Mon, 10:01: I'm middle-aged, been out for 26 years, and the points in this piece are well taken. I actually agree that it's good to see corporations normalizing queerness, the commodification of it notwithstanding. Corporate sponsorship on its own is easy to have mixed feelings about, but compared to how things used to be, overall I think it is a net positive.
Except! There is a crucial point this piece completely ignores, which is when these same corporations turn around and make donations—often very large ones—to politicians who put forth deeply destructive, anti-queer legislation, at both the state and federal levels. There is a clear difference, particularly of severity, between "soulless capitalism" and deeply sinister hypocrisy, of the sort that directly puts people's lives in danger.
It's the hypocrisy we should be mad about, not just the commodification of Pride. Buy all the rainbow shirts you want; just be careful who you buy them from.
Opinion | This Pride Month, I’m embracing ‘rainbow capitalism’