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First of all, 63 more days til I go home for the summer! Hopefully! With this in mind, I've been doing my summer shopping, making lists of the things I couldn't find here, clothes I need to get me through the next year. I poked around on Target's website because they have the brand of underpants that I like, and while I was on the website, I decided to take a look at their #takepride collection.
And I'm feeling some kind of way.
The collection: there's the usual bit of "whatever we can slap a rainbow on." T-shirts with "Love is Love." Buntings and party supplies and tutus for your dogs and cats. But what stopped me was the series of shirts with pride flag hearts. And not just a rainbow. There are bi, pan, ace, and trans hearts with Pride scrawled across the chest in large, swooping letters. And, like, whoa.
My initial reaction to the whole collection was "how gross, corporations wringing every bit of money they can from us." But then I took a breath and chilled, because look. My hometown is in rural Idaho, in the middle of hundreds of square miles of desert. And sure, we have the internet and can connect with the world now more than I could dream of as a kid. There's drag queen bingo nights (one of my former students is a host!) and a pride parade. But we're still super isolated, geographically and socially. Southern Idaho is one of the most conservative places in the USA. We seem to be a haven for a lot of fundamentalist Christian off-shoots like the FLDS. The city council recently approved a resolution to make the town a second amendment sanctuary city. Like what the actual fuck????
So. To see this sort of merchandise being sold, and to know that it's likely going to be in my hometown store, in the hotbed of conservative values is actually pretty amazing.
I don't think I can buy any of the merch myself because (for a lot of reasons) I don't feel like I belong in the LGBTQIA community (and like, whatever, that's something for Future Deb to deal with), but I'm just thrilled to know that it's there. I'm happy that someone who has wanted to be able to express who they are can buy a t-shirt or pair of socks or bandana at the consumer haven that is Target.
And I'm feeling some kind of way.
The collection: there's the usual bit of "whatever we can slap a rainbow on." T-shirts with "Love is Love." Buntings and party supplies and tutus for your dogs and cats. But what stopped me was the series of shirts with pride flag hearts. And not just a rainbow. There are bi, pan, ace, and trans hearts with Pride scrawled across the chest in large, swooping letters. And, like, whoa.
My initial reaction to the whole collection was "how gross, corporations wringing every bit of money they can from us." But then I took a breath and chilled, because look. My hometown is in rural Idaho, in the middle of hundreds of square miles of desert. And sure, we have the internet and can connect with the world now more than I could dream of as a kid. There's drag queen bingo nights (one of my former students is a host!) and a pride parade. But we're still super isolated, geographically and socially. Southern Idaho is one of the most conservative places in the USA. We seem to be a haven for a lot of fundamentalist Christian off-shoots like the FLDS. The city council recently approved a resolution to make the town a second amendment sanctuary city. Like what the actual fuck????
So. To see this sort of merchandise being sold, and to know that it's likely going to be in my hometown store, in the hotbed of conservative values is actually pretty amazing.
I don't think I can buy any of the merch myself because (for a lot of reasons) I don't feel like I belong in the LGBTQIA community (and like, whatever, that's something for Future Deb to deal with), but I'm just thrilled to know that it's there. I'm happy that someone who has wanted to be able to express who they are can buy a t-shirt or pair of socks or bandana at the consumer haven that is Target.
