Rainbow Direction

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Event
Event:	Rainbow Direction
Participants:	takemehomefromnarnia
Date(s):	february 2014-september 2018 & august 2019-
Type:	campaign/project
Fandom:	One Direction
URL:	http://takemehomefromnarnia.tumblr.com/ https://twitter.com/homefromnarnia
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Rainbow Direction is an LGBTQ+ One Direction fan project. It is a project of the activist fan group takemehomefromnarnia founded in April 2013.

The project received enormous support from LGBTQ+ fans and supporters as well as lots of press attention, and has been credited by academics for changing the dominant narrative of the heterosexual teenage fangirl (whose interest is not based on music but on sex appeal) in the One Direction fandom. Many LGBTQ+ fans have expressed their gratitude to the project for creating safe spaces for fans at One Direction concerts and concerts of the individual band members.

Rainbow Direction also been the subject of controversy within One Direction fandom. Many oppose the project due to its association with speculation around Larry Stylinson, the supposed romantic relationship between band members Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson which a contingent of shippers believe is real. Official statements from the project itself assert that it aims to support LGBTQ+ people without engaging with shipping. This stance is disputed by Anti-Larries, and by some Rainbow Direction supporters who identify as Larries. Controversy over Rainbow Direction is part of the larger controversy of Larry Stylinson & The Fourth Wall.

The February 2014 Rainbow Direction mission statement reads as follows:

For One Direction’s Where We Are tour we are launching a project to raise visibility and build a community of support for One Direction’s LGBTQ+ fans and supporters across the world: RAINBOW DIRECTION !!! We want all fans to feel safe, welcome, and supported. The homophobia in the One Direction fandom often makes LGBTQ+ fans feel unwelcome and invisible in the world. At Takemehomefromnarnia we want to change that. We want to speak out, stand up proudly and make our selves known. Because we aren’t just one in a million! We want to show who we are and just how many of us there are, all around the globe. (...) we want to make ourselves visible and recognizable at every single One Direction concert during the Where We Are tour, with a slogan/logo/banner.

Before Rainbow Direction

The focus on visibility of the LGBTQ+ fans and supporters was a new take on the original objective of the blog to show that the fanbase was not all homophobic but could be supportive. The original takemehomefromnarnia mission statement with which the account was started in 2013 reads as follows:

Welcome to Takemehomefromnarnia. This is the home to the social media campaign in support of celebrity and fan members of the LGBT community, and against homophobia in the entertainment industry and media.

The objective is to form a grassroots movement made up by members of the industry’s target group - us, the fans - who are supportive of LGBT rights and call out homophobic comments and practices in the media when they see them.

The entertainment industry is a very homophobic place, reigned by the fear that an LGBT celebrity will not sell as a leading romantic role/the face of a band/etc. Too many people in the entertainment industry are closeted, willingly, or unwillingly, for fear of homophobic backlash from fans and media. Indeed, too many media reports on the industry treat being gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/… as a scandal to be exploited.

These practices are extremely harmful, not only to the celebrities involved, but also to their, often very young, fans who are members of the LGBT community. Through closeting, public outing against one’s will and reporting in the sphere of scandal, a message is being spread that being gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/… is wrong, shameful, something best hidden.

All of these practices rest on the presumption that the market for this industry itself is homophobic. And this is where we come in.

This blog was born from the belief that, as fans, through the use of social media, we can show that we are not homophobic but supportive.

Not by outing celebrities against their will. Not by waging war on their management and pr companies, but by organizing ourselves, by consistently calling out homophobic statements by media, celebrities and fans, and by educating them on what a tolerant and supportive fanbase looks like. In this way we can slowly but surely tilt the balance in favor of tolerance and support. Amongst the fanbase, at first, in the media, and, ultimately, in the industry itself.

The blog's early efforts to educate and raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues by spreading petitions and calling out homophobic and heteronormative statements in (social) media earned the platform credibility amongst a small group of fans but did not get the amount of attention from the 1D fandom at large that Rainbow Direction later received.

