the u.s. military is an organization that conquers and occupies countries on behalf of u.s. corporations and destroys progressive governments in favor of right-wing anti-lgbtq regimes.
seeing a branch of the military pretending to be a safe space for queer people on the first day of pride month is a slap in the face of everyone who fights for the liberation of lgbtq people.
the fact that the marines are flaunting their fake inclusion of lgbtq people at the start of a month celebrating queer liberation struggles shows just how much we have to fight to take our struggle back from liberals (read: the right wing with a nicer tone of voice) who have co-opted our fight and turned it into a prop.
it’s called “pinkwashing” - they’re using us to make it seem like they’re progressive while at the same time they are backing the far-right around the world. meanwhile, they do absolutely nothing to stop the attacks on us here. biden’s lip-service to trans people has resulted in not one bit of material support.
the corporations who are going to pander to you with rainbows, the parades with the cops in their special pride badges, the politicians and other public figures who shill for your votes by riding along in the parades, the social media posts, the advertisements, all of the bullshit doesn’t do anything to help us. it only helps them hurt us more.
do not accept it.
do not let them do it.
do not buy from them. do not vote for them. do not let them pretend to be our supporters.
call them out. every last one. when one of them puts their logo on a pride event, shove their funding of right-wing politicians in their faces. shove their discriminatory practices, their anti-union practices, their violence against us in their faces.
how dare they try to take this from us. this all started with a rebellion against a police raid.
pride is for anyone who wants lgbtq liberation (including any straight cis people willing to fight alongside us - not as cannon fodder, not behind us but ALONGSIDE US AS EQUALS). that means opposing those who are responsible for our oppression - the corporations, the military, the cops, the politicians. we don’t win by letting them in and becoming like them.
we win by fighting them. we win by building a movement of working class people, not by lobbying the politicians owned by the rich. we win through solidarity with others hurt by these same people all around the world. we win by doing the hard work of talking to other oppressed people and to other workers, to bringing them in.
every last corporate pride event, cop pride badge, or political pandering should just make you angrier and more willing to do that work.