In spite of the many restrictions of capitalism, queer people have liberated ourselves. From the decriminalization of homosexuality, to the legalization of same sex marriage, the community has made strides beyond what many thought possible. The laws were changed because of the hard won efforts of queer people. Black Trans and Latino people threw bricks at their oppressors and thus pride was born. Creating unrest, refusing to stay in the closet, and living as our truest selves have changed things for our community. We are not done yet. As long as we live in the shackles of capitalism, queer liberation will suffer the limitations it imposes.
Queer people are at a higher risk of homelessness. Our most vulnerable are under constant threat of being displaced. The working class and impoverished are always at a great risk of having the rug pulled out from under us. For those further marginalized by race, gender, and sexuality the threat becomes far more menacing. Capitalism’s existence is inherently violent against queer people and while those that uphold it gladly discriminate against us, they profit off of us as well; capricious cruelty.
One month out of the year we watch as corporations create merchandise catered towards queer people. Their advertisements are meant to send a message that they support our existence, even though they don’t. What they are really doing is appropriating symbols popular in the queer community in order to profit. Capitalists will turn a blind eye to the plight of queer people until they find a way to profit from our existence.
Large companies like Starbucks choose dress codes in order to keep their baristas in place. Even though it’s been over ten years since the company did away with restrictions placed on its workers, they are reverting back to their old ways in retaliation towards unionizers. As a result they are intentionally erasing employee’s queerness while having a float in Pride Festivals all over the country. Target has done away with DEI while still selling pride merch in order to profit off of the people they are discriminating against. Police continue to act violently against queer people with trans and gender nonconforming people being targeted at a higher rate than cisgender people. It also comes at no surprise that trans black and indigenous women are our communities most vulnerable. Even after all that, Police still show up to the festivals participating in Pride. How did we go from fighting against the police to allowing them to show up in our spaces?
In Tatianna Cozzareli’s article Whither Queer Liberation?, she tells us a troubling truth:
“No other group has gone from such marginalization to capitalist assimilation so quickly. In just fifty years, the cops went from beating, raping, and arresting us to marching in our parade. Since its inception, the LGBTQ+ movement has been divided on the question of assimilation: Do we want to fit into the current system, or do we want to change the whole thing?”
Marginalized communities can not afford to continue to appease a system that ignores us, uses us, and abuses us. While companies flock to appear in Pride Parades, queer people are still fighting for the rights we don’t have while fearing the loss of the rights we do. For years people have fought for us to be seen, accepted. They did not throw bricks through windows for us to fight for a seat at the capitalist table. They did not bear the brunt of beatings by police for them to show up at Pride with rainbow flags on their car.
All throughout the country people are being abducted and disappeared by ICE. Immigrants, refugees, citizens and noncitizens alike. Some of them are members of our community who have fled countries where the highest punishment for their queerness is death. Capitalism does not exist without white supremacy and patriarchy. As we continue to fight under capitalism we must fight towards a socialist future where we can truly experience what it means to be liberated.
Capitalism’s appeal to marginalized people is the promise of a future where you might just get what they do. The problem with that is the benefits of capitalism are only experienced by a few. If you do reap the benefits, it comes at a price. Your ability to stand face to face with your fellow capitalist is not liberation for the community. Just because a gay man finds himself in the role of Governor doesn’t mean his success has led to the freedom of others. He has garnered himself a seat at the table while the rest of us continue to starve under the weight of capitalism.
Through the years capitalism has stripped people of their identities. In doing so, the queer community as it is now was born. Some may say that capitalism is the reason we exist in the first place but we’ve existed in all times, in all cultures. The way we express our gender, identities, and sexualities is a retaliation against colonialism and capitalism- oppression. From homosexuality being illegal, defined as a mental illness, to the don’t show, don’t tell era, queer people have been pushed around by capitalism; and they’ve called it progress.
LOUISVILLE CPUSA 
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