I think brands need to not just be like ‘Hey, we’re here. We love the gays.’ Well, how? Love is an action.The work that Unilever has done over the last three or four years, they’re a purpose-driven company and a lot of my approach has been inspired by them. The work that Coach has done in the past on everything from voter suppression to LGBTQ+ youth empowerment … what has to happen in terms of the environment is that these issues are there, and the lens and the framework is changing.
Supporting queer youth was not seen as an issue: It was benign even a year ago. Now the intersection is around gender-affirming care for trans youth. I take a pragmatic approach to this moment: Somewhere in this country, there are queer youth selling their bodies for hormones. They don’t really give a shit about social posts. So I say to brands, “How do you step up?”
There are minds on this spectrum that you’re not going to change. The energy needs to be in doing good, first, and then maybe thinking about how you’re going to stay good. That’s where [Bud Light] got it wrong: It was a ‘say’ thing, not a ‘do’ thing.
What does great follow-through look like when brands do it right, step up and create change?
Brands will come to me and they’ll say we’ve been doing LGBTQ+. What they really mean is they’ve been activating during Pride. Often, it’ll be through a white cisgender lens—maybe they put some Black drag queens in because they were feeling risky.
They’ve sponsored a float in New York, LA or San Francisco, where 100 straight members of staff have on rainbow headbands and got drunk. That, for them, has been Pride.
So we go through an education process. I no longer talk about doing Pride work: It’s LGBTQ+ 365 24/7. That’s what I start with, then it’s about what is the meaningful work that you are doing right within that. And what does change look like, right within the area that you’re looking to do?
We then look at what organizations you are supporting. There are big, amazing organizations such as the Trevor Project, but they get a lot of money. It’s the lazy way to do it: The white muscle queen, the Black drag queen, $100,000, because 100K sounds like a big round number to Trevor Project and will send a flow of straight people down to Pride. So what I then say is that there’s a whole world of organizations out there. If we’re going to come and support trans people, let’s find trans-led organizations.
Let’s look at grassroots organizations. Marching in Pride in South Carolina, is a transgressive act in 2023. Go there, they need money for banners. We look at what is measurable change.