LGBTQAlphabet Video
A video trying to represent all the sections of the LGBTQ community has come out and has ironically left people out.
In honor of Pride Month, Equinox, which is the subsection of a luxury fitness company, and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center in New York City partnered to create a video.
The video, titlted The LGBTQAlphabet, is a short film that depicts 26 six letters, each representing a community or theme within the grander LGBTQ community. Each letter is represented in voice and dance by members of a dance group.
The video’s official description (and all of Equinox’s social media bios) goes:
“Six letters will never be enough.
#PoweredByPride
For this year’s Pride, we collaborated with The LGBT Community Center, NYC’s home and hub for the LGBTQA community, to create a film celebrating the entire LGBTQA Alphabet—twenty-six ways to share who you are and how you love. Because all voices deserve to be heard.”
The problem with the video is that while, yes, it does attempt to represent subsections of the LGBTQ community (and some with interesting visuals), it also ends up leaving out multiple sections as well.
For instance, the video starts off with Allies being represented by A.
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Not only does this make the video start off with people outside of the LGBTQ community (we love you though allies), but it also ignores Asexuals who are a group of people that are often ignored or denied of their existence and worth.
LGBTQ twitter was quick to point out this mistake and others made in the video.
If the A is for Ally, then you should have made the E Stand for Erasure. #AsexualErasure #AromanticErasure
— Star Trek Sue (she/her)🖖🏻🎙 (@spaltor) June 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/athetland/status/872354918656593920
why did you represent Allies instead of #Asexuals? It's hard to be #PoweredByPride when your orientation is ignored.
— Yasmine Kasem (@MysticHotSauce) June 6, 2017
At the end of the day, this was a publicity stunt by Equinox (even if they do truly care for and support the LGBTQ community).
And as Equinox’s own Executive Creative Director Liz Nolan said:
“Any time a brand puts out an ad that can be perceived as a social statement, the impact can be one of two things: It can be incredibly positive or it can be incredibly negative. As brand marketers, we all live in fear that we will make that mistake ourselves. But if you do it thoughtfully with the right partners, with the right insight, and you do your research, the likelihood of getting it wrong is much lower.”
It seems Equinox didn’t do enough research.
