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The Queering of Corporate America: How Big Business Went from LGBTQ Adversary to Ally
An accurate picture of the LGBTQ rights movement's achievements is incomplete without this surprising history of how corporate America joined the cause.
Legal scholar Carlos Ball tells the overlooked story of how LGBTQ activism aimed at corporations since the Stonewall riots helped turn them from enterprises either indifferent to or openly hostile toward sexual minorities and transgender individuals into reliable and powerful allies of the movement for queer equality. As a result of street protests and boycotts during the 1970s, AIDS activism directed at pharmaceutical companies in the 1980s, and the push for corporate nondiscrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits in the 1990s, LGBTQ activism changed big business's understanding and treatment of the queer community. By the 2000s, corporations were frequently and vigorously promoting LGBTQ equality, both within their walls and in the public sphere. Large companies such as American Airlines, Apple, Google, Marriott, and Walmart have been crucial allies in promoting marriage equality and opposing anti-LGBTQ regulations such as transgender bathroom laws.
At a time when the LGBTQ movement is facing considerable political backlash, The Queering of Corporate America complicates the narrative of corporate conservatism and provides insights into the future legal, political, and cultural implications of this unexpected relationship.
Legal scholar Carlos Ball tells the overlooked story of how LGBTQ activism aimed at corporations since the Stonewall riots helped turn them from enterprises either indifferent to or openly hostile toward sexual minorities and transgender individuals into reliable and powerful allies of the movement for queer equality. As a result of street protests and boycotts during the 1970s, AIDS activism directed at pharmaceutical companies in the 1980s, and the push for corporate nondiscrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits in the 1990s, LGBTQ activism changed big business's understanding and treatment of the queer community. By the 2000s, corporations were frequently and vigorously promoting LGBTQ equality, both within their walls and in the public sphere. Large companies such as American Airlines, Apple, Google, Marriott, and Walmart have been crucial allies in promoting marriage equality and opposing anti-LGBTQ regulations such as transgender bathroom laws.
At a time when the LGBTQ movement is facing considerable political backlash, The Queering of Corporate America complicates the narrative of corporate conservatism and provides insights into the future legal, political, and cultural implications of this unexpected relationship.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 24, 2020
Legal scholar Carlos Ball tells the overlooked story of how LGBTQ activism aimed at corporations since the Stonewall riots helped turn them from enterprises either indifferent to or openly hostile toward sexual minorities and transgender individuals into reliable and powerful allies of the movement for queer equality. As a result of street protests and boycotts during the 1970s, AIDS activism directed at pharmaceutical companies in the 1980s, and the push for corporate nondiscrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits in the 1990s, LGBTQ activism changed big business’s understanding and treatment of the queer community. By the 2000s, corporations were frequently and vigorously promoting LGBTQ equality, both within their walls and in the public sphere. Large companies such as American Airlines, Apple, Google, Marriott, and Walmart have been crucial allies in promoting marriage equality and opposing anti-LGBTQ regulations such as transgender bathroom laws.
At a time when the LGBTQ movement is facing considerable political backlash, The Queering of Corporate America complicates the narrative of corporate conservatism and provides insights into the future legal, political, and cultural implications of this unexpected relationship.
February 13, 2024
I learned a lot from this book. It's really neat to have a comprehensive lgbt view of corporate progress. It was really dense and could have been shorter and easier to read but I'm glad I read it.
April 3, 2025
This was very much not the book that I was hoping for. I was hoping for a more critical/Marxist take on this material and this is largely just a Democrat type apologia for it. There is some interesting discussion of the interactions between corporations and the gay rights movement, and for that reason I considered giving it two stars. However, the degree to which the book devolves by the end into a trans-washing and a corporate-washing of this history meant it had to be one star. Ball literally concludes the book by advocating for corporations having even more say and more power in influencing political affairs in the United States and in other countries around the world.
Just to mention a few problems with this book. Ball does not think critically enough about or problematize the words and concepts he is using such as queer, LGBTQ, transgender, sexual minorities, etc. Many of these terms are more recent creations and when talking about the history these were not the terms and labels that people used back then. Thus, it is inherently problematic to project modern lexicon (and the connotations involved) onto people in the past. Many of these terms also lump together very different groups of people, and it is really not always appropriate to lump them all together.
Ball does not think critically about or distinguish between the movement for anti-discrimination for homosexuals versus the movement to promote gender ideology and transgenderism. Ball insists in force-teaming these two things but they actually have nothing in common with each other. There is no connection between sexual orientation and so-called gender identity. Thus, there is no clear reason why the political approach to each of them should be the same.
