewall UK.
I remember when I was in sex education in secondary school and I asked about LGBT matters, and the teachers said that they couldn't so much as discuss it due to the then-current law.
If a company or group are claiming they are pro-LGBT or splashing rainbows over everything this month (Conservatives, Unilever, you name it), don't just accept it at face value; look at their current and past policies before believing that they ARE indeed a pro-LGBT organisation.
To round off: General Elections may still be a few years away, but next time you head off to vote, remember the support you showed during Pride Month. If your support was sincere, then don't won't vote for parties that have historically persecuted LGBT people and currently engage in a mixture of open and/or discriminatory dog-whistle politics.
In summary: don't vote Republican, Conservatives, UKIP, DUP, or whatever right-wing equivalents exist in your country. You might not like the Democrat, Labour, Lib Dem, or left-wing candidates (as was the case with the widely-reviled Jeremy Corbyn and the equally dislikeable Hillary Clinton), but you need to look at the party as a whole, not just the head. Not voting for a pro-equality party just because you don't like their candidates led to two bigoted blond buffoons effectively (or rather, ineffectively) running the Western World.
Thanks for reading and have a safe month, everyone! x
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN8IzzX7KPE