Raining On Pride’s Parade: More Companies Bolt From June's Revelry

America is four weeks away from the LGBT movement's biggest party, and companies are already RSVPing no. Thirty days out from Pride Month, the Left's suffocating celebration of all things gay and trans, it's obvious the cause's long march through corporate America hasn't just stalled, it's in full-blown retreat. Just two years after Dylan Mulvaney's catastrophic undoing of Bud Light, June's over-the-top extremism -- at least as a wholesale business concept -- is dead. And taking plenty of influential mouthpieces with it.

For most CEOs, it's been a year of unprecedented realignment. Dozens of major brands are following up on their commitments to drop DEI and progressive political causes with news that they'll no longer be sponsoring some of June's marquee events. The first warning shots were fired in March, when organizers of the San Francisco Pride Parade confessed that they were having trouble hanging on to corporate sponsors. The event director, Suzanne Ford, admitted she was "really disappointed" by the flood of businesses dropping their support -- to the tune of $300,000 and counting.

"I just interpreted that companies are making decisions that at this time it's not good to be sponsoring Pride," Ford told SF Gate. "I think in this political environment ... they thought that was a risky decision. But that's just me reading the tea leaves. I think for a long-term sponsor not to sponsor us, they are responding to what we are."

Among those who pulled back were big-time names like Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, and Diageo -- the parent company of Guinness, Smirnoff, and other alcoholic drinks. The losses, worth more than a quarter-million dollars, blew a significant hole in the parade's fundraising goal of $2.3 million.

And this isn't just a California phenomenon. At major Pride events across New York City, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and other states, gun-shy businesses are running for the exits. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mastercard, PepsiCo, Nissan, Citibank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Booz Allen Hamilton, Darcars Automotive Group, and others are opting out of the major sponsorships altogether -- some, as in Anheuser-Busch's case, after many years of generous and visible partnerships. 

"It's multilayered, and it's all happening at the same time," lamented Eve Keller, co-president of United States Association of Prides, a nonprofit that supports LGBT events around the country. She noted that the wave of backlash is so strong that most businesses are asking to have their names and logos removed "from official displays and apparel." In New York City alone, a full third of corporate NYC Pride sponsors have either declined to sponsor, scaled back their donations, or are "in negotiations to return," organizers say.

Then there are the brands that want it both ways. Target, which recently agreed to Robby Starbuck's terms and rolled back a significant portion of its LGBT activism, is bravely returning as a platinum-level sponsor of the Big Apple's march. But they're in the minority, research shows. More executives have decided it's financial suicide to team up in any meaningful way with June's in-your-face celebration. In fact, 39% of corporate leaders plan to decrease their observance of Pride this year, according to a survey by Gravity Research. The result? A massive shortfall in funds for Pride-fests on both coasts.

Some companies blame "budgetary issues." Six in 10 "point to President Donald Trump's policies regarding transgenderism and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a driver," Bloomberg noted. "Almost 40% of all firms raised concerns over criticism from conservatives and customers." Frankly, Gravity Research President Luke Hartig said, "Conservative scrutiny is really the top driver of change."

That scrutiny, which is rewriting the U.S. market as we know it, has tentacles that extend even into the pinnacles of LGBT activism. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a group that's taken a public beating during Starbuck's crusade, has completely lost its fundraising edge. 

As more and more CEOs refuse to take part in the organization's Equality Index, their leadership is struggling to project any sense of relevance. In news that's gone largely under the radar, HRC was forced to lay off 20% of its staff in February, The Advocate reported. This "restructuring," as they called it, is almost certainly the result of public pressure and dwindling support.

"The board has charged President Kelley Robinson with ensuring a balanced budget in the face of a new environment that requires a reset as we ready ourselves for the challenges ahead," an official explained. Even so, a senior staffer warned, "We aren't going anywhere."

They may not be going anywhere, but it will certainly be a rocky road for the foreseeable future. The Trump administration hasn't exactly been kind to woke bastions like HRC, as it systematically exiles LGBT, DEI, and ESG activists from government and for-profit strongholds. Will Hild, executive director of Consumers' Research, is one of many who's watched with astonishment as the Left's pet projects have been dismantled.

"I couldn't have asked for more," he told "Washington Watch" guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice. "It's been such an incredible whirlwind of pushback and executive orders on the entire DEI-grid complex. ... So I think it's been fantastic, and we've seen what this is doing to the federal government. But I'm hopeful over the next 100 days, we're going to start to see this trickle through to the for-profit sector too."

As to why so many big-name brands are high-tailing it out of the political space, Hild has some theories. "First of all, I think that they are increasingly seeing consumer fatigue with the constant shoving of the LGBTQ agenda down people's throats. They don't get as much credit as they used to get from the Left for doing it anyway. And they're getting an increasing amount of heat for doing it from people who just don't want these corporations to engage in politics at all. They find it nauseating. So I think that's part of it."

But, Hild acknowledges, "It's going to take a long time" to weed out these toxic politics from American brands. "It's sort of like if you were to take out a bunch of poison from a pond, it takes a little while for things to return back to the way it used to be." Consumers should be encouraged by the corporate titans they've brought to their knees, he insisted. But there's more that they could do.

"I think conservatives tend to only think of their power in terms of their wallet. In other words, if they don't like a company or organization and what they're doing, they'll just [stop shopping] there. ... But if you don't tell a company why it is you stopped shopping there -- and [these businesses] spend millions upon millions of dollars trying to figure out why people shop at Target or Walmart or go to a different place," Hild explained, then you're missing an opportunity. 

"When you send an email or call somebody and say, 'I don't appreciate this thing we saw at Target,' or 'We saw this offensive ad at Budweiser,'" it has a huge impact, he argued. Sometimes, it even goes viral. "Say something both to the company and say something on social media, because they track that kind of thing. So I would say, use your wallet and use your voice."

Based on the reaction of Big Business, America's grassroots army is dangerously close to perfecting both.

Originally published at The Washington Stand