“Being stripped of the subversive”: investigation of the role of rainbow capitalism at Pride parades and events

Pride parades are spaces where the LGBTQ+ community unite to challenge discrimination through a display of collective pride. This paper explores how this manifested in the affective practices of attendees at ‘Pride in London’ 2019. Analysis also considers how people make sense of an event that, for some, has become depoliticised and dominated by “rainbow capitalism” and will explore what this means for the role that such events play in the development and maintenance of the LGBTQ+ community. This presentation brings together interview data from two projects, an ongoing exploration into the role of LGBTQ+ histories and events for the community and another which investigated emotional experience at ‘Pride in London’ in 2019. Reflexive thematic analysis focussed on how interviewees navigated their feelings towards corporate institutions at Pride events and what this meant for the LGBTQ+ community. Furthermore, analysis of the emotional habitus surrounding Pride parades and the embodied affective practices described, and observed, at such events offered an insight into how people negotiated the emotional tensions experienced. Themes developed build on existing literature to demonstrate how Pride parade(s) become important spaces for the manifestation of an ‘imagined’ LGBTQ+ community and their, often overlooked, allies. The realisation of a ‘physical’ community acts to reaffirm individual and collective identities, however, this contrasted with the need to include and appeal to the outgroup, be these allies or corporate sponsors, and the demand this places on LGBTQ+ people. Such tensions were exacerbated by participants’ quandary over their distrust of “rainbow capitalism” and awareness of the opportunities for political action that are opened up by the inclusion of corporate entities. Findings show Pride events as complex social and emotional environments that transcend simplified notions of ingroup-specific pride. The competing needs and desires of multiple stakeholders simultaneously amplifies and silences LGBTQ+ voices through conscious and subconscious ingroup policing of attendee behaviours, messaging and attire. Conversely, they are intense, interactive and dynamic emotional spaces which allow LGBTQ+ people and wider society to overcome difference through collaborative affective practices and the shared experience of togetherness.