It is June and there are many cafes, bars, shops, restaurants, schools and other businesses, including therapy places with colorful flags and banners in an open display of solidarity with lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgenderqueer/queering (LGBTQ+) communities. Or they have such a claim. June is Pride Month and an important reminder, if needed, to recognize diversity and celebrate and welcome all members of our communities. But many corporations are guilty of what’s known as “rainbow washing” in June, when the rest of the year they’re at best hesitant and at worst not LGBTQ-friendly.
I am an LGBTQ+ and TNBGQ (transgender, non-binary, sex interrogator) partner and defender. I display pride and ally flags in my therapy room and in the office where I hold online meetings. Books on gender and sexuality diversity, appropriate for readers of various ages and ethnicities, are on the shelves in my therapy room, visible to all clients at all times. I show the right allied flag in the visual marketing on my business cards and website, as well as a diversity and inclusion statement that states:
I am an active LGBTQ+ and TNBGQ partner and welcome all genders and sexualities in my practice. I work within a framework that is anti-discrimination, anti-sexism, anti-racism and pro-sexism.neuro diversity. I acknowledge that I operate within my own frame of reference and engage in monthly monitoring and regular personal and professional development to expand my learning and check my own biases and assumptions. I place client agency and autonomy at my core and value each client as an expert in their own experience and desires.
These visual and written statements show potential clients that they are welcome here and that I will do my best to validate their experience of my position. I am not saying that I offer LGBTQ+ and TNBGQ people a “safe space” as some “colorwashers” claim, because safety is not something that can be assigned by one person to another. It is a deeply personal and subjective, embodied experience that develops over time through building trust and connection in relationships. Putting a rainbow sticker on a window for four weeks of the year does not mean safety. Hanging a stick over the threshold doesn’t say “You’re welcome and approved”; it says: “We are performing and ready for a party.”
Pride is much more important than a colorful business. It’s a celebration of who you are, whoever you know and whoever you love. This objection discrimination based on sexualitygender or relationship status. It is a memorial to the lives and work, challenges and struggles of LGBTQ+ people now and throughout history. It is a cry for acceptance, affirmation, protection and inclusion. It’s a reminder to challenge our biases and assumptions.
Pride is so much more than a “rainbow wash.”