2014-2015 Concert Tour Projects

rainbow badge created for the project, appearing on tumblr and twitter user icons everywhere

Rainbow Direction started as a project for fans attending 1D concerts during the Where We Are tour in 2014 WWA tour video report and continued through the 2015 On the Road Again tour. To participate, fans could wear "anything rainbow" and/or carry rainbow signs or flags to their 1D concerts. Suggested banner designs were provided Fans were also encouraged to take pictures and submit them to the takemehomefromnarnia tumblr. In addition, for each concert, Rainbow Directioners might arrange a fan meet-up at the venue or carry out a special project, such as the Rainbow Light project at OTRA Boston tagged #bostonrainbowwave. In November 2014, the project developed rainbow heart "safe spaces for all" badge for fans to add to their user icon on social media as a sign that their blogs are queer-friendly spaces.

The group published some participation rates based on fans who register themselves as participants: for the OTRA tour, the highest number of Rainbow Directioners at a single concert was 307. In August 2015 it was reported that 3000 fans had signed up to participate at some point during the OTRA tour.

It is likely as a result of the Rainbow Direction project that fans threw rainbow flags on stage at several concerts in 2015 and Harry Styles picked them up and ran around waving them. Fanart and gifs commemorating these moments circulate on tumblr.

Post-Band Activity

1D went on hiatus in early 2016, but the takemehomefromnarnia blog has organized or promoted other activities since then. They have blogged about various current events and non-1D-related social justice activism, including participation in some pride events.

In October 2016 they were organizing for a Rainbow Direction showing at Niall Horan's solo tour.

As of April 2017, the tumblr account was making plans for people to bring pride regalia to Harry Styles' solo tour shows; in May the blog reported that the number of fans who had signed up to participate (515) "exceeded the final number of participants for the WWA tour by more than 100 people already!"

In 2018 they continued to encourage fans to bring rainbow items to concerts and opened signups for all of Harry's and Niall's tour dates, as well as Liam's and Louis' sporadic performances. While early in the year all rainbows posted in their tag were reblogged and retweeted, later on first the tumblr account and then the twitter account seem to have been abandoned.

In August 2019, after a hiatus of about a year for which the project runners cited personal reasons, the tumblr and twitter accounts announced that they would be encouraging rainbows and facilitating meetups for the Coca Cola Music Experience Festival in Madrid where Liam and Louis would be headlining 13 and 14 September 2019. They are also organizing for rainbows to be brought to Louis concert as part of Poptopia on 5 December in San Jose, California.

By Harry Styles Love on Tour 2021 and Louis Tomlinson World Tour, Rainbow Direction had basically stopped organizing, preferring to instead retweet fan-created rainbow projects on Twitter and pretend they had any involvement. The successful rainbow projects at Love on Tour: North America during the song Lights Up were entirely Harrie-created. Love on Tour: Europe and Latin America had some Larrie-created rainbow projects, but none of them were affiliated with Rainbow Direction.

Controversy

Takemehomefromnarnia and Rainbow Direction have received criticism from fans who perceive the project to be motivated by Larry Stylinson shipping (pairing up characters) or tinhatting (believing that the pairing is true in real life). These fans accused Rainbow Direction of shipping disguised as activism, and some 1D anti-larries have argued that the many fan theories about Harry and Louis being in an actual relationship are homophobic (and therefore counterproductive to queer activism):

[fixedtemporarily:] Why do you think Rainbow Direction is gross?

Because they claim to be a safe space for all but all of the big blogs who advocate for it post heterosexist, racist, islamophobic, transphobic, and other bullshit on their blogs. It’s not okay, and definitely not “a safe space for all”. Tbh I feel more safe in the Ziamist fandom than I ever did among rainbow directioners. I used to have the rainbow heart, but it’s insides rotted and as an LGBTQIA+ person, I don’t feel very comfortable with it.

larry-and-ziam-are-real, 2015

I specially know queer people in 1D fandom who are uncomfortable about the whole rainbow direction thing 😕

thewrongshoes, 2015

tell me i'm not the only one but rainbow direction makes me feel super uncomfortable haha.

cephalopagus, 2015

First, I’m gonna go ahead and flat out say it: Rainbow Direction is not a safe space for me. I don’t feel safe when the pride flag is covered in writing/drawings/etc about larry and subsequently waved at/thrown at them.

