If as queer people we want to have nice things, the only way to achieve this is to self-fund and self-organise.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of marriage equality in the Republic of Ireland. 1
It is, also, the year when the second term of Donald Trump's presidency starts to agressively try to steamroll all the advancements that the equal rights movements have made in the recent few decades, not only in the US, but globally 2.
Why do I mention this side by side?
Because the consequences of the latter are getting more and more visible.
Not only political pressure groups inspired and often financed from the US and the UK are getting more and more loud and active, sowing divide and distress in Ireland, and trying to come for us, starting with the most vulnerable parts membersof out community; namely trans people and people of color/migrants. But also due to the pressure from Washington demanding end of “Woke” or “DEI” policies not only within the administration but also in private companies and even (sic!) foreign governments and even cities in Europe, lots of companies previously supporting, also financially, the equality themed events and actions, drop the funding and other support.
Probably the most notable case in the last few weeks was Indeed dropping the sponsorship of Dublin Pride, alongside other international corporations.3
This financial hit, while bad, is not entirely unexpected – those among us who have more anti-capitallist beliefs, were warning for quite some time:
Corporations don't care about queer lives, they only care about queer dollars.
This, in my personal opinion at least, shows very well, why we should not take this, or any other kind of corporate support for granted, because while they are happy to march alongside use when Pride is a party, they don't want to have anything to do with us when we have to yet again fight for our rights against powers that be.
What is the answer to that?
We have to get back to our root values and tactics. We need to learn again how to build networks and organise, and fundraise, we need to have institutions, organisations, mutual help groups that are run for queer people by queer people.
While I'm not saying (tho I need people who would argue for it) that any form of organisational or financial support received from a business or governmental sponsor should be outright rejected, I think we should consider one thing:
If the thing we're making is important for the community, do we have a plan in case we have to run it within our own means and our own community?
Because if the answer to that is no, then we have a problem. Governments change over time, and corporations, despite what they claim on their websites, don't have values, they only have interests.
It is really easy to get used to a good thing, but as recent examples of the US or recently UK show4, what have been given, can be easily taken away.
- Many people will say that there is no real marriage equality as long as it is not affordable to everyone, or there are legal barriers for disabled people to freely get married. While I generally agree with that opinion, it is outside the scope of what I'm trying to say today, but I believe it is very much worth signalling.
- https://www.newsweek.com/european-city-reacts-trumps-dei-ultimatum-2068974
- https://gcn.ie/indeed-drops-dublin-pride-sponsorship/
If you got that far, thank you for reading, I will write more on that (and unveil a related thing!) in the upcoming days, so come back!
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Be warned tho, that it was created with more technical posts in mind!