“Pink capitalism” is a term used to describe the type of materialism which has constructed the gay male ideal – which caters heavily to the cisgender, white and upper-middle class members of a community whose rights have been championed for by more oppressed peoples.

The truth is capitalism is not compatible with any sort of genuine equality movement because the idea of acquiring a surplus of goods or luxury goods is irrevocably exclusive to the elite and privileged.

Unfortunately to the general public, it is not common knowledge that socialism has been a propelling factor in the gay right’s movement since its very beginning.

As early as the beginning of the 19th century, many of the Utopian socialist thinkers including Charles Fourier in France and Robert Owen in England asserted that homosexuality must be considered valid in a classless and egalitarian society.

In the United States, Bayard Rustin, who can be praised as a communist, draft-dodger and homosexual, assisted in planning the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom alongside Dr. Martin Luther King.

Despite this long shared history of socialism and gay rights, many members of the gay community prefer to trade this elevated heritage for the lies of corporate America. Members do not see how the same companies that cater specifically to white, cisgender gays create massive disparity between genders, races and class.

When gays participate in pink capitalism by giving their business to luxury brands – they perpetuate the same sort of capitalism that uses discrimination against race, gender and socio-economic minorities as an instrument of white supremacy, misogyny and class-war.

As a result, within gay culture itself there is a large amount of prejudice against queer people of color, but especially trans and black people.

What white gays should be doing is fighting for the rights of other queer people and being an ally in fighting the issues of intersectionality.

Trump was elected president, to the dismay of many including undocumented immigrants – as a group who is evidently gaining power in the United States, white gays ought to be overwhelmingly vocal about the need for an easier pathway to citizenship and amnesty, especially for Latino and Muslim members of the LGBTQ+ community.

However, gays spend more money partying than they do in donations to institutions that would assist in the battle for equal rights for all.

Obviously white gays are confused as to who they should be allying themselves with – being that the LGBTQ+ right movement was started by poor, black trans women. They should be standing in alliance with us, their unprivileged brothers and sisters who are not so welcome in the capitalist society. They do not see that they are just cogs in a machine.