Pinkwashing (LGBT)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Pinkwashing (breast cancer).

Anarcho-queer collective Mashpritzot hold a die-in protest against Israeli pinkwashing and the perceived homo-normative priorities of the LGBT support centre in Tel Aviv
Part of a series on
LGBT topics
      
Sexual orientation and gender
History
General
Identities
Culture
Rights
Health
Social attitudes
Issues
Academic fields and discourse
t
  • e

    • Pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing,

    sexual minorities to justify racism and xenophobia.[7] Pinkwashing is a continuation of the civilizing mission used to justify colonialism, this time on the basis of LGBT rights in Western countries.[8][9] More broadly, pinkwashing can also be defined as "the deployment of superficially sympathetic messages for [ends] having little or nothing to do with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) equality or inclusion",[10] including LGBT marketing.[11]

    Origin of the term

    In April 2010, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT) in the Bay Area, used the phrase pinkwashing as a twist on

    Electronic Intifada in 2010, when he said "We won't put up with Israel whitewashing or greenwashing" and she thought "or pinkwashing!"[12]

    In 2011,

    sexual minorities and exploit them to justify racism, xenophobia (rejection of foreign people), and aporophobia (rejection of the poor);[15][16][17] in short, the intersection between gay identities and nationalist ideology.[18] Homonationalism shaped the concept of pinkwashing and the two terms are often used together as tools to explain the actions of countries. Jasbir Puar writes in a later article, Rethinking Homonationalism, that the two terms are not parallel but rather pinkwashing is able to exist because homonationalism exists.[19]

    By country or region

    Canada

    In 2012, Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, was accused of pinkwashing, after an email titled "LGBT Refugees from Iran" was sent to thousands of Canadians. The message contained additional recent comments by John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs, about Canada's stand against the persecution and marginalization of gays and lesbian women around the world. A group of activists claimed that it "is a poor attempt at 'pinkwashing' the Conservative government's obvious desire to encourage war with Iran".[20]

    Europe

    A coalition organized by several popular grassroots movements in Europe, including the

    right-wing ideology, criticized the EDL for allying with the wrong people, as "Queers against Pinkwashing" are in fact against singling out Islam as if it were the source of all the relevant problems because such attempts do not benefit the LGBTQ community.[22]

    Belgium

    The Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang and Filip Dewinter shifted their stance on gay issues in the 2010s and began using pro-gay rhetoric to criticize Muslims and immigrants. According to Eric Louis Russell, Dewinter exploits homophobic violence in a similar way that pornography commodifies women's bodies; he argues "that this type of commodification of potential or real violence directed toward members of a society for political ends is a real, albeit subjacent and deeply insidious form of homophobia".[23]

    France

    Orlando nightclub shooting, Marine Le Pen declared "how much homosexuality is attacked in countries that live under the Islamist jackboot".[24] Facing these threats and receiving "sympathy" from Le Pen, some LGBT voters started to advocate for the far-right party, with one supporter stating that "they'll be the first victims of these barbarians, and only Marine is proposing radical solutions".[24]

    Ireland

    According to Professor of Gender and Women's Studies Eithne Luibhéid, Ireland used its 2015 same-sex marriage referendum "to pinkwash its migration regimes, thereby naturalizing harsh policies that reproduce gendered, sexual, racial, economic, and geopolitical inequalities".[2]

    Israel

    The Israeli government's marketing strategy includes "Israel Beyond the Conflict", an attempt to promote aspects of Israeli life outside the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. According to Israeli gay rights activist Hagai El-Ad, "In no other arena has that been used in a more cynical way than in the context of LGBT rights."[25] According to Palestinian anthropologist Sa'ed Atshan,

    [Israeli] pinkwashing relies on a logic based on four pillars:

    1. naming queer Israeli agency and eliding Israeli homophobia;
    2. naming Palestinian homophobia and eliding queer Palestinian agency;
    3. juxtaposing these contrasting queer experiences in Israeli and Palestinian societies as a civilizational discourse aimed at highlighting the superior humanity of the former and the subhumanity of the latter, who deserve to be dominated; and
    4. representing Israel as a gay haven for Israelis, Palestinians, and internationals in order to attract tourism and other forms of solidarity and support.[26]

    Opponents of the term pinkwashing in relation to Israel argue that Israeli society has seen