Even Liam chimed in on the flags, because he knows who brings them! And spoilers, it’s usually people who think that they’re Larry Heroes and want to save their celebrity idols from Evil Management. [...]

Rainbow Direction isn’t for me. Rainbow Direction is largely populated by people who have referred to me as a ‘het girl’ and accuse me of being ‘homophobic’ because I don’t support a fictional ship. I have found more accepting LGBT+ people to connect with outside of Rainbow Direction, honestly. This fandom is largely LGBT+, and I’ve found a community here that supports me. Some of them even saw me go through a sexuality crisis myself. While people affiliated with Rainbow Direction, no matter how pure the original intention of the group, assumed I was straight and homophobic just because I disagreed with them, people outside of it were kind, compassionate, and understanding. They didn’t assign me a sexuality without knowing me. That’s what matters to me, and none of those people brought rainbow flags to 1d concerts with LARRY printed across the back.

outofcases, 2015

The organisation has explicitly denied the shipping claim: "No, TMHFN has nothing to do with Larry." They have an official "No Shipping" policy which says they are not associated with any ship, to avoid alienating any particular ships because "LGBTQ+ rights are so much more important". Rainbow Direction "does not consider shipping a harmful activity in itself" and welcomes all shippers, but asks members who do ship, to keep their ships separate from the project, which should focus on LGBTQ+ fans only. Rainbow Direction has not spoken up about the belief amongs many Larry shippers that "Larry is real".

Detractors of the project have suggested that the no shipping policy is a sham because Rainbow Direction was started by Larries (people who believe "Larry is real"), the only people who support Rainbow Direction are Larries, and that the entire project is offensive to the queer fans it claims to support.

Was Rainbow Direction Started By Larries?

My hands, your hands, animated fan art by art-changes, possibly inspired by Rainbow Direction

Based on a review of the their personal tumblrs, the founders do not use the term Larries for themselves, but do, in fact, appear to be of the opinion that Louis and Harry are in a relationship in real life. thisiskatsblog states, "Lilo is my favourite fictional ship, but I am convinced that Louis and Harry kiss, have sex, and plan to get married, with kids." She has also reblogged Larry theories, and in a post mentioning Rainbow Direction instructed an anon to ignore information in print interviews. dieinthewinter also reblogs Larry is Real posts, but less frequently. ellistheelephant reblogged a tumblr conversation in which thisiskatsblog plugged Rainbow Direction as a source of healing for fans hurt by the homophobia of 1D's management and the way they kept Harry and Louis in the closet.

Some fans have also pointed to the original 2013 mission statement cited above as evidence of the founders' true motives; although it contains no direct reference to Larry Stylinson, the mission statement touches on themes common in Larrie theories about why Harry and Louis were forcibly kept in the closet.

An anti-larry blog argued that the No Shipping policy could not reasonably be expected to be followed when the founders wouldn't even follow it:

They might mention their policy yes but what good does it do when they’re tinhatting Larry in their blogs? Do you think people are going to follow the rules if the founders don’t do that? No. There is so much they could do to put certain Larries in order but you know what they do instead. They interact with thos Larries and never point a finger towards their behaviour.... I would rather have no RD at all than have it run by these sort of people. They’re doing constant harm to the community by tinhatting Larry and I don’t want those kind of people running this thing.

Rainbow Direction supporters don't see this argument as relevant since the project's blog states explicitly that its shipping policy does not at all mean they discourage its participants and volunteers from shipping on their personal blogs.

Considering that the concept of Rainbow Direction is that it is a joint fan effort from and for LGBTQ+ fan, and most fans participating in Rainbow Direction are therefore unaware of who the specific founders are, one could question whether the founders' opinions are relevant to how well the project serves LGBTQ+ fans in the One Direction community.

Are All Rainbow Direction Participants Larries?

Some fans argue that Rainbow Direction was coopted by Larries. Often the only contact that non-Larrie, non-concert-going fans have with Rainbow Direction is via the rainbow badges they see on tumblr and twitter icons. Some fans claim that those rainbow badges are used exclusively by Larry shippers.

