Rainbow Politics: Pose for the Camera’s, Ditch the Policy

Queer people are very familiar with Rainbow Capitalism, the tendency for companies to fly rainbow flags for June and then quickly hide them once the clock strikes midnight on July 1st. Appealing to this market provides companies with some wonderful end-of-financial-year profits for little to no effort. Think Bud Light’s failed campaign leading to Dylan Mulvaney’s incessant harassment, Burger King’s bottom/top burgers (it’s as bad as you think) and every cheap sweatshop-produced ‘love is love’ shirt. Even the Israeli Occupation Force can get in on this with rainbow flags over an obliterated Gaza, because yes, even gay people can commit war crimes now. 

These campaigns target people who are desperate to find community and identity in an alienating political climate with queer issues a cornerstone of the conservative culture war. These appeals to the community are often aesthetic with little to say or do other than “buy our product”. Some campaigns get it right when combining messages to real, tangible and intersectional changes in policy or how a company runs, however, that's a lot more expensive than a love is love t-shirt. More “progressive” political parties have seen this and so have identified their own consumers; LGBTQ+ voters. 

To this end, we see figures such as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns, and others finding their own spotlight at Mardi Gras centering themselves as the drivers of change and hope for the queer community. Promises to end discrimination and commitments to support the community against the onslaught of the conservative right. Albanese in particular talked about his consistent appearance at Mardi Gras with promises he’d also show up for the queer community in his policy. 

Both Anthony Albanese and Chris Minns are currently in power Federally and in NSW respectively with sadly little to show for. Even when appearing in the 2023 Mardi Gras Premier Minns opposed the queer community's calls for NSW Police’ exclusion from the parade, clearly he knows more about NSW Police history and Mardi Gras than the community. Admittedly NSW Police have been there since the beginning in 1978, it is notable that the first time was with battens and handcuffs (not the kinky kind) in hand, used against the queer community. Police keep up their commitment, cattling protesters on the eve of the 2023 Parade and the infamous killer cop that re-ignited the conversation of Police exclusion. 

There was still hope that Minns would support Independent Alex Greenwich’s Equality bill in NSW and the plethora of changes it brings to the queer and wider community. After pushback from Labor the entire year, delaying the bill three times they passed the Equality Bill… but not the full thing. They carved up queer rights, picking what they thought was acceptable and leaving out protections for students and teachers in religious schools, young queer people’s healthcare autonomy, complete protections for sex workers and rights of imprisoned queer people. While significant progress was made, it is disappointing to see so much get left behind, particularly from a premier insisting he marches in Mardi Gras. All this while delivering a formal apology for the government's historical criminalisation of homosexuality and historical hate crimes. A key part of apologising for government inaction addressing queer rights is you don’t do it again. Minn’s consistently appeals aesthetically to the queer community, however, like Burger King’s Bottom n’ Tops campaign, fails to truly satisfy our hunger for basic rights. 

One might hold out hope for the federal government with long-time Mardi Gras attendee Anthony Albanese, however, like Bud Light fails to deliver any real substance. There was some hope with federal funding allocated to Queer Museum Qtopia (which has its own problems), and his promise to deliver federal protections for queer workers from discrimination. Unfortunately, it was announced in August that he would not follow through on these promises. He would continue to allow religious institutions to discriminate based on gender, sexuality, marital status and pregnancy. In religious schools, this leads to tragic stories like teachers being fired once outed as queer and making contracts with students to… not be gay or trans. Another key promise that Labor flip-flopped on was its promise to include questions concerning LGBTQ+ people in the 2026 census. Albanese then announced he would not follow through on this to avoid a divisive culture war, a ridiculous excuse for doing nothing. After internal party backlash, Albanese announced he’d include two questions concerning sexuality and gender identity, leaving out any question about intersex people, who are estimated to be about as common as redheads.  

It is their inaction that emboldens these conservative culture wars to rage so easily with such minimal pushback. The weak political support from Labor elevates the voice of those on the conservative side, with their talking points dominating the space of discourse further isolating the queer community. This is why we see figures trying to ban books from libraries, threaten people over children's drag story times and rising bigotry and transphobia. This is made even more threatening with the looming threat of a Trump presidency in America and what this will mean for LGBTQ+ people with a government that is openly hostile to queer people with no real political opposition other than queer people themselves fighting like hell. In the recent US election, we saw $215 million spent pushing anti-trans ads, astroturfing the right wing’s movement of hate. While the right is gearing up to spread hate, the apparently left-wing Labor government does nothing to push against this momentum. What's the point of Queer aesthetics if nothing gets done, what's the point of this rainbow marketing without any substantial rainbow policy? The new, useless face of rainbow capitalism is that of rainbow politics, with Minns and Albo marching at Mardi Gras and then swiftly doing fuck all else. Consistently, they must be dragged and heckled to do anything, while queer people face a future that's uncertain and it is terrifying. In the face of useless governments, the LGBTQ community must support each other, look out for your friends, engage in mutual aid, organise your local queer community and give them hell.

For UNSW Queer Students looking for that support and community in these scary times, the UNSW Queer Collective is the place for it (of which I am one of the incoming Queer Officers). For those outside UNSW or looking for a place to channel their queer rage I’d personally endorse the work of Pride in Protest. For general resources and mental health support, I’d recommend services provided by ACON These are scary times but the queer community has always been able to support each other and we will against whatever is thrown at us or how useless our ‘leaders’ may be.