Pinkwashing (LGBT)

In 2013, the Human Rights Campaign officially endorsed comprehensive immigration reform and committed to helping immigrants as they seek health and safety, asylum or citizenship.[2] The endorsement came days after an incident where a gay immigrant activist was prevented by HRC from discussing their legal status at a Supreme Court rally, mistreatment for which HRC later issued an apology. The Huffington Post described the HRC's actions as pinkwashing, "making immigration reform look pro-gay to garner LGBT support in order to mask the severe drawbacks of the legislation" – drawbacks such as funding to support enforcement, deportation, and further US militarization.[3]

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 and 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."

Homonationalism is a term coined by Jasbir Puar to describe a particular type of queer people that are white, ideal, and help to promote countries that use queer rights to seem more modern. In short, this is the intersection between gay identities and nationalist ideology.[4] Jasbir Puar defined homonationalism in her book "Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times,” in 2007, before Sarah Schulman's article that coined pinkwashing. Homonationalism shaped the concept of pinkwashing and the two terms are often used together as tools to explain the actions of countries like Israel. 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.[5]

According to Omar G. Encarnación, a Professor of Political Studies at Bard College, the Obama administration was accused by some critics of pinkwashing "to distract from other unsavory policies such as the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants and the failure to prosecute those responsible for the human rights abuses of the Bush administration’s War on Terror."[6] 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.[7] 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.[7]

Anarcho-queer collective Mashpritzot hold a "die-in" protest against Israeli pinkwashing and the perceived homonormative priorities of the LGBT support centre in Tel Aviv

Sarah Schulman, a writer and professor at the City University of New York, claims Israeli government public relations campaign exploits Israel's supposed LGBT-friendliness to promote perceptions of Israel as a modern democracy, a secure place for investment, and a sunny tourist destination.[8] The Israeli marketing claims that LGBTQ people have more freedom in Israel than in most places and paints the state as an ideal place for queer couples to vacation without fear of oppression. The campaign has specifically targeted gay men between the ages of 18-34.

Israel does not have laws that benefit LGBTQ people more than in other countries and some politicians in Israel are homophobic. The promotion of LGBTQ rights leads people to incorrectly assume that Israel is liberal when it may, in fact, violate other human rights. Israel's pinkwashing negatively affects LGBTQ people as well as Palestinians by suppressing demands for political change.[1] In August 2011, The Jerusalem Post reported the Foreign Ministry was promoting Gay Israel as part of its campaigns to counter the negative stereotypes that many liberal Americans and Europeans have of Israel.[9]

Critics of Israel like Jasbir Puar, an associate professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, cite the Israeli government's comparison of LGBTQ rights in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories as an example of pinkwashing. Citing WorldPride, which Jerusalem hosted in 2006, she writes: "Within global gay and lesbian organising circuits, to be gay friendly is to be modern, cosmopolitan, developed, first-world, global north, and, most significantly, democratic."[10] 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."[11][12]

Anti-pinkwashing refers to the response that LGBTQ organizations have had to pinkwashing. Lynn Darwich and Hannen Maikay in their article, "The Road from Antipinkwashing Activism to the Decolonization of Palestine”, is about how the act of pinkwashing by Israel has led to an intersection of queer rights movements and Palestinian rights movements in Palestine and other countries. 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 antipinkwashing movement has to consider not only pinkwashing, but also homonationalism, colonialism, and imperialism.[19]

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.[20] The campaign base at OpecHatesgays.com headlines its presentation: "Compare Canadian Ethical Oil to OPEC conflict oil".[21]

In 2014, BP launched "LGBT Careers Event", a move that was met with criticism as an attempt to pinkwash the conduct that led to Deepwater Horizon oil spill, described as "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced".[22]

In Australia, concern has been raised about the commodification of gay rights by major corporations.[23]

In 2019 several companies who had previously claimed to support the LGBTQ community, including Marriott International, Delta Airlines, UnitedHealth Group, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America, were criticized for their sponsorship of an event honoring Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who self-identifies as "homophobic" and "very proud of it."[24][25] According to NBC News, Bolsonaro was being honored "for his prioritizing of Christian values and family."[24] Some sponsors withdrew after criticism, including Bain & Co., the Financial Times, and Delta.[24]

A coalition organized by several popular grassroots movements in Europe, including the English Defence League (EDL), mounted demonstrations in conjunction with LGBT Pride Week celebrations in Helsinki and Stockholm in July and August 2012.[26][27] In an interview for Radio Sweden, the Swedish author and activist Lisa Bjurwald claimed that the EDL have exploited pride events in the United Kingdom by diverting attention toward Islamic homophobia and that Queers against Pinkwashing (a group that protested against the Stockholm march) is opposed to talking about homophobia in Islam and label all such attempts as "pinkwashing" and a "divide and conquer tactic."[27]

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.[28]

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.[29] 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.[30]

Stephan Lefebvre of the Center for Economic and Policy Research has noted how the Obama administration, followed by the mainstream US media, has criticized Russia for its failure to provide basic civil liberties for its LGBT population. He contrasts that with the US government's failure to condemn the comparable record on LGBT issues on the part of US allies like Honduras, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the US government's failure to acknowledge progress on LGBT rights in Cuba. In his analysis, this constitutes pinkwashing, which he defines as "deliberately highlighting support for gay rights while ignoring or downplaying other relevant human rights issues".[31] Laurie Penny, an author and feminist activist, contrasted those who criticized Russia's LGBT policies during the Sochi Olympics with their silence on instances of homophobic treatment at their own countries' border crossings. She wrote:[32]

While western nations flap the rainbow flag defiantly in Russia's face, actual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are being harassed and abused at their borders when they arrive seeking safety. Supporting the rights of LGBT people worldwide is to be commended, but if that sentiment is more than pinkwashing, it should be backed up by action at home.[32]

• Homonationalism
• Cause marketing
• LGBT marketing
• Pinkwashing (breast cancer)
• Greenwashing
• Pink capitalism
• Straightwashing
• Purplewashing
• Redwashing
• Queerbaiting

Look up pinkwashing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Pinkwatching Israel
• No to Pinkwashing