Pride for Profit?: Blatant Gaps between Queer Labor Rights and “Corporate Responsibility”

Celia Vanessa Hakim and Danielle Noche

Introduction

Pride Month honors the LGBTQIA+ community’s long history of resistance and continued struggle for equality. In commemoration of its roots in the Stonewall Riots of June 1969, Pride Month has grown into a global celebration of queer identity, visibility, and rights (The Proud Trust, 2025). In recent years, Pride has also become a fixture in corporate calendars, with businesses rolling out rainbow-themed marketing campaigns, products, and pledges of support, particularly in Thailand and Singapore. Amid this growing trend of “rainbow capitalism,” a pressing question arises: are these colorful campaigns matched by meaningful policies and protections for queer workers behind the scenes?

Corporate Pride in Southeast Asia: Symbol or Substance?

Corporate engagement in Southeast Asia differs from one engagement to another throughout Pride Month—rainbow logo for a day, paid floats in host country Pride parades, Pride-themed social media posts, and partnerships with LGBTQIA+ influencers or groups. While such actions heightened visibility and acknowledgment, they hardly ever translate to altering systemic practice within the firms themselves. In a region where queer rights are still not fully secured and social conservatism is dominant, the disparity between corporate image and practice inside the firms raises basic questions regarding whether Pride support is the result of solidarity or marketing imperative.

As described by Smialek and Van Vliet (2024), Rainbow capitalism entails “the corporate appropriation of LGBTQIA+ symbols and narratives to drive profit,” without challenging underlying inequalities or offering structural support. In Southeast Asia, this manifests during Pride Month when brands roll out rainbow-themed products, such as limited‑edition snacks, apparel, or drinks, or temporarily update their logos, are heavily promoted via digital platforms.

Inside the Workplace and the Underlying Legal Framework

Despite conducting supportive campaigns, the reality shows that LGBTQIA+ groups still face discrimination in their workplace because of their gender identity, including being fired, not hired, not promoted, or being harassed (UCLA, 2024). For instance, in Thailand –a country which always portrays themself as a gay-friendly travel destination– LGBTQIA+ individuals are discriminated against and stereotyped. In fact, transgenders in Thailand experienced difficulties in applying for jobs. According to Nathineethiti “Nikki” Phinyapincha, the founder of TransTalents Consulting Group, 77% of applications sent by Thai transgender candidates are rejected, as well as lesbians, gays, and bisexuals who face three times more obstacles in unemployment that cisgenders (Asia News Network, 2024). Moreover, from a legal standpoint Thailand enforced the Gender Equality Act B.E. 2558 (2015) that explicitly prohibits unfair gender discrimination on the basis that a person is male or female or has a gender expression different from birth sex (ADB, 2024). This means that the practice of the antidiscrimination law in Thailand  has not been achieved.

Furthermore, the new Workplace Fairness Legislation (WFL) enacted by the government of Singapore, which is the first legislative framework to tackle workplace discrimination and fundamentally protects minority groups, explicitly excludes sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Consequently, many people from the LGBTQIA+ group do not have equal working opportunities. LGBTQIA+ workers in Singapore also endure hostile work environments because of severe discrimination that threatens personal safety at work. Research conducted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2024 found that over half of LGBTQIA+ in Singapore experienced at least one form of workplace discrimination or harassment. Frighteningly, only 11% of LGBTQIA+ individuals report their workplace discrimination to their company or authority (PinkDot, 2025). Despite the aforementioned reality, there were Singaporean companies that promoted a more inclusive work environment, such as J.P. Morgan, Arup Singapore, Oracle, Standard Chartered Bank, and BP (Randstad, 2023).

Conclusion and Recommendation

In conclusion, pride month has become increasingly visible (and for companies, viable) in Southeast Asia through corporate campaigns and symbolic gestures. However, a significant gap emerges between public declarations of support and internal workplace realities for LGBTQIA+ employees. Although countries such as Thailand and Singapore have enforced legal frameworks to protect marginalized groups, these laws are either insufficient or poorly enforced, making LGBTQIA+ workers vulnerable to discrimination and exclusion. In order to tackle this issue, the writers suggest that governments in Southeast Asia should expand and enforce anti-discrimination legislation to explicitly include sexual orientation and gender identity. Companies should also conduct internal audits to assess how inclusive their policies and practices are, as well as conducting external certification systems or annual inclusion reports in order to foster accountability and build trust with the LGBTQIA+ community.

References

“Assessment of the Legal Status of Sexual and Gender Minorities in 17 Countries in Asia and the Pacific,” Asian Development Bank, May 2024, https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/967091/legal-status-sexual-gender-minorities-asia-pacific.pdf

“Equality at Work: Top 5 LGBTQ+- Friendly Companies in Singapore,” Randstad, June 9 2023, https://www.randstad.com.sg/career-advice/tips-and-resources/top-5-lgbtq-friendly-companies-singapore/ “LGBTQ People’s Experiences of Workplace Discrimination and Harassment.” UCLA, August 2024. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-workplace-discrimination/#:~:text=Almost%20half%20(47%25)%20of,gender%20identity%20during%20their%20lifetime.

Smialek, E., & Van Vliet, K. B. (2024). Rainbow capitalism. The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071891414.n371

“Thailand’s LGBTQ+ image belies lack of employment equality.” Asia News Network, June 7 2024, https://asianews.network/thailands-lgbtq-image-belies-lack-of-employment-equality/?

The Proud Trust. (2025, January 17). LGBT+ History Month: Everything You Need to Know – The Proud Trust. https://www.theproudtrust.org/about-us/blog/lgbt-history-month-everything-you-need-to-know/

“Workplace Fairness? Not For LGBTQ+ Workers,” Pink Dot SG, January 8 2025, https://pinkdot.sg/2025/01/workplace-fairness-not-for-lgbtq-workers/