Without in-depth research, it would be difficult to establish how large the overlap between Larries and people who use the badge is, and what people's motives are to use the badge or if they are even aware of how Rainbow Direction meant for it to be used. Larry is the most popular ship in the fandom, so there is always going to be a lot of overlap, and people can ship Larry without believing it is real.

So the exact relationship between Rainbow Directioners and Larries is difficult to untangle.

What is more, it's impossible to talk about the connections between both leaving out the LGBTQ+ element. A very large proportion of LBGTQ+ 1D fans support Rainbow Direction, a large proportion of LGBTQ+ 1D fans ship Larry, meaning there will also be a lot of LGBTQ+ fans both believe Larry is real and participate in Rainbow Direction. To argue that any person who shipped Larry or believe it was real "only supports Rainbow Direction because of Larry" and is not a genuine queer activist is therefore a fallacy.

Genuine LGBTQ+ Activism Or Not?

For some critics, the ambiguity may be enough to damn the whole project in that it fails to present itself publicly as genuine queer activism instead of shipping. This criticism rests on the presumption that any LGBTQ+ activism by people who ship Larry cannot be genuine, and ignores the fact that the founders and runners of takemehomefromnarnia and Rainbow Direction, whatever they ship, do themselves identify as queer: thisiskatsblog identifies as bisexual, masqueradehfx as gay, ellistheelephant as lesbian and die-in-the-winter as genderfluid and pansexual/lesbian - as do a large part of their participants. As Rainbow Direction is an LGBTQ+ supportive project and Larry the most popular LGBTQ+ ship in the fandom, it is to be expected that a large part of One Direction's LGBTQ+ fans would support both the project and the ship, without this detracting from the genuineness of their involvement in the queer activism.

That said, Rainbow Direction has often been criticized for making antis feel unwelcome. Rainbow Direction answered those critics, saying they are inclusive of both Larries and anties but put the limits at intolerant opinions:

Rainbow Direction is an inclusive project that welcomes everyone who is LGBTQ+ supportive, and that’s meant to support all LBGTQ+ people in the 1D community, whether they identify as antis or as Larries or as something other than those two categories. (...)If support from a diverse group that welcomes both Larries and antis as long as they exercise tolerance towards eachother, is not what you want, then we respect that but we will not change our policies to exclude any one ship. We believe that intolerance is at the root of oppression, and therefore we will keep putting tolerance and inclusiveness high up on our agenda.

Was Homophobia An Issue To Begin With?

Another reason that some say that Rainbow Direction looks like a Larry project rather than genuine activism to them is its very premise that homophobia is rampant in 1D fandom and that therefore an antidote is needed.

These critics say that Larries talk a lot about 1D's management and fandom being homophobic:

I think that 1DHQ has done a lot to create a homophobic atmosphere in the fandom, and to make the 1D fandom a highly unwelcoming place for queer fans, out of a desire to keep their brand free of ‘the taint of the gay’. I think that an initiative like rainbow direction is a powerful thing we can do to fight against that.

... but that others are skeptical about this assessment of the fandom:

I think the thing that I have never understood about this fandom is how larries say “your homophobia is why we need rainbow direction” but yet I haven’t seen a more accepting fandom.

These critics are convinced homophobic behavior seems to be more of a problem within Larry fandom specifically and that larries seem to have redefined homophobia to mean "disagreeing with me":

Larries taught me that, if you don't ship Larry it means you're homophobic, and if Louis denies being gay it means he's homophobic. And that they don't actually know what homophobia is, and they use it as a crutch for their delusional arguments.

That said, in 2013 takemehomefromnarnia did an IDAHOT action encouraging people to speak up against online homophobia in the fandom and their masterpost of reactions reveiled that at the time, there was quite a bit of (casual) homophobia doing the rounds long before the terms Larries or Rainbow Direction even existed.

