Pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing, is the strategy of deploying messages that are superficially sympathetic towards the LGBTQ community for ends having little or nothing to do with LGBTQ equality or inclusion, including in rainbow capitalism and other forms of LGBTQ marketing.

Origin of the term

In April 2010, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT) in the San Francisco Bay Area, used the phrase pinkwashing as a twist on greenwashing, a practice where companies claim to be eco-friendly in order to make profit. Dunya Alwan was at a talk with Ali Abunimah, editor of The Electronic Intifada in 2010, when he said "We won't put up with Israel whitewashing or greenwashing" and she thought "or pinkwashing!"

In 2011, Sarah Schulman used the term pinkwashing in a widely read The New York Times editorial arguing that Israel used the tactic in its public relations. Schulman saw pinkwashing as a manifestation of homonationalism, the processes by which some powers selectively agree with the claims of sexual minorities and exploit them to justify racism, xenophobia (rejection of foreign people), and aporophobia (rejection of the poor);Homonationalism, Heteronationalism and LGBTI Rights in the EU. Public Seminar. 31 August 2016. in short, the intersection between gay identities and nationalist ideology. Homonationalism shaped the concept of pinkwashing and the two terms are often used together as tools to explain the actions of countries. Jasbir Puar writes in a later article, Rethinking Homonationalism, that the two terms are not parallel but rather pinkwashing is able to exist because homonationalism exists.

By 2020, "pinkwashing" had become a popular term used by anti-occupation groups to describe the Israeli authorities' attitude towards LGBTQ Palestinians. That same year, Al Qaws published "Beyond Propaganda: Pinkwashing as Colonial Violence," a paper detailing how the Israeli state and its supporters use the language of gay and trans rights to divert international attention away from the oppression of Palestinians.

By country

Canada In 2012, Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, was accused of pinkwashing, after an email titled "LGBT Refugees from Iran" was sent to thousands of Canadians. The message contained additional recent comments by John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs, about Canada's stand against the persecution and marginalization of gays and lesbian women around the world. A group of activists claimed that it "is a poor attempt at 'pinkwashing' the Conservative government's obvious desire to encourage war with Iran".

Belgium The Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang and Filip Dewinter shifted their stance on gay issues in the 2010s and began using pro-gay rhetoric to criticize Muslims and immigrants. According to Eric Louis Russell, Dewinter exploits homophobic violence in a similar way that pornography commodifies women's bodies; he argues "that this type of commodification of potential or real violence directed toward members of a society for political ends is a real, albeit subjacent and deeply insidious form of homophobia".

France

The French government frames LGBTQ rights as emblematic of "French values", contrasting France with supposedly "uncivilized" countries while deflecting attention from domestic social unrest. The far right exploits similar rhetoric to attract gay voters and legitimize anti-Muslim and racist hate speech. When same-sex marriage was legalized in 2013, the move was met with intense homophobic backlash, marked by large-scale and prolonged protests, widespread hate speech, and targeted violence, endorsed by high-profile figures. Statistics from the 2013-2025 period indicate a sustained increase in hate crimes targeting sexual orientation. Marine Le Pen, president of the French far-right political party National Rally, was gaining support from LGBTQ communities in the presidential election, despite the fact that Jean-Marie Le Pen, her father and the founder of the party, once condemned homosexuality as "a biological and social anomaly". Critics point out that while the National Rally claims to "protect gay people from Muslims", the party still aligns with ultra-conservative Catholic movements and international leaders, like Viktor Orbán who are hostile to LGBTQ rights. During his presidency, Emmanuel Macron faced repeated criticism from LGBTQ advocacy groups over his appointment of prominent political figures with a history of opposing same-sex marriage to key government positions. In 2020, Macron appointed Gérald Darmanin as Minister of the Interior, despite Darmanin having voted against the 2013 law and stating at the time that he would refuse to officiate same-sex weddings. Further controversy arose in July 2022 following the appointment of Caroline Cayeux as Minister for Local Authorities. Cayeux had previously characterized same-sex marriage as "against nature", and her public defense of those remarks shortly after taking office led to widespread calls for her resignation. Similarly, the 2024 cabinet included conservative figures such as Bruno Retailleau and Laurence Garnier, both of whom had actively aligned with La Manif pour tous. In July 2026, controversy intensified when Macron nominated conservative Senator François-Noël Buffet to serve as France's Defender of Rights. Human rights organizations sharply criticized the nomination due to Buffet's parliamentary record, which included campaigning and voting against same-sex marriage. Despite a petition opposing his appointment signed by over 100,000 citizens Parliament confirmed Buffet to the post.

