PRIDE remains important. It is a celebration but it is also a protest at the inequalities, discrimination and hatred which still persist.

The struggle for equality continues, desite recent advances. Protection from discrimination in employment, health and  housing, access to  goods and services must be secured. Family rights must be safeguarded and upheld. Sexual orientation and gender identity should never be a case for abuse or prejudice.

The commercialisation of PRIDE

In recent years it has been impossible not to notice the growing commercialisation of PRIDE.

Multi national corporations, many of them characterised by anti-worker practices, low wages, poor conditions and precarious contracts of employment, have been falling over themselves to produce ‘special’ PRIDE editions of their products and add rainbows to their packing to demonstrate their pro-PRIDE credentials.

Whether the practices of many of these corporations live up to their manufactured image is questionable. The commercial hijacking of PRIDE by companies wanting to prove that they are anti-homoophobic means little when those same companies and corporations make political donations to right wing conservative parties, exploit young people, discrimanate against women and people with disabilities, engage in oppressive working practices and avoid paying their rightful taxes. 

PRIDE has become a useful social marketing tool for corporations and brands. They use it to distract attention from the real and oppressive nature of their values and actions.

Fast food delivery companies,for example, paying poverty wages, and no sick pay or holiday pay presenting a smiling face to the public by changing its logo to rainbow colours  for PRIDE week. A cosmetics company declaring its support for PRIDE but sacking its celebrity promoter for speaking out aganist racism or the major UK bank which adds rainbow colours to its credit cards and merchandising while being guilty of gender pay discrimination, financing companies that manufacture and sell arms to Israel for use aganist Palestine and , on an environmental note, bankrolling fossil fuel companies to the tune of billions of US dollars in the last five years alone.

Rainbow capitalism has no conscience and no scrupples. If PRIDE can turn a profit or enhance its image, then it’s game on.

Endorsements by global brands do not liberate, elevate or alleviate the human condition. As we rightly celebrate PRIDE 2022, we should reflect on its origins and its purpose. We should not content ourselves with a level of recognition and acceptance inside a social order that is corrupt, oppressive and dehumanising.

Capitalism is captialism, what ever colours it chooses to dress up in.

Workers Party members have joined with hundreds of community workers, volunteers and concerned citizens to highlight the recent deaths of homeless people and the crisis in housing provision.

The march to Belfast City Hall was organised in response to the deaths of 14 homeless people in recent months.

The Facts & Figures

Fourteen homeless people died on our streets or hostels in the past few months.

There are currently 16,000 people in Northern Ireland officially classed as homeless.

36% of those are single men and 29% are families

There are more than 44,000 people on the Housing Executives waiting lists

In 2005 there were more than 15,000 new homes started in Northern Ireland.

Last year that figure was 7,500—a 50% decrease

 Of the total number of homes built last year only 650 were public housing

We are in a housing crisis that is taking the lives of, mostly, young homeless people and is impacting on the quality of life, the mental well-being and the opportunities for thousands of individuals and families.

Not only are we not building sufficient and affordable public housing, but the fundamental and basic human right to a roof over our heads is classed as a Workers Party members have joined with hundreds of community workers, volunteers and concerned citizens to highlight the recent deaths of homeless people and the crisis in housing provision.

Not only are we not building sufficient and affordable public housing, but the fundamental and basic human right to a roof over our heads is classed as a commodity to be profited from – the housing ‘market’.

Well intentioned as they may be, and vitally necessary as they are, short term measures and one-off initiatives are neither capable of addressing nor resolving these problems.

Only a state-controlled house building programme can begin to alleviate the current distress and dangers and eventually lead to a society in which every citizen can be guaranteed the security and dignity of a home.