Nothing says “gay” as melismatically, melodramatically, or straight-up sweetly as the very notion of Mariah Carey, and so it makes sense that the ever-present chanteuse is launching a line of merch to coincide with this year’s LGBT+ pride festivities. It makes all the more sense since the rainbow is a symbol of pride, Mariah released an album in 1999 called Rainbow, so...rainbow plus Rainbow equals... double rainbow. Equals pride. (I would bet at least $500 that this line of thinking is exactly how she/her team came up with the idea.)
Some of us take pride in our cultural identities/sexualities, some of us take pride in our identities as pop stars, and now with this collection, we can all come together under one umbrella that’s actually a rainbow. Mariah’s collection includes tank tops, T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and iPhone cases.
The merch pages note that: “A portion of proceeds will be donated to GLAAD. GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.”
This wouldn’t be a perfectly Mariah project without it being slightly messy: As of now, this merch is available for pre-order and is set to ship late June/early July, which means you won’t get it in time for this weekend’s NYC pride festivities (and L.A.’s was weeks ago). But there’s always other cities’ prides (Atlanta’s is in October), and of course there’s always next year. Besides, pride comes from within, although wearing Mariah Carey’s butt on your stomach could only help in these matters.
Incidentally, so does wearing a tank top as a dress.