The perception of homophobia and the role it plays in the fandom and its related projects remains hotly disputed. One position argues that Larries have long claimed that they are supporting LGBT rights through their devotion to Larry. Other fans have argued that forcing people out of the closet is in no way supportive and that much of the Larries' behavior is incredibly homophobic. This ranges from relying on gay stereotypes to "prove" that Harry and Louis are gay to harassing Nick Grimshaw, an out gay man whose existence they believe disrupts their ship. Larries also claim that arguing against Larry being real is homophobic. By some strange coincidence, Rainbow Directioners likewise accuse people who argue against the project of homophobic bullying. Meanwhile, fans have reported bullying by people who display the safe spaces rainbow badge on their accounts.

Other Statements Associated With Belief in Larrie

Nothing on the takemehomefromnarnia blog itself supports the theory that Louis and Harry are in an actual relationship.

Some critics, however, say there is evidence on Rainbow Direction's official tumblr that is visible to anti-larries and others familiar with larrie theories. Their explanations are complicated. For example, on the main page of the tumblr was a counter showing the days "since these tweets suggested LGBTQ+ support is offensive". (Here's a meta post (archived) from mistresscurvy arguing why the tweets aren't offensive.) RD's November 2014 post explaining the counter says that the tweets were "on Louis Tomlinson’s twitter account" rather than attributing them directly to Louis and later lists all the twitter accounts one should demand an apology from: "Tweet the #WeWantAnApology hashtag to @Louis_Tomlinson, @syco, @SonyMusicUK, @SonyMusicGlobal and @ModestMgmt several times a day!" Basically, 1DHQ. These critics believe this means that the organisers subscribe to the larries' belief that Louis' twitter account isn't run by Louis (because then they can ignore his tweets stating categorically that "I am in fact straight").

Some critics also point to a post this September 7, 2015 post (archived) about not forcibly outing people which includes the tag #timetocomeoutlarry. This blog post was a comment on a fandom trend with that hashtag which Rainbow Direction did not agree with, but taken out of its context, the entire post was interpreted by some as a veiled suggestion for Larries to "show rainbows" at 1D concerts to encourage Harry and Louis to come out - something no other post on the blog suggests.</ref>

Liam Payne's Comments

In September 2015, Liam Payne made some comments about the Larry Stylinson ship in an interview with Attitude magazine that had fandom in an uproar - different parts of fandom for different reasons. In it, Liam indicated that he thought the uptick in rainbow flags at 1D concerts was down to Larries. To the question, "Do you see your fans being more liberated?" Liam says, "When the laws changed in the U.S. there were loads of rainbow flags flying at our shows, but I think that was mainly because people think of the Louis and Harry thing, which is absolutely nuts and drives me insane."

It is unclear if the band was even aware of the Rainbow Direction campaign specifically, but Rainbow Directioners were outraged that he was dismissing their efforts as a Larry thing. Rainbow flags containing the phrase "Not About Larry" soon appeared.

Liam's interpretation of the rainbow flags is supported by some reports from fans attending concerts:

anyway I went to 3 otra shows and every time I saw tons of people with rainbow painted signs with shit about Larry on it specifically and at one point a huge group walked by with Larry signs chanting “LARRY” through the stadium like it’s them who give ppl a bad name it’s not the people doing it for themselves and other queer ppl but Liam isn’t just pulling this out of his ass these ppl are real and there’s a huge # of them

Many Rainbow Directioners counter these arguments by quoting the No Shipping policy and/or stating that Larries mixing their rainbow signs with their shipping signs should not be counted against Rainbow Direction:

if you’d actually read through rainbow direction’s website you will find NOTHING about any ships within one direction.

especially their non-shipping policy should be interesting to you: “It is our policy that we keep our shipping and our rainbows separate. We want all fans to feel welcome and included, regardless of what they do or don’t ship. More importantly, rainbow signs without a specific mention of a ship extend support to all LGBTQ+ fans and that is what this project is about.” (x)

so if you see any signs with anyting Larry related on it; that’s not rainbow direction and that’s not what rainbow direction stands for.

However, self proclaimed Larries and supporters of Rainbow Direction have made signs intentionally referencing Larry.

Are queer fans offended by Rainbow Direction?

