Brands Need to Connect With the LGBTQ+ Community Over More Than Just Sexuality and Gender

Companies should look beyond the rainbow and tap into consumers' other interests

Inspiration meets innovation at Brandweek, the ultimate marketing experience. Join industry luminaries, rising talent and strategic experts in Phoenix, Arizona this September 23–26 to assess challenges, develop solutions and create new pathways for growth. Register early to save.

As we reflect back on this past Pride month, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Flags. Rainbows. Parades. But is that the only reflection of the LGBTQ+ community? Of the people you know, or the person you are? As someone on the inside looking out, I can say it’s not a full representation of myself.

Earlier this month, there was a meme going around with an image of a man dressed head to toe in rainbows, clearly in a Pride parade, with the caption above saying, “Brands marketing to gay people.” Beside it was an image of the cast from 90s movie The Craft with the caption: “My gay friends.” Or in another, the puppets from ’80s movie Labyrinth. Or the cartoon Recess. Or Lois Griffin. Or raccoons. (Yes, just raccoons).


That’s because it’s become radically clear to LGBTQ+ people that brands are out of touch with how they engage with the community.

Pride, once a time when LGBTQ+ people celebrated our history, activism and culture, is now becoming the time of year when we’re bombarded with rainbow flags, rainbow logos, rainbow cookies, rainbow shirts, rainbow shoes, even rainbow mouthwash. Basically everything’s rainbow.

Rainbows are great. Support is great. I love support. Now, my issue here is not with brands showing their Pride love. There are many thought pieces that have dug deeper into this and even challenged brands on why they will undoubtedly disappear come July 1. What those memes are trying to tell brands is very simple: You see us in a very one-dimensional way.

My issue is one of identity—or hyphenated-identity as it would seem.

You see, the LGBTQ+ community is not a monolith. In fact, look at the acronym itself. While we’re bonded in obvious ways, each letter represents its own universe, and within each are different values, vernaculars and systems. People are not identifying with just the pure fact that they’re gay or trans or nonbinary. We as individuals have many identifiers, or “hyphens.” Sexuality and gender are part of that but not the complete picture.

One of someone’s hyphens may be gay, but also a New Yorker-illustrator-hybrid strategist-comic book nerd-Crossfitter-loyal friend (some of mine, to name a few). In other words, our sexual orientation isn’t the only hyphen that makes up who we are.

When the rainbows stop, the experiences of LGBTQ+ people don’t.

But let’s pretend it was. Even if sexuality or gender were our sole hyphens, it’s far more expansive than a brand may realize.

A recent study around identity discovered that while many LGBTQ+ consumers hyphens included their sexuality or gender, perhaps even more than their heterosexual counterparts, how it was expressed was just as diverse as the LGBTQ+ community itself. Hyphens like queer, pansexual, open-minded, asexual, sex-positive, sexually-active, polyamorous, fluid, confident, masculine, feminine and married serve as ways that we identify. Keep in mind, this is just within the hyphen category of sexuality.

There are far other categories, from fashion to spirituality to race/ethnicity to gaming, that, in some ways, may hold just as much weight as sexuality and gender do to the overall makeup of how we self-identify.

I hope Pride doesn’t stop tomorrow. I hope next year’s Pride will look a little different and brands stick around past June. I want them to engage with us as the multi-hyphenated beings we are. I want them to know that when the rainbows stop, the experiences of LGBTQ+ people don’t.

I love the rainbow flag and what it symbolizes for our community, but it’s been made clear that throwing one on your product or ad isn’t truly resonating with us. Tapping into our hyphens, understanding what makes up our identity and creating work that speaks to those different experiences is what I would call Pride.