The Rainbow Hue

Come June and the whole world seems to be rainbow hued. It’s like looking at life through rainbow tinted glasses. Everywhere you see, everything has something rainbow in it, has turned to a rainbow. Be it the logos, the make up and people’s dressing sense, everything seems so full of colours, everything seems to take a rainbow hue. And why not, after all it’s Pride month.

So by changing the colours of  DPs, logos, wearing Pride make up, is a way of showing support for the LGBTQ community. But the question that begs to be asked, is that enough? Is wearing the rainbow flag for 30 days of a month, enough support for a community? What happens to the rest of the 11 months, or the 335 days (336 because we are in a leap year)? Is this 30 days of change sufficient enough to show support? Is this tokenism sufficient enough? Let’s face it, this tokenism is not enough, it doesn’t quite say enough, at end of it all there may not be enough of actions, and actions speak louder than words.

So at the end of June, when once again change all the DPs and logos and it all goes back to the normal ways, ask yourself if you have done anything to make the change? Have you changed your outlook or do you go back to the stereotypes that has been engrained in your head? Have you done anything that would bring about a change? What did you do to dispense off the stereotypes or did you just add to it? What did you do the whole month of June, just celebrate and wish everyone a Happy Pride, and preen and pout? What happens when the party is over?

Companies may change their logos to include the rainbow flag but their actions don’t say much. Though do put into action what they say in words. They flood your timelines with good looking models, many posing as couples, that’s nowhere close to representing the community, but only fuels the anxiety of those who are already very body conscious. But their action speaks very little of inclusivity of a community that’s normally marginalised, that has been the butt of every joke, often bullied. So where are those images of real people from the community?

Throughout the month you’ll be flooded with coming out of stories and stories of fight for acceptance. But once the month is gone, these voices die down, and there’s hardly a platform given to these voice. They need to be heard, they need to be accepted, and not just at Pride month, not just for tokenism. They need to be allowed to be who they are, we all need to be who we are.

So it’s time that we learn to be more inclusive, it’s time we be more kinder and sensitive to those around, to ourselves. It’s time we allow ourselves to be who we are, our true selves, and do the same for others. It’s time we support love, not just a day, not just a month, but for all the days of our lives. It’s time we let our actions speak louder than the words coming out of the bigots, to show this is natural, to show that this is normal, to help affect a change, a change in the way we think, behave, perceive a community, and as a community. Cause at the end of the day this love, and as Lin Manuel Miranda said “Love is Love is Love is Love”!