Roundup: “Hot lesbian” pinkwashing

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By now, you’ve probably heard about that ostensibly pro-oilsands ad that proclaimed that lesbians are hot, and it’s better to use oil from Canada, where they’re considered hot, than from Saudi Arabia, where they would be executed, and it being accompanied by an image taken from Orange is the New Black. And his apology and attempts to walk back from how particularly boneheaded the whole idea was to begin with. (Seriously, his sputtering about what he considers to be “hot” is both hilarious and sad at the same time). As well, the fact that he didn’t use two men to make the same point is entirely because he was conscious that the same message wouldn’t have the same effect on his target audience (because let’s face it, the idea of guys kissing isn’t as titillating to the general public as the idea of two women). What hasn’t been really explored in all of this, however, is this increasing tendency toward pinkwashing, particularly from the political right, as an excuse for xenophobia.

If you’re not familiar with the term pinkwashing, it’s generally used to show how some modicum of LGBT rights is a contrast to the death sentence that can be associated with homosexuality in certain parts of the world, usually as a way of deflecting attention from other problems. A famous example is the way that Israel uses Tel Aviv Pride to deflect criticism of their other human rights problems, and there was a tonne of pinkwashing done in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando as a pretext to condemning so-called Islamist terrorism (never mind that the same people spouting this pinkwashing ignore their own homophobic records. Who cares if we want to take away their civil rights – we don’t want to execute them, is generally how the argument goes, as though that’s really the choice that the LGBT community wants to be faced with). And this lesbian ad isn’t even the first time that this argument has been used – the Erza Levant brainchild Ethical Oil tried similar arguments a couple of years ago to little avail.

Suffice to say, while the mainstream media did jump all over these ridiculous lesbian ads, the criticisms tended to focus on the surface images of photogenic actresses and the fact that it ignores that there are still problems in this country where the GBLT community is concerned, the fact that there was no discussion about pinkwashing was disappointing, because this increasing tendency (particularly from the alt-right and Trump supporters) to use the queer community as some kind of shield to justify their xenophobia is tiresome and needs to be called out for what it is. These ads provided a good opportunity to do so, but that opportunity was largely squandered.

Good reads:

  • At the Electoral Reform committee, the opposition parties were particularly keen to hear from Stéphane Dion, who has some curious ideas about voting systems. (Liveblog here).
  • The Elections Commissioner has sanctioned the Green Party for distributing “misleading” polls in advance of the election to try and sway voters.
  • Our outgoing High Commissioner in London says that the Brexit vote means that a trade deal with the UK must be a priority.
  • The government is keeping up with its Joint Strike Fighter programme payments, but all signs point to them dumping the F-35 from consideration.
  • The planes flown by the Snowbirds were supposed to have been retired in 2010, and yet they’re talking about trying to extend the lifespan to 2030.
  • StatsCan is floating the idea of having the government make all of its surveys mandatory by default.
  • Jane Philpott says a broader look into the opioid crisis is needed if we’re to solve the public health crisis of overdoses.
  • Susan Delacourt looks back at the election predictions one year ago this weekend.

Odds and ends:

Good news, everyone! The CD Howe Institute says that the 2015 recession wasn’t really a recession, because reasons!