cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/69737327
My wife and I are straight allies, and we’re doing three vendor markets next month that are Pride themed. I think I’ve put together a good Pride playlist, but I’m looking for suggestions! They have to be family friendly (no explicit tags, no profanity, no crude language, etc.). So nothing from Hazbin Hotel or Alien Stage!
The image is the playlist cover. I took the Wikipedia Pride flag and added text. Pretty easy.
I can’t share the playlist because Apple Music will attach my real name to it. They used to just use a nickname I entered, but now they insist on using my full government! So that’s a no can do.
I’ve got Queen. I’ve got Elton John. Got some Harry Styles. I got a lot of songs that aren’t necessarily associated with the LGBTQ+ movement but feature themes of love against odds and love winning, people who don’t fit in but stay strong, etc.
All suggestions are welcome and appreciated, even if it’s already on the list.
And if anyone knows how to share an Apple Music playlist anonymously (could do screenshots) let me know!
That is all idealism, I'm talking about materialism, we are materialists here. What actual material thing are you doing for lgbt people other than wearing an lgbt costume as a prerequisite to sell merchandise? That isn't an actual act that helps lgbt people, it's putting on some cosplay to sell stuff.
What I'm saying is that you should be doing something that materially helps lgbt people, not just wearing our flag to sell things.
Let's frame this a different way - Imagine rocking up to an event about cancer research, wearing a pink ribbon, selling merch, and not actually doing anything material at all for cancer research.
The people below in the thread responding with "
" are saying the same thing but aren't bothering to put it into clear words or explanation, they're just saying what a lot of people are thinking via the emoji. I'm trying to nicely explain why some people don't like this.
It doesn't really help either way. We're still gonna go out there. We may not be LGBTQ+ but we have family members who are. I know a lot of people mistrust straight allies or they see straight people in their space as an invitation for opponents to infiltrate as well. "May as well have stayed in the closet." Well I don't agree with that. So we're out there to support something we believe in.
What are we doing? What is anyone doing? We vote. We're volunteering our time, selling some cool stuff at a loss because we believe in the community... what we're not doing is attacking people online for trying to help. What we're not doing is attacking allies for not being "enough". Inclusivity vs exclusivity. We're both a part of the community whether you and others like it or not. I'm there for my mother, my stepmother, my nephew, and many friends I've made over the years who fell onto the LGBTQ+ spectrum. We don't have to justify our inclusion any more than anyone else. We're all there to celebrate the progress the community has made.
There will be MLMs there selling candles and tupperware and scented wax and other shit they didn't make, they're just drop shipping stuff. So yeah, we might make money but it barely covers the booth fee most of the time. I ask my wife why she does it if she's not making a profit. She says she loves to do it.
What are you doing? What more do you suggest we do? Or do you just think we shouldn't do it at all? Because that's off the table. You're not talking to the person who's doing this, you're talking to the one who's carrying the bags. And I'm not gonna not support my wife. And I'm not telling her that some random people on the Internet say she shouldn't do it because she's not working at enough of a loss. She's more worried about the actual people who might wish the community harm, who might roll through with big trucks and cause real world violence. But even with that possibility, she's still going to do it, and I'm still going to support her. Some anonymous haters on the Fediverse aren't going to change that.
This is like bare minimum to be a normal human being. It's not doing anything extra, nor does it actually change anything.
I haven't attacked you. If you've taken a request to do more as an attack then you're feeling some sort of internal guilt because some of the things I've said hit home and you're rewiring that into "I'm being attacked" instead of self reflecting.
Inclusivity in Pride events has in fact watered down Pride from a successful radical protest movement created by literal communists of the Gay Liberation Front into what it is today, a festival coopted by liberals and cities into a tourist attraction that is ineffective at advancing lgbt conditions and is probably functioning as a barrier to more radical action because people believe they're doing enough by going to a big party once a year when they're clearly not because lgbt rights have gone backwards, under both democrat and republican presidencies. This is also why I dismiss "we vote". It doesn't mean anything to vote if the Biden presidency oversaw the start of the trans genocide in the US and did absolutely nothing to stop it.
Well for one I'm trans and British, so my conditions are different to yours. But I'm part of a team of marxists, a few years ago we secured positions on the local council, a year into that position we evolved those positions into Deputy Mayor, and this year one of those positions was unanimously voted in as Mayor (we have both tories and reform members on our council so our work has been extremely effective to achieve that). I attend my local food bank once a fortnight to give them time. I take part in direct action against terf events. I organise locally with unions and I maintain strong lgbt focus in that organising because I am trans myself. Could I do more? Perhaps. I am visibly trans though which makes everything I do somewhat harder and I have to contend with the issue of ensuring anything and everything I do does not generate a backlash for any other projects. On top of that I have some other org work but given that I'm not technically supposed to be a member of those orgs while simultaneously a member of other orgs I can't talk too frankly about some of that on the offchance someone one day successfully doxes me, I mess around with dates and times to fuck with anyone trying to do that though.
Well my initial thinking was that what you're selling should be giving some of proceeds to an lgbt org. It was what I was gently pushing you to try and realise yourself. But if you're not making a profit that's going to be hard. Instead you could volunteer for something else and make it part of your vendor stall, for example there's a number of people at one of our events who are straight, but they also do volunteer work for a local std clinic and make that clinic and its lgbt sexual health campaigning part of their work in other events. Part of your vendor stall could be pushing your work in something tangible, if you were doing something tangible like taking part in an org then you could be including some of that org in your stall.
You're probably wondering, "How can you say voting does nothing while working in electoral positions?". That's quite simple really, we are restrained in what we can do by what the material conditions are outside of electoralism. The electoral positions we can hold can only meet the on-the-ground situation that exists within society, so the electoral positions are largely irrelevant compared to the non-electoral battle in the streets.