It’s one thing for irritated Americans to pressure companies into abandoning progressive LGBT agendas; it’s another for long-time Pride sponsors in San Francisco to bail on their own.
This year, several of San Francisco Pride’s major donors—Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, La Crema, Diageo, and Smirnoff—have pulled back from the 2025 Pride Parade and Civic Center Celebrations, leaving organizers scrambling to fill the roughly $300,000 hole in their budget. In total, the San Francisco Pride budgeted $3.2 million for June’s Pride events—$2.3 million of which is meant to be covered by corporate sponsorships.
They claimed a “lack of funds” contributed to their decisions. In fact, a spokesperson from La Crema stated that they’re “not stepping away from our support of the LGBTQ+ community.” Even so, San Francisco Pride’s executive director, Suzanne Ford, felt it may be due to the political climate.
“I think in this political environment that they thought that was a risky decision,” she told SFGATE, admitting she may just be “reading the tea leaves.” She added, “For a long-term sponsor not to sponsor us, they are responding to what we are.” Ultimately, Ford expressed she’s “really disappointed” by these “very abnormal” developments. But it’s not just sponsors walking away from San Francisco Pride. As it turns out, San Francisco Pride has also severed some ties with organizations that “don’t align with San Francisco Pride’s values.”
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is one of those closed relationships. San Francisco Pride stopped partnering with the social media giant after it axed its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, as well as cut back significantly on its content moderation policies. “I’m both proud and sad that we don’t have a relationship with Meta,” Ford said. “That was discontinued last year. So, at this moment, and I don’t see it being rectified, Meta will not be included” in upcoming Pride events. In the meantime, Ford explained how she’s doing everything she can to garner the lacking finances.
Some experts see this as another domino toppling in a chain of collapsing blocks. Americans tired of having LGBT agendas pushed in front of them when they’re simply trying to buy groceries have been taking firm stands for years—with mounting success.
Bud Light ignited a firestorm in 2023 by partnering with Dylan Mulvaney, the infamous trans-identifying “influencer.” It paid a steep price in public outrage. Target, Disney, Ford, Tractor Supply Co., Starbucks, and many more corporate giants have faced years of backlash, seemingly deaf to the roars of politically fatigued customers only until recently. Now, add President Donald Trump’s executive orders slashing DEI and LGBT initiatives to the mix, and it’s an anti-woke tsunami crashing through Capitol Hill and beyond.
“I’ve always been amused by organizers of so-called Pride Parades who assume that their activism deserves to be funded by organizations and businesses,” said Family Research Council’s David Closson to The Washington Stand.
“Unfortunately, for so many years, businesses have felt compelled to contribute to these displays of activism due to the threat of being perceived as non-affirming or bigoted.”
Closson pointed to the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate scorecards as a key pressure tactic. HRC “regularly keeps track of which Fortune-500 companies are perceived as allies to the LGBT community,” Closson added. “In my view, the development this year in San Francisco shows that the LGBT activist lobby has lost some of its political power.” More than that, “it appears that the activist’s hold on the business community is finally loosening.”
These activists “have effectively hijacked the narrative when it comes to LGBT issues,” Closson stated. And yet, “the reelection of Donald Trump suggests, among other things, that tens of millions of Americans are no longer going to be held hostage to the most ardent activists in the LGBT lobby.” As Closson noted, there are surely businesses that are progressive and have genuinely cut back for financial reasons. However, “it does appear that many of these organizations finally feel free to break from these activists”—whether due to Trump’s administration or many years of conservative pushback.
“The pendulum has certainly shifted,” Closson stressed. “And it appears obvious there is some sort of vibe shift that has occurred culturally.” Ultimately, Closson concluded, “the myriad of companies that have dropped divisive DEI programs and LGBT activism is a sign Christians should welcome, because it shows that a large percentage of our friends and neighbors no longer feel the need to fall into line with an activist agenda that has previously caused many businesses to candidly undermine their bottom line.”