While he occasionally equivocates on this, Ball tends to view corporate adoption of ‘queering’ simplistically and unproblematically as almost a humanitarian endeavor. He does mention occasionally that of course they do this because it makes them money, but he never gets into cooptation or the role of capital in determining and potentially sanitizing the goals of said movement. In essence, you have a book about the history of a change in corporate orientation on this set of issues, but he never really wants to get into the critical analysis and details of why this happened.
Ball never problematizes or critiques capitalism itself. He mentions a lot that corporations supposedly favor equality, but never really juxtaposes that against the inherent inequality of capitalism. He frames a lot of corporate adoption of this issue around equality and civil rights but never really asks the question of why these particular issues are endorsed and not others like universal healthcare, abortion rights, wage increases, tightened environmental regulations, guaranteed parental leave, reduction of the work week, increased vacation and sick leave, etc. Why this and not those? His go to answer is about corporations wanting to be competitive for the best employees, but literally all of these other issues would make a corporation more attractive to an employee, to say nothing of making society better for working people generally.
Additionally, even when discussing the gay rights movement, Ball never really explores the differences between liberal and more radical/socialist approaches to these issues and the differences in their proposed strategies. Ball favors these liberal and reformist corporate-friendly approaches and sticks to that exclusively. Ball also does not engage in analysis of the larger political realignment of most of corporate America away from Republicans and towards Democrats, and thus the rapid adoption of their partisan cultural politics.
In short, this historical analysis is frustrating because it is so one dimensional. And then ideologically, again this book is largely a capitalist friendly trans-washing of the past five decades.
Just to mention a few problems with this book. Ball does not think critically enough about or problematize the words and concepts he is using such as queer, LGBTQ, transgender, sexual minorities, etc. Many of these terms are more recent creations and when talking about the history these were not the terms and labels that people used back then. Thus, it is inherently problematic to project modern lexicon (and the connotations involved) onto people in the past. Many of these terms also lump together very different groups of people, and it is really not always appropriate to lump them all together.
Ball does not think critically about or distinguish between the movement for anti-discrimination for homosexuals versus the movement to promote gender ideology and transgenderism. Ball insists in force-teaming these two things but they actually have nothing in common with each other. There is no connection between sexual orientation and so-called gender identity. Thus, there is no clear reason why the political approach to each of them should be the same.
While he occasionally equivocates on this, Ball tends to view corporate adoption of ‘queering’ simplistically and unproblematically as almost a humanitarian endeavor. He does mention occasionally that of course they do this because it makes them money, but he never gets into cooptation or the role of capital in determining and potentially sanitizing the goals of said movement. In essence, you have a book about the history of a change in corporate orientation on this set of issues, but he never really wants to get into the critical analysis and details of why this happened.
Ball never problematizes or critiques capitalism itself. He mentions a lot that corporations supposedly favor equality, but never really juxtaposes that against the inherent inequality of capitalism. He frames a lot of corporate adoption of this issue around equality and civil rights but never really asks the question of why these particular issues are endorsed and not others like universal healthcare, abortion rights, wage increases, tightened environmental regulations, guaranteed parental leave, reduction of the work week, increased vacation and sick leave, etc. Why this and not those? His go to answer is about corporations wanting to be competitive for the best employees, but literally all of these other issues would make a corporation more attractive to an employee, to say nothing of making society better for working people generally.
Additionally, even when discussing the gay rights movement, Ball never really explores the differences between liberal and more radical/socialist approaches to these issues and the differences in their proposed strategies. Ball favors these liberal and reformist corporate-friendly approaches and sticks to that exclusively. Ball also does not engage in analysis of the larger political realignment of most of corporate America away from Republicans and towards Democrats, and thus the rapid adoption of their partisan cultural politics.
In short, this historical analysis is frustrating because it is so one dimensional. And then ideologically, again this book is largely a capitalist friendly trans-washing of the past five decades.
April 13, 2020
Younger readers with more progressive outlooks will likely have difficulty with the premise that corporate America has been slightly ahead of the curve, compared to the government, in terms of supporting the queer community's access to employment and relationship recognition. Nevertheless, the author makes a good case.
I appreciated the different perspective on LGBTQ history, which normally focuses on legal cases, not changes in the workplace/corporate world. I found value in reading about boycotts, DPBs, and businesses that applied pressure to conservative legislators to stop homophobic and transphobic legislation. These are all worth considering as a part of queer history.
That said, the text could get very repetitive at times and the last chapter was incredibly dry, although the book is overall quite readable. I have never seen the term "sexual minorities" so many times in one place before, and even if this is standard (is it?), the terminology still feels icky when applied to LGBTQ people.
Maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but I was grateful that my state's foray into bathroom legislation was omitted. In general, the author does a really good job with trans issues in particular.
If you normally don't read the Acknowledgements, read them this time.
Overall, I found this to be an unexpectedly compelling read and would recommend it to younger people active in the LGBTQ civil rights movement for additional perspective on how our rights have evolved and where we might need continued support facing an uncertain future with a more conservative Supreme Court.
I appreciated the different perspective on LGBTQ history, which normally focuses on legal cases, not changes in the workplace/corporate world. I found value in reading about boycotts, DPBs, and businesses that applied pressure to conservative legislators to stop homophobic and transphobic legislation. These are all worth considering as a part of queer history.
That said, the text could get very repetitive at times and the last chapter was incredibly dry, although the book is overall quite readable. I have never seen the term "sexual minorities" so many times in one place before, and even if this is standard (is it?), the terminology still feels icky when applied to LGBTQ people.
Maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but I was grateful that my state's foray into bathroom legislation was omitted. In general, the author does a really good job with trans issues in particular.
If you normally don't read the Acknowledgements, read them this time.
Overall, I found this to be an unexpectedly compelling read and would recommend it to younger people active in the LGBTQ civil rights movement for additional perspective on how our rights have evolved and where we might need continued support facing an uncertain future with a more conservative Supreme Court.
July 2, 2021
Easily read and understood, Ball’s dive into the history of corporations in the United States and then his focus on 20th Century LGBTQ+ activism within and with corporations is an eye-opening journey. He explains how the status and function of corporations changed over time and then how they became involved in the LGBTQ+ movement and why. A bit repetitive at times, it did change my conceptions about corporations somewhat. I still believe in their money-hungry June Pride approach - swiftly entering stores June 1st and disappearing no later than June 30th with large silence every July through May. However, there is something to be said about their support and push for change and acceptance in various areas of the law on behalf of this community. It’s an interesting look. I’d be very interested in an update or companion book detailing the post-Citizens United and post-gay marriage legalization to today as last year we saw the Supreme Court state that sexual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I think seeing what corporations did in this period would be interesting.
It’s an interesting read that really makes me rethink my anti-corporation as they are anti-LGBTQ stance. Religious companies (which I think is absolutely ridiculous to begin with as a concept) may have given all corporations a bad name by tainting their work for equality. This book remedies some of my misconceptions and challenged me. I recommend this very much.
It’s an interesting read that really makes me rethink my anti-corporation as they are anti-LGBTQ stance. Religious companies (which I think is absolutely ridiculous to begin with as a concept) may have given all corporations a bad name by tainting their work for equality. This book remedies some of my misconceptions and challenged me. I recommend this very much.
June 14, 2020
In The Queering if Corporate America, law professor Carlos Ball takes readers on a journey from the 1970’s to the present in understanding how queer activists changed corporate America from adversary to ally in the fight for equal justice.
This book is not an apology for the wrongdoings of corporations, or an endorsement of corporate partnerships with the queer rights movement. Ball shares his own critiques of corporate actions throughout the book. Rather it is a look at the brave queer activists who risked everything in the 1970’s and what the decades-later results of their work looks like today.
This book is not an apology for the wrongdoings of corporations, or an endorsement of corporate partnerships with the queer rights movement. Ball shares his own critiques of corporate actions throughout the book. Rather it is a look at the brave queer activists who risked everything in the 1970’s and what the decades-later results of their work looks like today.
December 22, 2022
Surprisingly good, this felt like a fair examination of the ways queer activism focused towards corporations has led to more rights and protections for the community. The information was not presented in a way that is sympathetic to corporations - and this is made explicit in the introduction. Rather, it is a testament to hard work by queer activists and the wins they've made in this world we are all living and loving in.
December 1, 2024
Fascinating telling of the evolution of big business’ relationship with the queer community. I knew some of these things but most were new to me. I would recommend this simply for the history lesson through the aids crisis and how businesses were just as awful at the time as the government was. Reinforces that this country doesn’t care about what people think but if business gets on that side, move over they’ll do whatever they say.
July 4, 2022
Interesting topic, core data and analysis, but suffers from frequent use of filler phrases and restating the same idea with minimal changes in presentation over and over again--sometimes within the span of a few paragraphs.
March 2, 2020
Historical events and statements - but mainly this is a work of selective statements to drive the course to desired path.
March 11, 2020
This was a really fascinating take on a section of American history that is totally ignored by the consensus history on the issue. Check it out, for sure.
November 14, 2023
Easily read but boring
did-not-finish
June 5, 2025DNF @ 46%
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews