DEI rollbacks prompt corporations to pull sponsorship from major Pride parades
Several major LGBTQ Pride celebrations lose top sponsors due to DEI-related rollbacks costing $200,000 to $350,000 in funding.
Several of the nation’s largest LGBTQ Pride celebrations are down hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate sponsorships this year, with some event organizers saying promised funds have been withdrawn or reduced and others saying they’ve been ghosted by longtime corporate partners.
Pride organizers say some companies fear being targeted by the Trump administration over participation in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, while others are preserving cash in a tumultuous economy.
“I know that they’re facing tough decisions inside those organizations, and I don’t want to call them out. I want to call them in,” Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, said of disappearing sponsors. “We will remember who stood by us and who didn’t. When it was politically popular, they were lined up.”
Eve Keller, co-president of USA Prides, a national network of LGBTQ Pride organizers, said members across the country have reported receiving significantly less in sponsorship dollars this year. Some of the smaller, rural Prides are down 70% to 90% when compared to the average year, she said.
“We’re trying not to sound a huge alarm or to make this the only focus, but when we are down money, we’re down safety and security and accessibility as well,” she said, adding that most Prides don’t want to make any cuts to their security measures, so instead they are holding fewer and smaller events.
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