Welcome to Trans Tuesday! The commodification of trans rights under capitalism has always been complicated and often awful, but things recently took a nosedive… by removing that commodification entirely. Let’s talk RAINBOW CAPITALISM 2: FROM BAD TO WORSE.
We can’t start this discussion without talking about RAINBOW CAPITALISM first. But this is part two, so hopefully you’ve already figured out you should read part one first, because you’re very smart (and have excellent taste in the trans essays posted to the internet that you choose to read).
The basic gist of it is that companies often only offer pride merchandise in June, while at the same time supporting politicians and policies that try to strip trans and queer people of our rights. It’s a naked ploy for our money and it in no way actually supports us.
Exceeeeppppt… trans people are part of the people who do business with these companies, so they should have merchandise targeted toward us. And it’s really nice to have things with the trans pride flag on it, because I’m so proud to be trans and I love my community.
The disconnect is in the double dealing they do, in not actually supporting trans rights. It’s very much a case of PERFORMATIVE ALLYSHIP and PERFORMATIVE ALLYSHIP 2: FALSE ALLYSHIP. They may want to think of themselves as a good company that supports trans people (well, some of them might, but I also suspect many know exactly what they’re doing), or they want to be seen as supporting trans people, but hey if the Republicans are going to give their mega corporation more tax breaks… too bad! Saving some money and profit line always goes up is more important than your inalienable human rights!
And so it’s complicated, because we do want to be treated as valued customers, but it’s got to be honest with real world support. For a case of handling trans merchandising the right way, see RADICAL TRANS ACCEPTANCE for how, yes, my roller derby league offers trans merch, but they also back it up with action and year-round support of trans rights. It’s important to note that roller derby leagues are not corporations, mine is actually a non-profit made up entirely of volunteers, many of whom are trans and nonbinary themselves. What a difference that makes.
The fact that so many companies participating in rainbow capitalism are run nearly entirely by cis people is also part of the problem. If there are any trans people helping run the company, they’re likely the only one, or one of a very small handful, and thus are the least empowered to push for change.
It’s the same thing I’ve talked about in my TRANS REP IN MEDIA 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 reports, where so many television shows have no trans people on the writing staff, or maybe one if we’re lucky. They’re almost never in the higher levels, and if they speak up about harmful representation or transphobic jokes, they’re the most likely to be punished for it, and possibly lose their jobs.
It’s the same in any business, and it’s why changing things for the better in terms of all of this requires more good cis people to hire more trans people, at all levels.
But recently things got even worse in the rainbow capitalism department, because For Reasons a very bad man and his smell-of-old-cabbage cronies gained control of the US government. They’re bigots through and through, in every way you can imagine. For more on the impact that’s had on me and the trans population, see THE 2024 ELECTION RESULTS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE.
Capitalism is gonna capitalism, so a lot of companies that wanted to get on the very bad man’s good side (so they could get lower taxes, or get a merger approved, etc) donated to him and his “causes,” stabbing every trans and queer customer and employee of theirs in the back. They have directly enabled every bigoted move that man has made since he took office in 2025.
As part of that, so many of them that previously wanted to appear inclusive and like they were good companies who cared about people, rolled back their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs. Those programs were designed to address the very problem I was just talking about… to make companies less white, less cisgender, less heterosexual, less ableist.
And so you see exactly why the fascist cishet white men in power hated it, because they view rights as pie. If anyone but them gains rights only they previously had, or a job only they previously had, they see it as a personal attack and believe they are being oppressed and there’s less pie for them. When they’ve been lionized and supported and told you’re the very best and most important special boy for their entire life, anyone not telling them that is like a slap in the face to them. It’s why I had to do an essay on CIS IS NOT A SLUR (there is no default human).
The biggest brouhaha over the removal of DEI programs happened with Target. And they started even before Trump got elected, because a few loud bigots made a giant multinational corporation shake in its boots.
“A backlash against Target occurred in the lead up to Pride Month in 2023 after the American retailer released its Pride month merchandise, sparking attacks and threats from conservative anti-LGBTQ groups.
In May 2024, Target announced that not all stores would carry its 2024 pride collection.”
And they continued being horrible.
“Target says it will no longer sell its 2024 Pride Month collection in all of its stores following last year’s conservative backlash over its LGBTQ+-themed merchandise.
The retail giant said in a press release last week that it plans to offer its collection of products to celebrate Pride Month … during the month of June both online and in ‘select stores,’ depending on ‘historical sales performance.’”
They’re trying to play it both ways there. “We will still have Pride merch where the queers live, support us! But also look, very bad man, we removed most of it!”
“In a statement to NPR, a spokesperson for the retailer says it is committed to supporting the LGBTQ+ community not only during Pride Month but year-round.”
You actually don’t support us year-round, and you’re not even supporting us during Pride!
So here’s a thought. How about you go to hell?
Especially because it gets even worse.
“[Target] added that in addition to selling LGBTQ-themed home and food and beverage items, apparel from its Pride collection this year will be tailored to adults. No Pride apparel for children will be sold.”
