Under financial and political pressure, the LGBTQ+ community is ‘putting the protest back in Pride’ celebrations

By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN

(CNN) — Jordan Braxton still remembers her first Pride celebration in St. Louis, when it was still a relatively small gathering of about 5,000 people asserting their identity, in a city where simply being visibly gay was an act of resistance. It was in Forest Park, tucked away from downtown, and photography was discouraged because people feared they could lose their jobs if they were identified.

Back in June of 1984, she says, Pride was more protest than parade.

As the years went on, the LGBTQ+ community earned hard fought rights, and that small gathering in the park evolved into a brigade of 30,000-plus people marching down Market Street, with floats, glitter and performers, said Braxton, who now sits on the board of St. Louis Pride.

Annual Pride celebrations across the country have become a staple of their communities, and nearly 10% of American adults now identify as LGBTQ+. With big corporations eager to provide visible financial support to the LGBTQ+ community, these celebrations have become bigger, flashier and emblazoned with company logos.

But this year, amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity and equity efforts and a torrent of legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, Pride organizers around the nation are facing a decline in sponsorships and visible corporate support.

Scrambling to fill the gap in funding, these groups are leaning on grassroots fundraising efforts and returning to that original spirit of resistance. This year, the organizers say, simply showing up will send an important message.

“We’re putting the protest back in Pride,” Braxton says.

Losing corporate sponsors

Pride organizers in California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas told CNN they have seen corporate sponsors withdrawing from this year’s Pride celebrations or reducing their contribution amounts. Some say longtime sponsors have asked to quietly contribute this year, minimizing their brand visibility at public events.

In addition to financing the flashy decorations and entertainment for Pride parades, organizers say the funding is essential for security and free entry at many events – and the community services many Pride organizations provide year-round.

St. Louis Pride is about $150,000 under its fundraising goal after losing a major sponsorship from beer giant Anheuser-Busch after a 30-year partnership, St. Louis Pride president Marty Zuniga told CNN. CNN has reached out to Anheuser-Busch for comment.

“That one was a stab in the heart,” Zuniga said.

Bud Light, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, faced intense right-wing backlash and calls for a boycott in 2023, after a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who said she faced violent threats after posting an Instagram video sponsored by the brand.

San Francisco Pride organizers say they were initially down $300,000 after losing Anheuser-Busch and other major corporate sponsors. After news of the sponsorship withdrawals went public, two of those sponsors indicated they would return this year, after all, San Francisco Pride president Suzanne Ford told CNN.

The timing also complicated matters, Ford said, as budget conversations typically happen long before the event is approaching. The celebration is held annually in June.

“I think we all know what’s going on, and we all know that corporations had to respond to the present circumstances with the federal government and public sentiment,” Ford said.

Corporate Pride engagement declines

Luke Hartig, president of Gravity Research, advises major corporations on navigating social issues. He says the pressure companies have been under when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues has been building in recent years, citing a particularly contentious period in 2023.

There was the partnership Bud Light launched with Mulvaney that spring that resulted in a sharp decline in sales. Then Target was forced to remove some of its Pride-themed merchandise after threats were leveled at staff members in part of a volatile anti-LGBTQ+ campaign. And the Los Angeles Dodgers faced a wave of conservative backlash after hosting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag group that leads charity and activism efforts in the city.

Companies see enough of those high-profile setbacks and they start to take notice, Hartig told CNN, citing his group’s research showing a 60% decrease in Pride engagement across major companies between 2023 and 2024.

“We were already seeing kind of a downward trend. Now, I think that has been accelerated because of the current administration’s crackdown on DEI, its broader movement against LGBTQ rights and its seeming willingness to go after companies that might be opposed to some of its policies,” Hartig said.

He says a group of corporate executives that his group recently surveyed are particularly wary of the threat of federal DEI investigations.

Afra Afsharipour, a professor at the UC Davis School of Law, says the Trump administration may not have a legal basis to go after companies it says aren’t complying with its relatively vague executive order threatening investigations for “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion activity. That will likely play out in the courts, she told CNN.

The Trump administration has also threatened to block mergers among companies with DEI policies.

But even if they come out of it clean, corporations likely don’t want to endure a federal investigation or potential legal battle, Afsharipour noted.

“Executive orders don’t have the force of law,” she said. “At the same time, I think the calculus by the Trump administration is – and they’ve done this with the way that they have targeted lots of different institutions – they’re just trying to scare companies.”

‘This is the year to show up for Pride’

Whatever the reason for the decline in corporate support, one thing organizers across the country agree on: canceling Pride celebrations this year is not an option.

“I’ll knock on every door in this city. We are going to find the money,” said Ford, the president of San Francisco Pride.

That may not be necessary. Meeting the more than $3 million cost of putting on the city’s Pride weekend won’t be easy, but Ford said she’s already seen an increase in individual donations.

In fact, organizers from multiple states say they plan to make up the difference in funding with small business partnerships and grassroots funding efforts. Some of these grassroots campaigns have already raked in tens of thousands of dollars.

In Cincinnati, organizers are relying on community funding to bridge the gap created from the money they’ve turned down – from organizations that don’t align with their mission of equality, including companies that have rolled back their DEI programs.

Cincinnati Pride chairperson Jeremy Phillippi told CNN his organization is taking a stance: “We do not want to be associated with you, because you do not stand with our community.”

While corporate support may be waning, organizers say they aren’t worried about attendance dropping. And they say it will mean that much more when their communities show up for them this Pride season.

“This is the year to show up for Pride,” Ford said. “This year, just to come is a revolutionary act.”

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CNN’s Joe Sutton contributed to this report.