Why didn't Tradoctas change its logo for a rainbow-colored one in 2021?
Since its very beginning, back in 2018, Tradoctas used to change its logo during June to celebrate Pride Month. This year, we have decided not to do it.
Why? We have noticed a very worrisome trend in which, although some companies do work to steadily promote real inclusion and diversity, many others use the rainbow as a simple image campaign without putting any real thought to the LGBTIA+ community beyond a temporal change in their logos.
Tradoctas celebrates LGBTIA+ identities in their full diversity and does not stand for the use of their cause for a month only to forget about them later. We put ourselves at their service, to amplify their voices and spread their words. On this line, as cisgender straight women, our Managing Partners believe that true equality can only be achieved through expanding rights.
What is “pinkwashing”?
As explained by Rocío Sileo for Escritura Feminista, the term was coined in 1992 by Breast Cancer Action (BCA), an organization which focuses on raising awareness of breast cancer. With this concept, BCA condemned the act of misusing the famous pink ribbon, symbol of their movement, merely for profit, as some companies only want to increase their sales or show a better image of themselves by pretending to care about the cause.
Nowadays, the word “pinkwashing” is used to describe the use of symbols and human rights movements for political gain or commercial purposes, by companies or States, without offering actual support to oppressed groups nor even listening to their specific demands.
Institutions, companies and people who do this are trying to win the favor of said groups, showcasing a “progressive” front but lacking any solid foundations and which, sometimes, is contradicted by the actions and decisions taken behind the scenes.
Bursting with pride! The story of the first trans athlete at NCAA
On June 28th, the world celebrates LGBTIA+ Pride Day to honor the Stonewall riots. It's a great day to recommend and share Schuyler Bailar’s activism! He's a Korean-American athlete who became the first trans swimmer to compete on a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division.
Since then, he has been given attention by the media and he has chosen to use his platform to spread awareness about the trans community and their rights. In his Instagram account, he shares useful information on a wide array of topics: use of pronouns, LGBTIA+ policy, anti-racism and diverse ways of transitioning. His story made it to The Ellen Show.
At age 15, he was ranked one of the top 20 breaststroke swimmers in his category in the country. At university, he swam on the Harvard Men's swimming team. Today, he works as a motivational speaker, he's an advocate for diversity, inclusion and equality and he holds several advisory roles related to these topics.
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