Thursday, January 07, 2010

her hrc, really?

I've been bitching for years that the HRC (Human Rights Campaign, an national organization fighting for queer rights) has been dominated by wealthy, tux-owning gay men who liked to go to and throw black-tie fundraisers.

Sure, they've raised good money and I figured that even their male-centric efforts helped all queer people to some degree. Every time I received an invite to a $200/plate dinner, I just tossed it. Like we'd drop $400 for a meal, however good the cause.

Well, times are hard. And even the HRC has to broaden its donor base and reach out to the lesbians down here on the ground. I just received this invitation to "Her HRC; A National Night of Celebration for Women." Okay. That's not bad AND they managed to price it for almost everybody: $10.

Now Joe Solomonese (president of HRC) pissed off a lot of people recently with his Democrat bootlicking and lack of criticism of the Obama administration's disappointing inaction on GLBT issues. Yet even in that light, Her HRC seems like a decent gesture.

So, I'm looking at the invite and see that it's sponsored by Tylenol. Tylenol? Oh. It's a woman's event. With women and their womanly parts. And pains. So Tylenol. Sure. The predominant message here is that we need pain relief. That's refreshing.

Then, at the bottom is a plug for a Buying for Equality iPhone application...it starts out with


"Shopping before the event?"

REALLY?

I am well aware that not all lesbians/bisexual women consider khakis their dress-up clothes. Not all lesbians wear ball caps and big ol' plaid shirts. Hell, many of us are not even allergic to nail polish and pumps. But if you are addressing a large group of (large-ish) women who largely do not partake of the girlie-defined world o' shopping, perhaps leading with the next line would be a little less ridiculous "Now you can find companies and products that support equality..."

Shopping before the event
...puh-lease.

2 comments:

knitty mcloudmouth said...

'Shopping before the event' nonsense is garbage regardless of the direction of one's affection. Just more jargon trying to get women to fritter (not the tasty kind) away our 70% paychecks on crap-ola instead of buying houses or otherwise being financially independent beings.

Epiphenita said...

True that. And so much of that shopping lure is couched in how-badly-you-need-to-purchase-x-so-you-can-catch-you-a-y.

This annoying spiel is actually a symbol of equality, you know. Now marketers sling the same banal message to lesbians, bi and transgendered women as they've been serving up to hetero women for ages. Brain-numbing parity...we've made it!

P.S. "...direction of one's affection." Don't know if that's a catch phrase I've missed or your own creative phrasing but it's lovely.