Corporate sponsors slammed for turning their backs on San Francisco Pride: ‘Shameful behaviour’
The San Francisco Fire Department contingent marches at the 54rd Annual San Francisco Pride Parade in 2024.
Corporate sponsors have been lambasted for turning their backs on San Francisco Pride, as Donald Trump continues his attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), not to mention the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
San Francisco publication SFist has called out companies including Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and British multi-national alcoholic drinks company, Diageo, for pulling support for the event, calling the decision to back away “shameful fair-weather-friend behaviour in a time of frightening fascist action”.
Without the sponsorship money, Pride can’t go ahead, SFist added.
Local wine brand La Crema has also withdrawn its support, all of which adds up to a shortfall in the region of $300,000 (more than £230,000).
“This is one-quarter of the $1.2 million (approximately £925,000) that SF Pride still needs to raise to put on this year’s celebration, and for which [the] fundraising team will need to be more creative and seek out new donors,” wrote SFist’s editor-in-chief Jay Barmann.
Suzanne Ford, San Francisco Pride’s executive director, told KTVU that the loss of sponsors is probably linked to Trump’s war on DEI programmes, and his administration’s targeting of trans people.
Trump has signed a number of executive orders aimed at the transgender community, including proclaiming that the official policy of the US is that there are “only two sexes”, banning trans men and women from serving in the military and restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans youngsters under the age 19.
He has also taken steps to eliminate DEI programmes across the government and military. His stance has led to minorities being erased from the history they helped shape, with the military this week removing web pages dedicated to WWII Navajo code talkers.
The theme of San Francisco Pride this year is “Queer Joy Is Resistance”. It is set to take place on 28 and 29 June. The SF Trans March is scheduled for 27 June.
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