This argument often made by antis is contradicted by the many statements of support and gratitude by LGBTQ+ fans to the takemehomeformnarnia blog, crediting the organisation for their feeling welcome, accepted and safe in the 1D fandom and often also for its role in accepting themselves. Throughout the years, the blog has received and answered numerous anonymous asks for support in their journey of self understanding, acceptance and coming out and many 1D fans identifying as queer credit Rainbow Direction for their feeling welcome in the fandom [Source needed]

It is true that a few queer fans have expressed discomfort or rage over Rainbow Direction's version of queer activism.

However, scrolling through the rainbow direction tag on tumblr reveals a multitude of LGBTQ+ fans expressing joy at seeing pride flags at the concerts or meeting other LGBTQ+ One Direction fans there.

Rainbow Direction's anti-bullying stance and its encouragement of LGBTQ+ pride have, in any case, encouraged many queer fans and allies to visibly show their colours and support, which - as many of them report - has been a liberating and empowering experience for them.

So the project and its symbols mean very different things to different people.

Press Attention

The massive display of rainbows at One Direction concerts by LGBTQ+ fans and allies, Rainbow Direction received positive attention from various press outlets, including music industry and LGBTQ press such as:

• Attitude: One Direction LGBT group brings fans together safely during 1D’s world tour by Josh Haigh (April 7, 2015)
• The Advocate: Meet Rainbow Direction, One Direction's LGBT Superfans by Neal Broverman (July 14, 2015)
• MTV News: Meet Rainbow Direction — The Fans Fighting To End LGBT Bullying In The One Direction Fandom by Kristina Marusic (July 20, 2015)
• Sugarscape: Rainbow Direction have a genius fan plan for One Direction's UK and Ireland OTRA shows by Lucy Wood (September 16, 2015)
• Gay News Network:The Rainbow Direction by Ariane Malmanche (September 18, 2015)

Academic Interest

Following this attention in the press, Rainbow Direction received a lot of interest from academics for the innovative ways it used social media in fandoms for LGBTQ+ activisim and was credited by several authors for changing the dominant heteronormative narrative in the fandom.

• Mattia, Bri "Rainbow Direction and Fan-Based Citizenship Performance." In "The Future of Fandom," special 10th anniversary issue Transformative Works and Cultures, 2018 (28). Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2018.1414.
• Caldeira, Isabela Pires; and Grohmann, Rafael. “Army of bees. Análise e poder do fandom”. Intercom 2017. Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicação. 40° Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação, September 2017. Retrieved from: http://portalintercom.org.br/anais/nacional2017/resumos/R12-2471-1.pdf
• Lovelock, Millicent E. “You and I: One Direction, Fans and the Co-Construction of Identity” (2017). Thesis, Master of Arts. University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7691 pp 35, 50-53 and 81.
• Haney-Claus, Megan Katherine, "One Direction and the Marketing Machine" (2016).
• Undergraduate Honors Thesis. College of William & Mary. Paper 889. Retrieved from http://publish.wm.edu/honorstheses/889 pp 107-110 and 113.
• Dougher, Sarah; and Pecknold, Diane. “Girls, Girlhood and Popular Music”. Journal of Popular Music Studies 2016, 28(4): 407-411. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1111/jpms.12190
• Brickman, Barbara Jane. “This Charming Butch. The male pop idol, girl fans and the (in)visible lesbian”. Journal of Popular Music Studies 2016, 28 (4): 443-459 Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1111/jpms.12193

Links

• Uncovering Rainbow Direction - tumblr that reblogs Rainbow Direction comments both pro and con (defunct)
• TMHFN/RD Feedback at inclusive1d on tumblr
• On Rainbow Direction/TMHFN & shipping: we don’t care what you ship, we want you to support LGBTQIA rights & speak up against bullying (archived) at takemehomefromnarnia (November 2014)
• Rainbow Direction being about safe spaces is a total lie. (archived) - tumblr conversation reblogged by debunkbullshit (December 2014)
• RAINBOW DIRECTION & TAKEMEHOMEFROMNARNIA ‘S POLICY ON SHIPPING (archived) at takemehomefromnarnia (June 2015)
• tumblr conversation (archived) reblogged by im-on-fire-now (July 2015)
• Responses to some of the criticisms being tossed at RD and Larries right now. (archived) by ohnooooonedirection (September 2015)
• tumblr conversation (archived) reblogged by vansandburberry (September 2015)