Three Tips for Writing Copy for Pride Month

Pride Month starts tomorrow!

Your pride month copy might be set and ready to go, but there’s a little voice wondering if it is really going to hit the mark you want it to hit. This blog post provides three simple tips to making your pride month copy the best it can be.

First: The Community is VERY diverse, so make sure to do your research into your target audience.

This is probably a “duh” piece of advice, but it really bears repeating. We are everywhere. In every community. With every lifestyle. One of my personal favorite photographs (which I wish I could find) following marriage equality becoming legal nationwide was of two men in their 50s, with beards that would make the fellas of Duck Dynasty jealous, getting hitched at their county courthouse. Your copy for them may need a different take than writing for the 20-something urban crowd.

Questions to consider are:

• What is the geographic area? DC’s community is different from NYC’s, and suburban or rural communities can be different from nearby urban ones.

• Which letter(s) of the acronym are you writing for? Sexual orientation and gender identity are different. You can write for both but it’s best to be clear on that front.

• What is the target audience race or ethnicity?

• What is the target audience age range?

• What is their level of political engagement or activism? This will be important for the type of language you use and how sensitive you need to be toward intersectional identities (for example, making sure to include disabled members of our community).

Knowing which part of our community you are speaking to will help you avoid writing in stereotypes. Authenticity is key in writing any copy, and knowing your audience is a foundational part of writing authentically.

Second: Avoid reclaimed slurs, with the possible exception of “queer”.

In general, any slurs that any oppressed community reclaims should only be used by members of that community. Glaad’s media reference guide is a good tool here to know which words are typically considered slurs.

The word “queer” may be an exception, depending on your target audience. Many of us identify as queer (self included) and are comfortable using this word. However, it has a history of being used violently (including with physical violence) against other folks. You can understand why seeing that word would turn them off (or even trigger them), while for me, I love seeing it used in a positive way.

Deciding whether or not to use it will depend on your target audience and how risk averse you are. So research, research, research and decide if you want to take the chance that some people may respond badly.

Third: Don’t avoid talking about our struggles.

Pride is about joy in being who we are, but it started as a RIOT. Our joy is resistance to our oppression. We celebrate in part because we struggle.

This isn’t advice to write a Debbie Downer blog post about (for example) the unrelenting legislative attacks on transgender children or the fear that marriage equality will be overturned by this Supreme Court. But it is an invitation to put your copy into context with what we are dealing with.

In fact, the community has made amazing things out of some of our worst struggles. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. Writing copy that encompasses that can tell us that you are ready to stand with us through all of it - the amazing times and the terrifying ones. Loyalty goes both ways, and good copy will help you grow a loyal queer community for your business.

Use these tips to write your best Pride Month copy. But if you are looking for an expert to handle this copy for you or give the copy you wrote a sensitivity read, I take pride (pun intended) in helping businesses and copywriters connect with my community. Book a 15 minute call with me or reach out via my contact page below to find out more today!

Oh, and PS - After Pride Month, consider writing copy for some of our other days, like National Coming Out Day (Oct 11), International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31) Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov 20), or Lesbian Visibility Week, to name a few.

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