Splicetoday

Politics & Media
Jun 20, 2025, 06:28AM

Corporations Chicken Out on Pride

Shifting landscapes as companies respond to Trump’s homophobic regime.

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In the current political landscape, instead of just enjoying Pride parades and chilling like during a reasonable administration, instead we have politics and the homophobic whining of fragile straight white men in comments sections on Facebook. Corporations sat in boardroom closets asking themselves whether to come out with their adorably designed-during-Biden rainbow-version logos for June again, or to heed to the MAGA-esque “go woke go broke” inaccurate trope.

Many companies had already caved under the “no more DEI” initiatives, so scrapping Pride was a natural, even as companies suffered from the decision: Target alone lost 12.4 billion dollars from a boycott. Slate reports that this year, “As companies pull their sponsorships from major metropolitan Prides in deference to the rising anti-LGBTQ+ movement, the time is ripe to reconsider what Pride has become and what we want it to be. If this year’s trend continues, Pride as we know it will drastically change. And that would be a good thing: Even if corporations come crawling back, big-city Pride organizers should rebuff them, in favor of the homegrown celebrations of LGBTQ+ culture and resistance we all deserve.”

Sports teams, too, have seen some reduced visibility, though 24 of the 32 NFL teams have posted Pride messages—in the past the NFL has posted for Pride late in the month; traditionally World Pride is celebrated on the last Sunday of the month. Only four teams—the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers—have changed their logos to mark Pride this June.

Some have remained silent, a departure from the broader participation seen in prior years. 29 of the 30 MLB teams are celebrating Pride this year. The Baltimore Orioles will continue their tradition of diversity, equity and inclusion by celebrating their 6th annual Pride Night this week on June 25, taking on the Texas Rangers, a perfectly timed game against the only team in the entire MLB that does not celebrate Pride.

According to Gravity Research, which advises companies on social and political risks, 39 percent of surveyed brand executives planned to reduce Pride-related engagement this year, with 61 percent citing the Trump administration as their reason. No respondent said they planned to increase it. NYC Pride faced a $750,000 decrease in sponsorships, San Francisco Pride a $200,000 decrease, with brands including Mastercard, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo and Comcast withdrawing support. This corporate pullback comes precisely when LGBTQ+ representation and purchasing power are at historic highs. According to Gallup, 9.3 percent of US adults now identify as LGBTQ+—a number that has doubled since 2020 and reaches over 20 percent among Gen Z adults. According to GLAAD, 71 percent of Americans agree that brands should be able to show support for the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month.

Christina Cauterucci of Slate writes:

“Some cities are already reimagining their fundraising models. Cincinnati Pride opted this year to forgo sponsorships from companies that canceled their DEI programs, making up the difference with a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign.

“The corporate exodus that has sent Pride organizers scrambling for alternative funding sources could be a blessing in disguise, paving the way for more meaningful celebrations. Instead of a four-hour parade for multinational companies, we could have a two-hour parade for community groups, queer businesses, and the local gay baton-twirling club. Instead of spending tens of thousands of Booz Allen Hamilton dollars to hire a heterosexual A-list musical performer for a generic outdoor concert, we could focus on local queer bands, comedians, and DJs. It’s time to take better advantage of untapped community spending power: I’d gladly pay $25 to enter a sliding-scale Pride festival if it meant others could attend for free, the drag artists got paid, and Raytheon got no advertising space.

“If I had to pinpoint the purpose of Pride, it would be not a specific event or political ambition but a feeling. You find it in those transcendent Pride moments when you’re surrounded by a mix of loved ones and strangers, sensing that everyone around you is linked by a mutual history, touching the possibility of a future that gives our freest, most joyous selves adequate space to grow… if you stripped away all the commercial elements of Pride, the parade and concert people would still be able to capture that feeling. A more modest, homespun celebration would give us everything we need without commodifying our movement for the benefit of fair-weather friends.”

—Follow Mary McCarthy on Bluesky and Instagram.

