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https://ift.tt/2Zwy7azI’ve made most of the signs for the farmer’s market booth over the last few years, and BIL off-hand mentioned to me the last time I was there that there’s one more sign he’d like to have.
He didn’t explain in much detail, it was more a brief comment as an aside to a different conversation, but I get what he wanted– he’d like a little flag to hang somewhere to indicate that the farm, as a business, is gay-etcetera-friendly. [i know, that’s general, i’ll explain.]
I get it, because there was a vendor that’s thankfully gone now (not BIL’s decision, he’s the president of the board and has zero say in basically all decisions like that, but he was glad nonetheless) who was petitioning to be able to hang up a Trump flag because he felt like everyone was being “political” by having rainbow flags etc. (As a grimly humorous aside, the business he was specifically objecting to was a neighboring booth that was an elderly het couple selling jam, and their logo was rainbow, and I can tell you it was absolutely just a rainbow because they liked rainbows and was not in fact in any way gay pride related although I’m sure they were aware and did not mind any confusion, it was just, a rainbow.)
And BIL’s counterpoint was that gay rights aren’t politics, they’re human rights. And during Pride Month, the local daily paper called him and asked him for a list of gay vendors, and he had to stammer in horror that the organization did not keep lists of which of their vendors belong to marginalized identities because this sort of list is a very dangerous and inappropriate thing and also completely unrelated to the mission of the nonprofit?? And he was quite worried they’d take him out of context and just say the bit where he was like “i mean our mission is local foodways not gay rights, so it’s kind of, tangential???” because “why would we keep lists of which of our vendors belong to marginalized identities??” is not a great pullquote.
anyway. (I think the thing he did was take the reporter’s information and pass it along to vendors who he personally knew were in fact queer of various flavors, with the point that if they were interested in being featured in a story about the market’s gay vendors, they could choose to do that, but it was absolutely nobody’s call but their own whether that was a thing they were interested in talking about! I don’t remember what story actually ran, if any.)
His point, I get it, is also somewhat related to the kerfuffle with the white supremacists at the farmer’s market in … uh Indiana? or whatever? where the cute veggies-and-wool-booth lady was an active member of an online white supremacist organization that was actively radicalizing youth and encouraging violent acts?? and like?? that’s?? bad?? and also it’s easy to see how your farmer’s market might well be absolutely stuffed full of ecofascist white supremacists who look from the outside exactly like your well-meaning white-dreadlocked tree-hugger types.
Oh here’s a great article from the Daily Beast on that exact topic:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/farmers-markets-have-new-unwelcome-guests-fascistsSo I just. I need some tips, ideas, pointers, on what to put on a small, not the entire point but meant to be noticeable, little flag to indicate “hey. we’re actually like. chill with gays. and such.” in a way that is not implying “hey we are gay”, because collectively, they are not, and that would be false advertising, but mostly is pretty clearly stating “we are hostile to nazis, marginalized folx, please do not worry!”, in a believable fashion.
How to say this???
I was thinking a little handmade Philly pride flag would probably do the trick, or like, a heart-shaped badge with the Philly pride stripes– that just seems the most succinct?? the regular rainbow flag is fine and i think I even already have one, but I specifically like the Philly one because it’s an extra level of inclusiveness, and indicates, like, some thought went into it, since it’s a new version and not the one you find everywhere. you know?
I’m interested in input, though.
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