There’s a long history of activists arguing that the glittering spectacle of Pride doesn’t solve such entrenched problems. (When asked about such donations, corporations point to their inclusivity initiatives and say their donations are driven by regulatory and financial concerns.) Many of the companies that drench themselves in rainbow branding for Pride-UPS, AT&T, and Comcast, for example-also donate to Republicans who are redoubling efforts to demonize the LGBTQ community, especially its trans members. LGBTQ people of color experience these problems most acutely. Queer people make up an outsize percentage of the unhoused youth population.
Trans people experience elevated rates of violence, suicide, and poverty. Many states still don’t ban discrimination against LGBTQ people. The answer is that there are lots of battles left to win. If politicians, corporations, and police are okay with the gays, why march at all? Many queer people are disturbed that a countercultural ritual has become a commercialized victory rally. That crowd includes straight people and their children, and it includes cops-members of the profession that the Stonewall uprising protested. In major cities, parades stretch for hours, with a wide array of identity groups participating or cheering from the sides. Whereas demonstrations following the Stonewall uprising gathered people who took a serious risk by marching in a society hostile to them, the cultural image of Pride in the 2010s has centered on extravagant floats sponsored by banks, airlines, and liquor brands. In recent decades, the most controversial thing about Pride parades has been how unthreatening they’ve become.
The queer movement is negotiating how to keep growing without sacrificing the things that define queer. Yet even if the backlash to the backlash is overblown, the discourse is a strange sign of progress. Pop culture’s new mascot of kink, Lil Nas X, is extremely Gen Z. Some of the most discussed objections to the sexualization of Pride have come from respectability-minded Millennials.
Zoomers appear to be a more openly queer generation than any other-are they really scandalized by skin and spandex? It’s best not to generalize too much. Bob the Drag Queen, a winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, recently tweeted that Gen Z’s rhetoric about kink at Pride was “giving Karen vibes.” A follower replied, “I was 12 when i got thrown condoms at my head … its uncomfortable.” Open displays of sexuality always invite conservative disapproval, but what’s new is a sense that out-and-proud youths are offended. At this month’s commemorations of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, some revelers will flaunt fetish wear, bare lots of flesh, or-and the frequency of this is very disputed-hook up in broad daylight. Over the past few weeks, a smattering of tweets, TikToks, and think pieces-many from teenagers and young adults-have complained that celebrations of LGBTQ Pride are too raunchy. Supposedly, there is a yet another generational war going on-among queer people, and about sex.
The captions say something along the lines of “Gen Z calling the cops after seeing a jockstrap at Pride.”
Some people have been sharing images of queer icons and homophobes alike wearing expressions of disapproval-RuPaul frowning on the phone, Little Edie ranting in Grey Gardens, Aunt Lydia scowling in The Handmaid’s Tale. This month, the memes related to LGBTQ Pride celebrations have had a striking theme: disgust.