The politics, economics, fashion & culture of strut

NEW DELHI: If Gandhi perfected the politics of the march, Pride has perfected the politics of strut. With Pride month ending today, we are thinking about why this LGBTQ+ march enthralls us.

No other event sees as many strangers asking, “Can I take a picture with you?” It’s so Instagrammable, it’s got so much glitter, the slogans are served with super playlists, and much dancing.The pull is that it’s the happiest civic lesson you’ll attend, reciting how the Constitution guarantees liberty to all, and we are all better off when nobody is made to apologise for who they are. LGBTQ+ history is a story about how societies become lighter and freer.EconomyLong before corporations painted rainbows on logos, queer entrepreneurs, artists, designers and hoteliers had discovered that authenticity was a market advantage. Neglected districts such as London’s Soho, Berlin’s Schoneberg and Amsterdam’s Reguliersdwarsstraat first became magnets for queer communities because rents were cheap, and then hubs of “creative economy”. From Mumbai to Bengaluru, likewise, queer-friendly cafes, bookstores, design studios and cultural festivals often serve as the first signs that a neighbourhood is becoming cosmopolitan enough for everyone else to adore.

Tim Cook and Peter Thiel to Radhika Piramal and Keshav Suri, there are now many queer people shaping capitalism from the top. But expecting them to agree on queer matters is a mug’s game. Thiel famously, and provocatively, complained at the 2016 Republican convention: “We are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problems. Who cares?”As for the “pink economy”, it used to mean niche selling of rainbow-themed products.

Now it’s adulting. Increasingly, it’s about unlocking human capital, with Asia promising to be the next big growth story. As millions more queer consumers, employees, founders, investors and creators become fully visible.PoliticsTo see how liberty itself has been expanded by the gay rights move ments, begin with Harvey Milk. In 1977, this fast-talking, cameraloving political hurricane became California’s first openly gay elected official.

He said, “If a gay can win, it means there is hope that the system can work for all minorities if we fight.”World’s first openly gay head of govt? Johanna Siguroardottir, Iceland PM from 2009 to 2013. Her govt legalised same-sex marriage, and that very day she cut her own wedding cake.

US’s first openly gay presidential candidate to mount a major campaign? Pete Buttigieg. He’s taken heat, and flung it back: “If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade… If you’ve got a problem with who I am, your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”India’s first openly queer Rajya Sabha member? Supreme Court senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy. As a young law student, she didn’t know if it was possible for a gay person to be a successful lawyer. Walking the path she didn’t know existed, made her a trailblazer.SocietyOnce upon a time, heterosexual couples believed romance belonged behind the curtains. Queer people said nothing doing, and uncoupled physical affection from the private marital bedroom.

Disco dance floors to Pride marches, queer people’s take was that if society was going to stare at them anyway, they might as well give it a spectacular show! Today, when straight couples kiss deeply at airports, like they’re auditioning for a streaming series, they should thank PDA: Pride Did It Already.Gay people spent generations explaining that “family” isn’t always who shares your DNA. It’s who remembers your birthday, waters your plants, brings you paracetamol at 2am.

They invented the found family that straight people are now chasing as sound strategy.For centuries, masculinity came with one approved emotion: Stoic. Gay men complicated matters by talking about feelings long before therapists made it fashionable. Also by self-expression in pink shirts, nail polish, pearls, saris, skincare, houseplants. Today, even straight men are encouraged to cry. You’re welcome.FashionWendell Rodricks revived the Goan kunbi sari. His icon status follows from the same philosophy applied to his heritage and sexual orientation: refusal to hide true identity under artificial layers.

No sorry, no thank you.Today, the sari-testosterone combo is a green flag. Major designers feature male models in their sari lookbooks. It’s a distinct aesthetic, somewhere between masculine and androgynous.Blurring gender codes is the USP of queer fashion. Think of Yves Saint Laurent and his Le Smoking tuxedo, which transformed traditional menswear into a power suit for women. Or the deconstructed silhouettes of Rei Kawakubo, which ask, what if clothes stop trying to make women look conventionally attractive? Two themes hold.

One, if creativity doesn’t have a gender, neither should clothes. Two, the most creative wardrobes are the ones that ignore the rulebook.CultureChappell Roan is the breakout queer superstar of the now. In earlier decades, artists like Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Elton John came out only after they were established. Gen Z showstoppers are openly queer from the outset. And this Roan song hasn’t stopped playing since release in 2023: Won’t make my Mama proud, it’s gonna cause a scene...Pink

Pony Club, I’m gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club.Rituparno Ghosh made films like Arekti Premer Golpo, which dismantle ideas of masculinity, femininity and family quietly, forcing Bengali society to confront its straight assumptions. Basically where the world once divided humanity into “men” and “women”, now we have more identities than coffee orders. Gay politics has helped humanity accept that categorisation can be a recreational activity.Remember how David Rose says in Schitt’s Creek, in the best of modern queer wit: “I do drink red wine. But I also drink white wine. And I’ve been known to sample a rosé. And a couple of summers ago I tried a merlot that used to be a chardonnay, which got a bit complicated... I like the wine and not the label.”Ultimately, the queer community’s greatest cultural export hasn’t been fashion, nightlife or witty one-liners. It’s the radical suggestion that people become interesting not by fitting in, but by finally relaxing enough not to. Which, when you think about it, is quite fabulous.