Isn’t This What You Want?

Peter Tatchell is a decent bloke, but he’s wrong here.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Our community organisations have become increasingly corporatised and exploited, with UK Pride parades often dominated by big business sponsors and floats, vote-seeking politicians and state agents such as the police, who brag about their LGBT+ inclusiveness but have not apologised or compensated us for their decades of oppression.[/perfectpullquote]

To paraphrase Joan Robinson, the only thing worse than gays being exploited by capitalists is gays not being exploited by capitalists.

It’s really not long ago that the capitalists wanted people to stay in the closet. And not because the capitalists hated gays but because their customers did. Rock Hudson, Liberace and George Michael are examples of this. And George Michael’s arrest and outing was only 20 years ago. Would a pop star of similar status today be in the closet? It’s certainly less likely.

When society generally stops being intolerant of gays, you then get a flip in how capitalism behaves because now it’s trying to appeal to the gays. They want to show that they’re a partner to them.

I’m guessing that Peter Tatchell wants something more radical, but for anyone who wants gays to have a better life, this really is a sign of how much better things are.