Trans flag

LGBTIQA+ activists recently launched a petition calling on Pride celebrations across the country to end their sponsorship relationships with the fossil fuel industry. The group – Fossil Free Pride – are demanding that Prides sign a pledge that they will adopt a publicly available ethical sponsorship policy and refuse to accept sponsorship from both fossil fuel companies and their financial backers.

Now, Fossil Free Pride has secured its first signatory to the Fossil Free Pride Pledge. Trans Pride Brighton & Hove has committed to refuse sponsorship from fossil fuel corporations and banks that fund fossil fuel corporations and projects.

Following the commitment from Trans Pride Brighton & Hove, a spokesperson for Fossil Fuel Pride said, “We are delighted that Trans Pride Brighton has signed the pledge and sent a clear message that fossil fuel corporations and their funders have no place at Pride.”

Fossil Free Pride argues that banks are an important target for climate campaigning, and suggest that those that invest in fossil fuels seek to improve their public image through sponsorship of Pride events. Fossil Free Pride aims to target sponsorships from banks such as Barclays, one of the most visible private companies at Prides across the UK. Barclays is the largest investor in fossil fuel infrastructure in Europe, having invested $167bn into the fossil fuel industry over the last 6 years.

Writing for Bright Green, one of the group’s activists Steff Cave said,

Ultimately, Pride should always be for people, not corporations. Barclays can keep the rainbow capitalism Pride, we’re looking for more hopeful alternatives that bring us real pride. We’re searching for other queer collectives with new strategies of serious direct action and international solidarity that show some promise of genuine freedom from global racial capitalism.

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Image credit: Torbakhopper – Creative Commons