Spotlight: Pride Month

Jasmin Ali and Lavendel Kranz

5th July 2023

There isn’t a pride statement that is universal, the term and month means different things to different people. All over the world memorials are held during this month to remember people who have lost their lives to HIV and hate crimes. I start the article so boldly as currently we are seeing a backwards trend to progress, so although we should be celebrating liberation and inclusivity many of our marginalised people are finding it even more difficult to express themselves openly.

Many companies right now are celebrating pride at work, but you can also show your efforts during this time can make a positive impact for your LGBTQ+ colleagues every day in the workplace. Which I think is really simple to do. You can challenge exclusionary behaviour. Whether that be language, behaviour, or education. The reason I reached out to Lavendel Kranz the Associate Design Director at King to speak with me this month is down to her action internally for our trans colleagues and the LGBTQ+ network.

When we sat down to chat the first statement Lavendel made was “Making documentation can often be a substitute for real action because anyone can point at those words and say ‘oh that’s our policy’ but if it’s not happening in practice, it doesn’t do anything. In fact, it has a negative impact.” I hope you enjoy these questions just as much as I did chatting about them!

Question 1: How do you celebrate Pride Month and what does it mean to you?

Answer: The short answer is, I don’t celebrate it. To me it’s a protest, a time to gather strength and unify. We have pride events here in Germany where fascists show up and they are protected by the police and are free to yell abuse directly at us. As a trans person in Germany, I’m denied modernised health care, I still get harassed when I leave the house and have been assaulted in public numerous times. So, for me I don’t know what people are celebrating. I’m also a lesbian and I’m getting married to a woman. Those are things I couldn’t have done if I lived here earlier. That’s great. But, when it is dangerous to leave my home, I don’t have much to celebrate.

We do have alternative celebrations here in Germany I do attend. There’s a trans pride march that usually happens. There are also specific protests targeted around pride month. For example, queer migrant rights and queer disability rights, they interest me more. One of my partners and I went to a pride parade at a smaller city here in Germany. We felt that one was important to show up at as that’s where the fascists showed up. Most of the queer people there move away to safer cities when they become adults which means the pride parade is predominantly teenagers who cannot leave, so going there to support them in numbers is important too.

Question 2: What do you think are effective ways allies can show support, during and outside of Pride Month?

Answer: Something which isn’t widely talked about, but something I always recommend is going to places with people. So, like I mentioned I’ve been assaulted in Berlin, and I get a lot of negative attention. Some days it can be overwhelming to leave the house or go to see a doctor. Luckily, I’ve had a few friends reach out and offer to come with me to appointments or help me get groceries. I appreciate that a lot.

Allyship is a proactive thing, it doesn’t just mean you aren’t acting bigoted. You have to be proactive in your work. So going to protests, donating if you can. Reaching out or checking with people to make sure they are safe. In Germany we have a charity called Queer Leben. They are a group who are really on the ground, they offer free counselling sessions and support groups. Another group I’d like to highlight is Bundesverband Trans. They are working more at the government level. Advocating for trans rights across Germany.

Question 3: What advice would you give to someone struggling with their own identity or coming out?

Answer: Coming out is tough. The media portrays coming out as something you do once and its over with. But in reality, you spend the rest of your life coming out. There is a narrative in the media that family is always there for you in the end, but that’s not the reality for many queer people. I lost so many friends since coming out. In one case I had a friend who fully accepted me as a woman but when he started treating me the way he treats other women I realized he was a massive misogynist, so when I cut him off, I lost our mutual friends as well.

Question 4: Tell me about your daily life and how being trans affect you.

Answer: Generally, people don’t have much knowledge about what we go through, and I’m always surprised at some questions that come up frequently. Recently I had trouble flying to a work event and colleagues never thought about the barriers to everyday activity we face people tend to mention, ‘oh I heard there was an issue flying to an event, what’s flying like as a trans person?’ There’s so many issues and people make the connection that my legal name is different than my current name. When I go through a body scanner the person working there will press a button to say man or woman and regardless of which choice, they pick for me it’s going to raise some red flags, drawing little square over parts of my body and say I’m hiding something there. Then they have to choose if a man or woman pats me down. I also have issues trying to travel with medication they are unfamiliar with.

