The Fading Rainbow: Corporations Ditch Pride, Leaving LGBTQ+ Community to Question “Allyship” on Eve of PRIDE Month

Indianapolis, Indiana – As PRIDE Month is set to begin, a disturbing trend is casting a pall over celebrations nationwide: major corporations, once eager to drape themselves in rainbow flags and court the LGBTQ+ dollar, are now conspicuously scaling back or altogether abandoning their sponsorships of Pride events. This retreat, leaving organizations from New York City to San Francisco facing crippling budget shortfalls, is more than a financial blow; it’s a painful betrayal that forces a crucial question, as one 15-year-old trans non-binary youth trying to find their place recently asked: “How can we have PRIDE if no one actually HAS PRIDE?”

The excuses offered by these corporate behemoths are often couched in vague economic anxieties, some citing the “uncertainty around the economic impact of tariffs.” But as Professor Joanna Schwartz of Georgia College & State University, an expert in LGBTQ+ marketing, suggests, such explanations are often a “polite way of a company saying, ‘we’re too scared to do this, and we don’t want to own it.’” The truth, increasingly evident, is a capitulation to a hostile political climate fostered by the Felonious Punk administration and amplified by right-wing activists, leaving the LGBTQ+ community feeling abandoned precisely when support is most needed.

The numbers tell a stark story. NYC Pride, run by Heritage of Pride, faces an estimated $750,000 shortfall as giants like PepsiCo, Skyy Vodka, Target, Nissan, and Mastercard have either backed out, reduced contributions, or requested their involvement go unpublicized. In St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch, a key sponsor of PrideFest for over three decades, failed to renew its support for 2025, contributing to a $150,000 deficit. San Francisco Pride organizers reported being down nearly $200,000 after Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Benefit Cosmetics, and Diageo dropped their sponsorships. The impact is even more acute in smaller, rural communities, where some Prides have seen sponsorships plummet by 70% to 90%.

This corporate cowardice is occurring within a broader, chilling context. The Punk administration is actively pushing to “codify its extreme views,” and a slew of companies—including Tractor Supply Co., John Deere, Harley-Davidson, Ford, and Lowe’s—have visibly walked back their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. Just last week, House Republicans passed a budget bill with provisions that would cut off Medicaid funding for all gender transition care, a move experts have called “an assault” on transgender healthcare and one that aligns with recent directives from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to disregard established medical guidelines for trans youth.

“It’s been beyond disheartening to watch corporations bow to public pressure at a time when the queer community, and especially trans individuals, are under attack now more than ever,” said Chris Piedmont, media director at Heritage of Pride. His call for “corporations and partners of all sizes to step up to the plate, stay on the right side of history” underscores the betrayal felt by many.

This retreat feels like a regression to an era when corporate support was virtually nonexistent, as Professor Schwartz notes. For years, companies eagerly sought the LGBTQ+ community’s estimated $3.9 trillion in global purchasing power, often engaging in what critics label “rainbow capitalism” or “rainbow washing”—performative support without deep commitment. The Bud Light saga of 2023, where the brand first faced conservative boycotts over a campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney and then alienated queer customers by shrinking from the backlash, losing an estimated $1.4 billion in sales, served as a cautionary tale many corporations seem to have learned the wrong lesson from: retreat rather than resilience.

The current “prevailing wind,” as Schwartz describes it, “is out of a far more conservative place, and companies are trying not to make anyone mad.” The result is that “the companies that were really trying to make an easy buck off of the community were the first ones to leave.” For young people like Charles’s 15-year-old, who had hoped to participate more fully in Pride activities this year, this corporate flight translates into cancelled pre-Pride events and a community grappling with heightened tensions both internally and externally. Their poignant question about the meaning of “Pride” in the face of such abandonment hangs heavy.

While some companies attempt to maintain low-key, behind-the-scenes support for LGBTQ+ employee resource groups or avoid overt references to trans and nonbinary people to dodge becoming “targets,” the public message is one of withdrawal when allyship demands courage. On platforms like Reddit, lists of these “fair-weather friends” are being compiled, a testament to a community taking note of who stands with them when the parade line becomes a battle line.

In the face of this, there are glimmers of the community’s enduring spirit. Small, local, and queer-owned businesses are stepping up where corporate giants have faltered. NYC Pride, for instance, has seen nearly $10,000 in donations from almost 100 individual donors since its shortfall was announced.

But the onus should not solely fall on a community already under siege. The question for these corporations is stark: Was their proclaimed support for equality and inclusion merely a marketing strategy, easily discarded when politically inconvenient? Or do they possess the fortitude to demonstrate that their commitment to LGBTQ+ employees and customers is more than just a fair-weather affection? As Chris Piedmont powerfully stated, “We’re here. We’re queer. And we’re not going anywhere. Regardless, our community will do what it has always done—from Stonewall, to Compton’s Cafeteria, to the youth-led trans protests today—we march on.” The question is, who will have the courage to march with them?