    Israeli occupation and only bring up LGBT issues in order to criticize Israel.[36]

    After the 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, an Israeli actor created a hoax video in which he pretended to have been turned away from the flotilla because he was gay. The video was promoted by the Israeli prime minister's office.[37]

    Joseph Massad, associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, has written that the Israeli government "insist[s] on advertising and exaggerating its recent record on LGBT rights ... to fend off international condemnation of its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people".[33] Culture studies academic Nada Elia calls pinkwashing "the twenty-first century manifestation of the Zionist colonialist narrative of bringing civilisation to an otherwise backwards land".[38]

    Corporate marketing

    Further information: LGBT marketing

    Pinkwashing in the United States, according to author Stephan Dahl from the University of Hull, is centered around pride merchandise created and sold by companies that do nothing for queer people.[39] This feeds a "big business small community" relationship and seems beneficial when in reality there is nothing changing legally for queer people through this practice.[39]

    A campaign to develop public support for the Keystone Pipeline, which would transport Canadian oil through the United States, has been accused of pinkwashing for its argument that the project deserves support based on a comparison of Canada's record on LGBT rights compared to that of other oil-producing nations.[40]

    In Australia, concern has been raised about the commodification of gay rights by major corporations.[41]

    LGBTQ Nation states that "many brands that engage in pinkwashing are guilty of using the LGBTQ community to boost their PR and incur capital from 'pink money', all while maintaining unjust labor practices, discriminatory hiring processes, and supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations".[42]

    Intersex movement

    Main article: Intersex and LGBT

    In June 2016,

    Organisation Intersex International Australia pointed to contradictory statements by Australian governments, suggesting that the dignity and rights of LGBT and intersex people are recognized while, at the same time, harmful practices on intersex children continue.[43]

    In August 2016, Zwischengeschlecht described actions to promote equality or civil status legislation without action on banning "intersex genital mutilations" as a form of pinkwashing.[44] The organization has previously highlighted evasive government statements to UN Treaty Bodies that conflate intersex, transgender and LGBT issues, instead of addressing harmful practices on infants.[45]

    Anti-pinkwashing

    Anti-pinkwashing or pinkwatching is the opposition to pinkwashing. Lynn Darwich and Hannen Maikay, in their article "The Road from Antipinkwashing Activism to the Decolonization of Palestine", allege that accusations of pinkwashing against Israel have led to an intersection of queer rights movements and Palestinian rights movements in Palestine and other countries, despite ongoing discrimination and abuse of LGBT individuals within Palestinian controlled territories. This is a strategy that has allowed the two activist groups to fight for one cause; however, it also places limits on both movements. Darwich and Maikay suggest that the anti-pinkwashing movement has to consider not only pinkwashing but also homonationalism, colonialism, and imperialism.[46] The Palestinian queer movement rejects pinkwashing.[47][48]

    According to Cyril Ghosh, the argument against pinkwashing portraying Western countries as bastions of LGBT freedom while demonizing countries that lack LGBT rights protection has merit, but can fall into "Radical Theory Creep" when multiple strands of critique are combined in a way that lacks analytic rigor.[6]

    Notes

    1. ^
      • "Pinkwashing refers to processes whereby states congratulate and promote themselves on the global stage as champions of human rights because they have granted select rights to LGBT people, while continuing to engage in various kinds of systemic violence and dispossession. Moreover, some states deliberately use their promotion of select LGBT rights as alibis for such violence."[2]
      • "Pinkwashing refers to the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) into the nation, painting the state as liberal and democratic while legitimizing violent policies towards countries and communities portrayed as less tolerant of LGBTs."[3]
      • Pinkwashing is "a strategy frequently used to reframe debate and shift attention away from acts of overt discrimination, exclusion or violence under the veneer of a putatively inclusive, modernist rhetoric".[4]
      • "Pinkwashing 'covers over' forms of state-sanctioned socially and historically-constituted violence within 'gay friendly' nation states"[5]
      • "Pinkwashing denotes a deliberate strategy by some states (and even some non-state actors) to obfuscate their human rights violations by upholding, and drawing the world's attention to, their record on LGBT+ rights."[6]