Discussion
  • I'm afraid Jillian Michaels and lots of other gay people (like me) have started to find Pride disgusting and silly. The people who have taken over Pride organizations, to pay themselves high salaries and sometimes embezzle money, are professional activists. They don't represent gay people at large. They are part of the GayTM that needs to make trans issues central to gay organizations so they will have an "unsolved" issue to fundraise on. Many are not interested in drag, highlighting trans people, advocating transing confused kids, public nudity on sidewalks with kids, etc. etc. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/media/article-14669257/jillian-michaels-joe-rogan-obesity-trans-children.html

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  • In the recent polling Nate Silver has been discussing on X, in every demographic non-leftists are happier than leftists, usually by over 10%. Non-leftist gays (60%) are happier than leftist gays (49%) and even happier than leftist heterosexuals (57%). Black non-leftists are happier than both black and white leftists. Non-leftist women are happier than both leftist men and women. Etc. But worry Mary; don't be happy. https://x.com/NateSilver538/status/1935444439650205805

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  • In San Diego the city where I have lived for over 30 years there is a pride parade every year which starts in the predominantly gay community of Hillcrest and which is proceeded by a block party the night before. Hillcrest is a vibrant community with excellent restaurants and a friendly vibe and the block party gets rave reviews from the wider community both gay and straight. The focus is more about people getting together and having a good time and not on sexual orientation or identity politics. The pride parade is a different story. It’s basically a self absorbed raunchfest with guys on floats wearing G-strings twerking and doing the bump and grind with other guys. Not only is it an in your face display of public indecency it also violates the unofficial motto of the city. Stay classy San Diego!

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  • I listened to Stevie Wonder and therefore am not worried about a thing. Nate Silver can be conservative and gay and so can you and I won't judge you for it any more than I should be judged for being liberal and gay. If you read my article you'd see that I'm in favor of smaller, more community-based celebrations of Pride. I don't like corporations pink washing/rainbow-washing for the sake of virtue-signaling. I will say this: I hate gatekeeping within the gay community as in, when people say I'm the "only kind of gay that's ok" and don't accept certain letters in the LGBTQIA+ alphabet. To me, no marginalized community member should marginalize anyone else or else that's just internalized homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, drag phobia, whatever. Love is love, everyone should accept everyone the way they are because who died and left you God, etc. That's just my $0.02. which is about what it's worth. Happy Pride!

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  • Whining about "Pride is so in our face" oh my gosh look at all the twerking and thongs and drag queens on those sexy getups isn't something I have sympathy for. Don't look at it- you sure seem to have a lot of detail about it. We have to look at boring straight Hallmark channel crap 365 days of the year. People are fighting for civil rights that are being taken away from us as we speak. It's only thirty days. Be strong as you "look away."

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  • A parade coming to town is an occasion to spend a nice afternoon with the family watching the decorated floats go by with costumed people dancing and marching bands playing music. Imagine a tolerant minded parent bringing their child to the San Diego Gay Pride Parade which is a publicly sanctioned event on a public downtown street. "Here we are at the parade Billy. Let's see if we can find some balloons". "Hey mommy why is that man on the float with the really small underwear wiggling his tushy at us". "Oh it is just his way of expressing himself dear". "But mommy why is that other guy on the float with the really small underwear bending over and rubbing his tushy against the privates of that man behind him". 'Oh they are just showing pride in who they are dear. Would you like some cotton candy?"

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  • Parents have agency over where they bring their children. I attended Baltimore Pride and there were many children there taking part in the moonbounce and other children’s activities. Honestly your detailed description sounds more like a fetishized fantasy and classic example of homophobia versus something a child asks a parent at a parade. Might want to give that some more thought, because these comments say more about you than people celebrating love, joy and civil rights.

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  • I think Pride parades have largely devolved into a place gays with no money to go to the beach can be naked and drink beer in th sun.

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  • "Parents have agency over where they bring their children". The SD Gay Pride Parade is not held in a private setting. It is a public event held on public streets for the whole community to attend including young children. If the people in the parade would tone it down a bit and forego the lewd and lascivious public acts there wouldn't be an issue and to the point of this article they may even bring in more sponsorship for the event rather than alienating potential sponsors. A little more consideration for those in attendance including the young children of the community and a little less narcissistic self absorption would go a long way.

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