The organizer of this year’s San Francisco Pride didn’t expect rejection when she contacted sponsors, but amid US President Donald Trump’s anti-diversity offensive, several longtime backers have withdrawn their support.
“It was quite frightening,” said Suzanne Ford, executive director of the California-based group which is among America’s most influential gay rights organizations.
“In about a week and a half period, several corporations came back and said ‘We’re not sponsoring this year,'” she told AFP.
In total, Ford’s group faced a $300,000 budget hole, with longstanding partnerships suddenly unwilling to fill it ahead of the late June festivities.
“It’s disheartening,” Ford said.
One of Pride’s major partners, the brewer Anheuser-Busch, has withdrawn, according to the organization. The brewing company did not respond to requests from AFP.
The lack of sponsorships is “newsworthy for sure,” noted Eve Keller, co-president of the USA Prides network of nearly 200 march organizations nationwide.
Several US companies have opted to stop financially supporting organized events, especially those in June, designated as LGBTQ Pride Month.
Pride organizations are reluctant to call them out, however, for fear of cutting ties.
“Some are still talking with us,” Ford said. “We hope they return.”
In some cities where 2025 Pride marches have already occurred, groups proceeded with “tighter” budgets, according to Keller.
“They just didn’t have headliners (or) could not hire the biggest, best band,” she added, although for her, the main focus in 2025 was to ensure the safety of participants.
‘Between the lines’
In San Francisco, the companies all pointed to “budgetary reasons” for scaling back their contributions, said Ford.
But “I think you could read between the lines,” she added. “No one wanted to be on record saying anything, you know, that would hurt them with the administration or with people that support the administration.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Republican billionaire Trump has led a crusade against programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Companies that implement such policies are threatened with prosecution, and several major brands, including Meta, Target and McDonald’s, have either abolished their DEI programs or drastically reduced them.
The so-called “anti-woke” pressure campaign comes as US capital Washington hosts WorldPride, a global event for LGBTQ rights, culminating in a major parade this weekend.
June Crenshaw, one of the rally’s organizers, estimates she suffered “about a 20, 25 percent reduction” in business partnership and support.
“So we’ve had to look at other ways in which to finance programming, etc, really leaning on the community and individual donations,” she said.
WorldPride organizers also decided to turn away from their “long and strong partnership” with the Kennedy Center after President Trump seized the reins of Washington’s renowned cultural institution, Crenshaw added.
‘Pinkwashing’
According to Bob Witeck, a communications consultant on LGBTQ topics for major brands, companies fear that taking part in these events could expose them to “visible risk” during a sensitive political period and “put themselves in harm’s way needlessly.”
But several firms “are still engaged,” he stressed, including “through the nonprofits they serve.”
San Francisco’s Ford noted that “pinkwashing” — the practice of superficially promoting LGBTQ rights — is no longer fashionable.
By contrast, companies are contacting her offering support “but not wanting any credit,” Ford said.
They “just want to do the right thing.”