    References

    1. ^ Rodríguez, Ashley (June 15, 2022). "What is Rainbow Washing? And Why You Should Prevent It During Pride Month". rockcontent.com.
    2. ^ a b Luibhéid 2018, p. 405.
    3. ^ Hartal 2020, p. 1.
    4. ^ Russell 2019, p. 185.
    5. ^ Wahab 2021, p. 850.
    6. ^ a b Ghosh 2018, p. 11.
    7. S2CID 240561329
      , retrieved July 22, 2022
    8. ^ Ghosh 2018, p. 12.
    9. S2CID 240300865
      .
    10. ^ Russell 2019, p. 182.
    11. ^ "Profit From Pride – Pinkwashing as Part of Modern Marketing". pressrelations Blog. August 27, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
    12. ^ Ellison, Joy (2013). Recycled rhetoric: brand Israel 'pinkwashing' in historical context (MA thesis). DePaul University. p. 8. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
    13. S2CID 145381763
      .
    14. doi:10.1111/anti.12100
      .
    15. ISBN 978-0-8223-4094-2
      .
    16. ^ Homonationalism, Heteronationalism and LGBTI Rights in the EU. Public Seminar. 31 August 2016.
    17. ^ Puar, Jasbir; Mikdashi, Maya (August 9, 2012). "Pinkwatching And Pinkwashing: Interpenetration and its Discontents". Jadaliyya - جدلية. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
    18. ^ Nichols, James Michael (October 5, 2016). "Understanding Homonationalism: Why Are There Gay People Supporting Trump?". HuffPost. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
    19. S2CID 232253207
      .
    20. ^ "Critics accuse Kenney of 'pinkwashing' in targeted emails". CTVNews. September 25, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
    21. ^ Deland, Mats; Minkenberg, Michael; Mays, Christin, eds. (2014). In the Tracks of Breivik: Far Right Networks in Northern and Eastern Europe. LIT Verlag. p. 12.
    22. ^ a b c "Queers against Pinkwashing reject Counter Jihad". Radio Sweden. August 3, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
    23. ^ Russell 2019, pp. 182, 256.
    24. ^ a b c "'Pinkwashing' populism: Gay voters embrace French far-right". APNews.com. April 7, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
    25. ^ Atshan 2020, p. 80.
    26. ^ Atshan 2020, p. 72.
    27. ^ Atshan 2020, p. 92.
    28. ^ Atshan 2020, pp. 99–100.
    29. ^ Atshan 2020, pp. 101–102.
    30. ^ "Israel to Give Work Permits to LGBT Palestinians Granted Asylum Reversal". Haaretz. June 20, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
    31. ^ "Israeli Foreign Ministry Boasted LGBTQ Palestinian Asylum Ruling; Interior Minister Seeks Reversal". Haaretz. February 7, 2024. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
    32. ^ Atshan 2020, p. 95–97.
    33. ^ a b c Kaufman, David (May 13, 2011). "Is Israel Using Gay Rights to Excuse Its Policy on Palestine?". Time. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
    34. Global Post
      . Retrieved January 25, 2015.
    35. ^ Atshan 2020, p. 105.
    36. ^ Atshan 2020, p. 110.
    37. ^ Atshan 2020, pp. 79–80.
    38. S2CID 154917783
      .
    39. ^ a b Dahl, Stephan. "The rise of pride marketing and the curse of 'pink washing'". The Conversation. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
    40. ^ Michaelson, Jay (December 28, 2014). "How Canadian Oilmen Pinkwash the Keystone Pipeline". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
    41. ^ Stark, Jill (June 7, 2015). ""Pink washing": marketing stunt or corporate revolution?". Retrieved September 4, 2016.
    42. ^ "What is pinkwashing?". LGBTQ Nation.
    43. ^ "Submission: list of issues for Australia's Convention Against Torture review". Intersex Human Rights Australia. June 28, 2016.
    44. ^ seelenlos (August 28, 2016). "'Intersex legislation' that allows the daily mutilations to continue = PINKWASHING of IGM practices". Zwischengeschlecht.
    45. ^ "TRANSCRIPTION > UK Questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilations by UN Committee on the Rights of the Child - Gov Non-Answer + Denial". Zwischengeschlecht. May 26, 2016.
    46. JSTOR 24365011
      .
    47. doi:10.13169/intecritdivestud.3.2.0053
      .
    48. S2CID 158219919
      .

    Sources

    Further reading

    Look up pinkwashing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pinkwashing_(LGBT)&oldid=1212918008"