This is feeding right into the propaganda of trans and queer people as “groomers,” not to mention that trans kids exist and need support more than ever. This shit infuriates me.
See TRANS KIDS 1: FACTS AND DANGERS and TRANS KIDS 2: THE INTAKE EXAM AND TRANS FLIGHT for the actual truth on trans kids, and see THE FETISHIZATION OF TRANS WOMEN 2: REACTIONS AND ORIGINS for the absolute DARVO projection these people pull to paint innocent trans and queer people of the things they are guilty of.
It also silos us off to “the queer areas” of the US, but trans and queer people literally live everywhere. And not only that, in the areas where it’s less safe for us to be openly out, big stores selling Pride merch there normalizes our existence in areas that badly need it. And these absolutely giant companies with profits in the billions are mostly protected from bigoted blowback, because bigots are just a very loud but actually small minority.
Most Republicans who campaign on anti-trans rhetoric lose their elections! It is not a popular stance!
Doesn’t matter to them. They fear the bigots, probably because the bigots are the constituents of the Republicans that these companies donate to to get their precious lower tax rates.
And it continued on.
“Target shifted a less flamboyant collection of Pride Month merchandise back to make room for patriotic, Independence Day displays in-store and Father’s Day online as other major retailers are likewise reducing emphasis on Pride displays and focusing more on other summer shopping holidays…”
Replacing Pride merch with jingoistic items to celebrate our country that’s full of colonialism, genocide, systemic racism, systemic misogyny, systemic transphobia, and more is… so on the nose I’d like to tell the writers of reality that I think a little subtlety might go a long way.
Target was far from the only offender, of course, even though they’ve garnered the most headlines.
“Tech company IBM and beer brewer Constellation Brands are reportedly among the latest in a wave of corporations retreating from diversity, equity and inclusion policies amid pressure to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders gutting DEI and online attacks from conservative influencers.”
And it went on and on.
“Companies are treading lightly, avoiding prominent campaigns and visible public support. Thirty-nine percent say they plan to scale back public Pride Month engagements this year, according to a survey of more than 200 corporate executives… That includes sponsoring Pride events, posting supportive messages of LGBTQ rights on social media and selling Pride-themed merchandise.
Consumer brands are wary of provoking right-wing customers and activists, and they fear reprisals from President Donald Trump’s administration. Federal agencies have threatened to investigate companies with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”
I’ve noticed, and people have mentioned to me that they’ve seen this too, that companies that do still have Pride merchandise, or that brought it back in any capacity… did so with the classic rainbow pride flag. Many would have no trans pride options, and not even use the progress pride flag that includes trans people. Anything that would even hint that that pink-white-blue combo was simply gone.
This is all anecdotal, sadly, as I couldn’t find any actual reporting on it. But given how little any trans issues are covered at all outside of the bigoted framing of us losing our rights, I shouldn’t be surprised.
One of the places I first noticed this was with Pride merchandise for my beloved Star Trek. I’ve talked about how important Trek is to me in many of these essays, and especially in A TRANS RE-WEDDING, where it was the theme of our entire celebration.
Here’s a little snippet from that RAINBOW CAPITALISM essay on how much having Trek Pride merch actually meant to me.
I got an email from the official Star Trek shop about their new Pride collection, and I excitedly clicked right over… only to find all of it was only in the classic rainbow Pride flag colors. There were no trans options, or even progress pride options, to be found.
And you can see exactly how that made me feel in the social media post I made immediately after visiting the site:
There were a lot of other trans people who were rightly really upset about us seemingly being removed from the Trek Pride celebration, because we had been part of it before. It felt like erasure.
Multiple people reached out to them about it… apparently a lot of people, several of whom sent me the reply they received.
I truly want to believe this was just an accidental oversight, that the design already had all the approvals (it’s a nice design! I don’t hate it!) and so they used it, and didn’t realize what the lack of trans options would be saying, both based on their past availability and the political climate we’re in. Especially with the slogan “space for everybody.” When you couple that with the seeming removal of trans people, it feels like you don’t believe we’re part of the community.
But you know what would have helped avoid this? Trans people having input on the design and release of your Pride month merchandise. Same as at any company, or any writers room. There are things cis people just aren’t going to see or realize, because they can’t.
Now that absolutely is a form response, because everyone who contacted them and shared their reply with me had identical replies, but… maybe that’s actually a good thing. Because if they were truly getting as many complaints as they say, it would be impossible for them to respond to them all individually. If they’d only received a couple, the replies would have been shorter and unique.
To circle this back to what we talked about earlier, you can see more of this pushback in action, with the boycott of Target that was started by Black folks, in protest of the store’s new anti-DEI policies.
“Across the country, faith leaders and civil rights activists are calling for boycotts, urging Black consumers to redirect their spending to Black-owned businesses or stores and companies that remain committed to DEI.”
And it’s, uh… working. So much so that their CEO even stepped down.
“‘Target is really struggling and does not seem to be able to climb out of the hole it has dug itself into,’ … The company has also faced intense customer backlash for its retreat on some diversity initiatives.