Another thing that is especially frustrating is how companies celebrate pride without doing the work. They’ll make rainbow merch or Pride focused campaigns. For example, Dr Martens. They are very big in the queer community and are iconic. I have some black boots that I wear, but they also make feminine versions of their shoes but only up to a certain size. It’s near impossible to find women’s shoes my size. So, for companies like Dr Martens who have a big queer fan base, and every June made a load of merch. There is something they can do for the community, but they don’t. I have to work with custom shoemakers to get shoes I want. There are some drag companies who do heels in my size, but I don’t want to wear those daily. I would love to see big brands make that choice, especially ones which are queer focused. Birkenstocks is similar too, like I can only get those in brown. The list goes on, buying any piece of clothing is difficult.

Question 5: So much chaos is happening within politics for trans people right now, how do you vote?

Answer: Right now, I cannot vote in Germany but still do in US elections. It’s difficult because the US doesn’t have a left to vote for. The democrats are less bad, but do more harm with meaningless platitudes that only serve to stir up the fascists. There have been more than 500 laws targeting trans people proposed just this year, there is a genocide against my people and the liberals can’t do more than just say “you’re valid”.

I’ve been fairly happy with moves coming from the Green party in Germany, they are part of the coalition government at the moment. They are the only ones putting forward trans candidates into office and making pushes to improve our lives. They understand the idea that all forms of oppression are inter-related.

Question 6: What's your favourite LGBTQ+ representation in movies, TV shows, or books, and why does it resonate with you?

Answer: One show that is doing the best job is Star Trek. I’m a long-term Star Trek fan, they don’t just have one queer coded character, they have many openly queer characters right now. Like a lesbian mechanic, 2 gay dads. They have a trans men character and a non-binary character. One of the other Star Trek shows had a trans femme nonbinary villain that was so well done. Having a character who’s a villain but not a villain because they’re queer is pretty cool. That’s what I call healthy representation. If you have a variety of characters no one of them is a token because there’s so many. Plus, they handle it in a supportive manner. Star Trek has always had characters queer people could relate to and they have continued their legacy of representing us.

Other than that, I don’t think there’s much good representation. I tried to watch Modern Family and in the first episode there was gay characters making anti-trans jokes which pits us against each other. If that’s your only gay character too it doesn’t sit well. A film that isn’t considered politically correct now, that I do sometimes go back to is Hedwig and the Angry Inch. You can debate whether that character is a trans person or a drag queen. It’s hard to say based on the nature of the story but, for sure there some pretty problematic scenes in that story but I still go back to it for the music.

I think we mentioned Ru Paul earlier and I see trans people getting frustrated with it. I think the problems stem from some drag shows being marketed towards straight audiences and then straight people being confused between trans and drag. The response many trans people when they come out to their families the response is ‘oh I get it, I watch Ru Paul.’ But my life isn’t walking down a runway. I don’t take a costume off at the end of the day. I know some trans people don’t like femininity being used as a costume. So, there is a little bit of friction there.

My thoughts

I was unsure how much to share in this space, but we’re hear now so…here goes. As a Bisexual woman I’m often overlooked, as I’ve been with a male partner for many years now. Which sits fine with me. But as an Asian woman sharing this part of myself has been a struggle. I’ve lost family members and friends and the topic is often swept under the rug in Asian circles. So instead of dwelling on all the problems that face the LGBTQ+ community and just idlily watching them go by, I spend my time becoming the best ally I can be. In my actions, passions, and time. You should do the same too. There’s so much we can do big and small. As always, I wanted to share 3 educational/interesting resources to check out:

· https://www.stonewall.org.uk/top-100-employers - Not only is Stonewall an impactful resource overall, here’s the link to 100 employers who take an annual exercise to measure and improve their inclusion practice.

· https://www.theyplaypodcast.com/ - Aimed at Gender Non-Conforming Bodies within the gaming world, real stories form real people.

· https://www.outmaking.games/ - They hold regular events for the community to come together in a safe space and also advocate for policy change.