Israel

According to Israeli gay rights activist Hagai El-Ad, "In no other arena has that been used in a more cynical way than in the context of LGBT rights." According to Palestinian anthropologist Sa'ed Atshan, [Israeli] pinkwashing relies on a logic based on four pillars:

Opponents of the term pinkwashing in relation to Israel argue that Israeli society has seen meaningful progress on LGBTQ rights that are better than those in neighbouring countries. Others highlight the phenomenon of some gay Palestinians who live illegally in Israel; Israel has historically been against granting asylum to such individuals, but has changed this in recent years, with legal protections being established for LGBTQ Palestinians fleeing violence. Pro-Israel writers also argue that the term is not always applied to other countries that use similar strategies. Ido Aharoni, former head of the Brand Israel project, responded to such criticism, saying: "We are not trying to hide the conflict, but broaden the conversation." Shaul Ganon of the Israeli-based LGBTQ rights group Aguda claimed that "each side is trying to gain some points. The truth is the only one who gets screwed by this is the Palestinian gays." According to Atshan, "the critiques leveled against [anti-pinkwashing activists] are often not well founded or ethically deployed. It is particularly disconcerting when supporters of Israel instead cast Israeli state sources of victimization as saviors of queer Palestinians." He also argues that anti-pinkwashing can go too far when activists prioritize the struggle against Israeli occupation and only bring up LGBTQ issues to criticize Israel.

After the 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, an Israeli actor created a hoax video in which he pretended to have been turned away from the flotilla because he was gay. The video was promoted by the Israeli prime minister's office.

Joseph Massad, associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, has written that the Israeli government "insist[s] on advertising and exaggerating its recent record on LGBT rights ... to fend off international condemnation of its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people". Culture studies academic Nada Elia calls pinkwashing "the twenty-first century manifestation of the Zionist colonialist narrative of bringing civilization to an otherwise backwards land".

During the Gaza war, queer Palestinians argued that Pride and the Pride flag had been co-opted by a pro-Israeli group to justify and celebrate much of the resulting Gaza humanitarian crisis. Many queer pro-Palestinian activists advocated against the war, disrupting some Pride parades in 2024.

Scholars such as Jasbir Puar situate pinkwashing within the broader framework of homonationalism, arguing that states selectively deploy LGBTQ+ rights to portray themselves as progressive while legitimizing racialized, colonial, or militarized violence.Puar, J. (2007). Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. Duke University Press. Critical journalists have documented how Israel incorporates LGBTQ+ visibility into public diplomacy, such as through Pride-themed tourism campaigns, government-sponsored social media, and international cultural events to promote an image of tolerance that obscures the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories.Schulman, S. (2011, November 22). Israel and ‘Pinkwashing’. The New York Times.Shabi, R.(2015, July 16). Israel, the rainbow flag and the ‘pinkwashing’ problem. Al Jazeera. During global events like Eurovision 2019 and Tel Aviv Pride, Israeli ministries highlighted LGBTQ+ inclusion as a symbol of modernity.Chatelle, T. (2024, August 30). Palestinian queers under Israeli surveillance – and threat. Jewish Voice for Liberation.

Queer Palestinian organizations such as alQaws and Adalah have challenged these narratives, emphasizing that LGBTQ+ Palestinians experience Israeli homophobia alongside structural forms of state violence, displacement, and occupation. These groups have also criticized pinkwashing campaigns for erasing queer Palestinian political agency, particularly during the 2023–2024 Gaza war, when Pride symbols were used by pro-Israel groups to justify or normalize the humanitarian crisis.alQaws. (2024, June 6). Reflecting on Queerness in Times of Genocide. alQaws.org. Scholars note that such examples illustrate how pinkwashing functions not only as a public relations strategy but also as a geopolitical practice that shapes global understandings of queerness, nationalism, and colonial power.Schulman, S. (2012). Israel/Palestine and the Queer International. Duke University Press.

Malta

Malta's sudden jump from banning divorce until 2011 to becoming ILGA-Europe's top-ranked country for LGBTQ rights has been characterized in media and academic analyses as a deliberate strategy to distract international media from widespread corruption, strict abortion laws, and the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Malta has continuously ranked first on the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index since 2015, coinciding with a time when perceptions of corruption worsened. During the lead-up to his 2013 election, Joseph Muscat stated in an interview that same-sex marriage was "unnatural" and that marriage should be strictly between a man and a woman. However, during the March 2016 Panama Papers, Muscat suddenly changed his stance. As his administration faced accusations of corruption, he declared he was "in favor of same-sex marriage" and that "it's time to debate the issue". Following the passage of same-sex marriage in July 2017, the government lit up the prime minister's office at Auberge de Castille with a rainbow flag and the slogan "We made history", a visual the administration has repeatedly deployed during subsequent political controversies. Despite the government's progressive international image, a 2018 investigation by The Shift News revealed that online groups managed by government officials and Labour Party administrators contained thousands of violently homophobic and transphobic slurs aimed at government critics and LGBTQ individuals. These included derogatory terms like "pufti" (poofters) and offensive descriptions of gay and trans individuals as "disgusting", as well as insults aimed at opposition politicians.

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