No I don't want a pride sticker thank you, I just want my pint of milk

[AutisticLegoLover]

I was asked at my local Co-op earlier if I wanted a pride sticker with my pint of milk. No, I don't. I just want to shop without pride this that and the other. It was the alphabet soup flag version. The overly enthusiastic young man was quite taken aback by my I certainly do not response but I am so fed up of it being everywhere and what does it even mean anymore? I'm all for everyone having equal human rights. That's it.
I've had so many emails from M&S, Waitrose, Co-op, and others all about supporting pride month. Vinted now flashes a rainbow heart before it turns red when I favourite items.
The young man in question above is far too over familiar and needs to tone it đown a bit from scarily wishing my teenager a pleasant existence to just normal pleasant customer service. I could have asked him what the sticker was all about and got into a discussion with him but that's not his job and I don't want to get banned 😁
The heat makes me cranky but I've seriously had enough of this now. Will it ever stop or will more and more be added to that rather full flag of many colours until the original meaning is completely lost? Will we ever be able to shop without identity politics coming into it?

Everyone loves a quiet child ; but the crying baby gets the milk.

I have a bit of a theory about this.

I think the business sector really wants something like "Summer Christmas for Secular Souls". It's nothing like other days of awareness for them, so that's not the right comparator.

Summer doesn't have a lot of major cultural celebrations that pull in everyone, and they are often low-key, or in many cases local. So not great for big, international marketing campaigns.

But Pride, rebranded as a giant month long Sex Festival (and who doesn't like sex?), with a moral lesson of inclusion without exception thrown in to make people feel like they are Nice, is kind of a perfect secular holiday, that can be, they imagine, used to sell all kinds of shit. And why have just a day? They have tried to extend the season for all of the other holidays, it means they can sell more. Where I live, you see Pride now pretty much all summer (and it's not been toned down at all, quite the opposite.)

I reported a post which I felt breached talk guidelines. It was deleted.

I suggest that you take it up with MNHQ if you don't like it, rather than insulting me.

Same. Now when the queen died on the other hand...

Couldn't even go onto Twinkl to access worksheets for children without scrolling past a huge black banner and speech

There are lots of people who like to keep their private life private, though? I have a good friend who would be loath to talk about his sexuality at his workplace. Now, he is single, so he doesn't really have much reason to talk about a partner, which would be the natural way for it to come up. But he sure wouldn't be inclined to talk about dating at work, and I think many straight people would feel the same.

Some people work in places where the employees are close, more like friends, of course. But in a lot of workplaces it seems to me that too much openness can get weird. My brother is in one that really emphasizes bringing your whole self to work. Gay employees seem to be quite out, which on the face of it should be fine. OTOH, I hear about the exec who on the side owns the local gay sex club, or for that matter, the guy in an open marriage who brings his girlfriend to work events all the time. They see that as being the same, and I'm not sure how you draw a line other than encouraging everyone to be pretty private.

I am a gay woman. I don't and never will consider myself part of the queer community so to say all these groups are part of this community is so wrong.

LGB does not equal queer..

I am a gay woman and I hate all the rainbow and pride nonsense.

But Pride, rebranded as a giant month long Sex Festival (and who doesn't like sex?), with a moral lesson of inclusion without exception thrown in to make people feel like they are Nice, is kind of a perfect secular holiday, that can be, they imagine, used to sell all kinds of shit. And why have just a day? They have tried to extend the season for all of the other holidays, it means they can sell more. Where I live, you see Pride now pretty much all summer (and it's not been toned down at all, quite the opposite.)

Yes, great point.

Absolutely & there are so many just like you getting on happily with their lives. It is in no way helpful to the lgb community & it really is only focusing on the tq..

I think you're onto something! Father's day is being very heavily marketed in my area.. Barbers shops, restaurants, golf clubs, shopping centres all have father's day posters & offers up!
A couple of years ago father's day was lost in the sea of rainbows

Plus father's day is offending no one, there's plenty of gay dad's, bi dad's, godfathers etc.. It's inclusive as there is all types of families including lgb so kudos to all those marketing father's day as opposed to pride.

But it’s not talking about your sexuality is it? It’s feeling able to talk about the important people in your life

I do not talk about what we get up to in the bedroom, but I do talk about my husband at work because he’s a massive part of my life. I’d struggle to talk about much of what I get up to outside work without at least mentioning him

I think “the issue” is the overwhelming prevalence (in some parts of the country) of the “pride” flag, primarily concentrated in one month. No other “marginalised” or disadvantaged group receives such attention, and certainly not for a full month.

Yes, this is why I said being single meant the most natural way for it to come up in conversation doesn't so much.

But past that, I tend to think in many or maybe most workplaces, it's best to keep, not just people's sexual lives, but also their romantic lives, pretty private. No one wants to hear about the dating life of their pansexual polyamorous colleges. Just as an example, a guy I know recently publicly declared himself polysexual. Which is to say he likes to screw many women. He considers this his orientation, just like being gay.

Pride IMO has a lot to answer for in terms of making people think that such things should be totally out there in the workplace.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4631475-pride-flags-in-france-and-switzerland

Interesting thread from last year about the lack of pride flags in Switzerland & France. Same in the UK this year.. So basically now we are in line with out European neighbours.

Elevenrifers, everywhere!

Ah the late night visitors are back. Different time zone? Or can’t sleep on a hot summer night?

Different timezone, did you miss us?

Not really.

Have you tried making sense?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/13/lgbtq-influencers-pride-brands-boycotts-laws?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Not our imaginations... Pride is definitely low key this year. Father's day is taking over the marketing space in my area..

That article is quite confused. They seem unclear as to whether objections and reduced support for Pride are from the LGBTQIA+ community or from the haterz.

Also criticising corporates for jumping in a band wagon when it's profitable whilst featuring influencers who state they do the exact same.

And the framing of current US legal changes as all being homophobic/transphobia.....

An alternative view is that brands are reading the room and waking up to the fact that lots of their customers are supportive of LGB celebrations, but are getting fed up with the fact that the rest of the alphabet seems to have drowned them out because there are now so many categories under the umbrella.

Well we don't even get that because it's usually transwomen front and centre.

were any of these organisations offering stickers for International Women's Day? or the odd-sock day? (Downs Syndrome Awareness) or any of the other days for people who are hugely marginalised or otherwise discriminated against?

And don't say "well they should organise" because we have seen what happens to women who organise.

TBH i would have said, don't you just have the regular rainbow? and left it at that.