The free courage of the German business elite

Written by Frank Hauke for Junge Freiheit.

Frankfurt am Main - June is the so-called "Pride" month. Globally, one should be “proud” of sexual diversity from gay to trans and Dax companies like to show attitude. The colors of the rainbow currently dominate the websites of globally operating companies. However, there is a small catch: “Pride” is only shown where one can be sure of praise from the media and civil society – in the western world. In Islamic countries and even in Hungary, the German business elite prefers to keep the queer symbol under wraps.

Morale is good: The nine Dax companies Adidas, Bayer, BMW, Delivery Hero, DHL, Mercedes-Benz, Puma, Siemens and Volkswagen have even had their logos redesigned in the politically correct colors. The company leaders are happy to be celebrated for their “bravery” and “moral courage”.

Here in Germany, it can mean “courage”, especially for those employees, to reject the hype about all forms of sexuality – apart from that between women and men. At the Volkswagen football club VfL Wolfsburg, team captain Josip Brekalo lost his captain's armband when he criticized the fact that it now had to be rainbow-colored. The man is Croatian and has since left the club.

Consideration of "cultural contexts"
Double standards are twice as good: In the Islamic world, where homosexuality is sometimes even punishable by death, German business leaders prefer not to point the way. In Hungary, too, Mercedes-Benz, for example, does not use the colors that are not popular there, but are by no means forbidden. Why don't they fly the flag there? Compared to the image, BMW referred to "country-specific cultural aspects". Volkswagen also asserted “cultural contexts”. And Mercedes-Benz wants to take the "applicable laws and regulations of the respective countries" into account. As I said, this argument doesn't count for Hungary.

Where it would really mean "bravery" and "moral courage" to go out to catch buyers with the rainbow flag, the much-vaunted attitude proves to be a double standard. Cheers to whoever invented the word "free".

Source: Junge Freiheit