Earlier this year, the company ended some of its DEI programs. The decision angered supporters of diversity and inclusion policies, who felt blindsided by Target. Customers online protested Target’s decision, and Target acknowledged its move hurt its sales.”
There are companies who’ve stood up to the fascists and refused to comply by cancelling their DEI programs. They’re showing an actual commitment to doing the right thing, if you can believe it. Here’s a list of twenty-five major companies who pushed back.
“As President Trump and his allies wage war on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, some companies are refusing to cave. While others like Target, Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald’s have backpedaled under political pressure, these businesses have stood firm.
These are the companies committed to recognizing that diversity isn’t a liability — it’s a strength.”
And one of those is my beloved Costco, who I adore not just for their food court pizza (tho that is, like, at least 73% of the reason).
“One of the first companies on the list to announce its commitment, Costco has been applauded for its firm support of its DEI policies. Costco has kept its DEI initiatives, launching training programs focused on unconscious bias and cultural competency, ensuring that employees at all levels are equipped to support an inclusive workplace.
…Over 98 percent of Costco’s shareholders voted against a proposed anti-DEI initiative, as the board said it believes ‘our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary.’ This decision has led to widespread support with ‘buy-ins’ taking place across the country…”
Costco was actually one of the very best experiences I ever had in trying to update my membership with my new name, after it had been legally changed. See INCLUSIVE BUREAUCRACY to see just how easy it can be when you actually care.
And… it has financially paid off!
“Total sales were up 11.6% to $69.2B in FQ3, which was a higher growth rate than other major retailers such as Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Best Buy (BBY), and Dollar General (DG) saw with their roughly overlapping earnings reports.”
Target’s tried to get consumers back this year, but it’s not going great.
“Even though Target’s most recent quarterly earnings report was better than expected, comparable sales fell 2.5% and overall revenue plunged 1.5% year over year. And the company is facing huge challenges as consumers broadly reduce their discretionary spending due to financial pressures.”
Ah, but Costco sells gas and Target doesn’t, and gas is super expensive now! Sure. BUT-
“Excluding the impacts from higher gas prices, overall comparable [Costco] sales increased 7.8% in April, while digital comparable sales grew 18.4% for the month.”
And yes, the economy tanking even further in 2026, due to the same very bad man, has made people spend less overall…
“Costco topped revenue forecasts late Thursday, bolstered by higher comparable sales and membership fee income. But earnings for the wholesaler came in below estimates.
The report lands amid growing concerns that higher fuel prices and inflation pressures could be stifling consumer spending. Retailers TargetTGT and WalmartWMT earlier this month reported “resilient” consumer spending, partially bolstered by tax refunds and stimulus measures. But those benefits will fade throughout the year, which weighed on their outlooks.”
But people are still spending. Just not with Target! Evidence seems to show a whole lot of them have gone… to Costco.
“…a survey from the consumer analytics firm Numerator has found customer foot traffic and market share have shifted from Target to Costco, particularly among shoppers who say DEI is important.
In terms of year-over-year visits, the firm said Target saw nearly 5 million fewer shopping trips during the four weeks ending on February 9. By contrast, Costco saw nearly 7.7 million more visits during the same period.”
GLAAD recently conducted a poll that showed the same thing.
“A new poll conducted by GLAAD ahead of Pride Month shows that large majorities of Americans support companies that support Pride as well as politicians who oppose anti-LGBTQ+ attacks.
The poll found that 68% of registered voters agreed that companies and brands should be able to show support to the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, 61% believe public corporate support of the LGBTQ+ community has a positive impact on the community’s acceptance, and 76% are more likely to trust a brand that sticks to its values and stands up for what is right, even if it is controversial.”
And that’s the thing about this entire issue, from the Trek merch site apparently being flooded with complaints to Target profits absolutely cratering, while Costco fought back and now makes even more money than they did before:
There are more of us than there are of them.
I don’t mean just trans people, we’re too small a part of the population to effect any kind of change on our own. See TRANS POLITICS 1: STOP TOLERATING TRANSPHOBIA and TRANS POLITICS 2: YOU MUST VOTE TO PROTECT US for the details on that.
And I don’t just mean all queer people, who are a much larger group but still a vast minority compared to all the cishet people in this country.
I mean trans people, and all queer people, and cishet people who actually care about us.
We vastly outnumber the bigots. Two thirds of this country did not vote to put that very bad man in office. Not enough tried to stop him, but that’s a different issue. Most people are not bigots and have no problem with trans people.
Companies supporting us, and standing up for us, actually makes the good two thirds of this country like them more. Why worry about the bigoted third when you could have all of the other two thirds?!
Oh right, tax breaks. A whole lot of good those do you when your profits are in the toilet, tho!
Meanwhile Costco’s over here keeping their integrity and making bank. Supporting us is the morally right thing to do, but even from a naked capitalistic greed standpoint, it’s the right thing to do!
There are more of us than there are of them.
And it’s high time everyone started acting like it.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com