by Joe Siegel

How are LGBTQ media outlets dealing with advertisers that seem to have turned against diversity, equity and inclusion?

Google, the Walt Disney Corporation, and Pepsi are among several major companies which have reversed their hiring practices in an effort to appease the Trump administration.

The decision came in the wake of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that was aimed in part at pressuring government contractors to scrap their DEI initiatives.

Google also removed Pride Month and Black History Month from its calendar app.

PBS — which Trump has repeatedly called for defunding — shuttered its diversity, equity and inclusion office, and those who worked in DEI roles have left the company. PBS said in a memo to staff that the move is to make sure it complies with Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders.

Target, which had already diminished its LGBTQ Pride merchandise line in response to conservative backlash, announced it would pull back on racial hiring targets, end its Racial Equity Action and Change program and cease participation in external diversity surveys, with chief community impact and equity officer Kiera Fernandez telling employees in a memo the decisions were made based on “many years of data” and an effort to stay “in step with the evolving external landscape.”

Some editors and publishers are hesitant to alienate their sponsors.

“I doubt boycotts will work in this situation,” said Michael Yamashita, publisher of the Bay Area Reporter (BAR) in San Francisco. “Individuals will have to make their own decisions for resistance. I expect that Trump’s anti-DEI stance will have a serious, negative effect on national advertising and grants for LGBTQ publications. But this won’t stop us from editorializing against this administration and its harmful policies.”

“We have not called for a boycott of any companies, and I doubt we will,” said Cynthia Laird, the BAR’s news editor. “That doesn’t seem to be a successful strategy, in my opinion. We have strongly criticized Trump in our editorials on the DEI stuff, as well as the anti-trans actions the administration has taken so far.”

“My policy is simple,” said Tim Nedoba, publisher of Iowa City’s GoGuide. “I support diversity, equality, and inclusion. The term and use of the word ‘equity’ sabotaged the whole program.  Now we have nothing. We’re doing our best to fight the good fight out here in Iowa. We have a gubernatorial election coming up at the midterms and the winner of that race will say a lot about how Iowan’s feel. It appears the race will feature a very popular elected Democrat and the current Republican governor who has a huge war chest.”

Ken Schneck, editor of The Buckeye Flame, based outside Cleveland, Ohio, penned a February 5 editorial outlining three ways to change “corporate presence” at LGBTQ Pride events: “If a corporation is one of the many who have already announced they are backing away from their DEI initiatives, they should not be at Pride. Period. Send them a letter explaining why they are being denied a table and what they need to do to get their table back. Worried about losing Pride funding? Check out how Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis dropped Target as a sponsor of their 2025 celebration after the retail giant rolled back DEI initiatives.”

Schneck also pointed out the “swag” major corporations tend to give away at Pride festivals, such as T-shirts, bumper stickers, pens and keychains.

“The only giveaways corporate tables should have are the list of opportunities they are offering the LGBTQ+ community,” Schneck wrote. “Look, with the Trump administration’s efforts to scrub LGBTQ+ people from the fabric of American life in full swing, Pride celebrations should feel different this summer. Pride 2025 should not feel like business as usual, which will start with our demanding that businesses be unusual in their actual displays of support.”

Todd Evans, CEO of Rivendell Media (and publisher of Press Pass Q), believes the issue is more complex than what some media outlets have portrayed.

“Today we have mixed it up a bit and seem to be under the impression that to pursue a market you must be a ‘good’ company and have ‘good’ policies of inclusion and non-discrimination, and so that expectation causes companies to hesitate to show up in our media,” said Evans. “I think it is a big mistake. No person or company is perfect, but always on a journey to make profits and hopefully do good along the way.”

Evans noted some companies have inflicted damage by kowtowing to political conservatism.

“Obviously Bud Light/Anheuser-Busch comes to mind as a company that has actually hurt the community and themselves because they allowed the political right to distort their broad-based marketing campaign without comment. This directly hurt our community by leaving it open to continued attack without the resources to push back as AB could and should have garnered,” said Evans. “It is kind of karmic too that they lost on all fronts and will be a textbook example for decades to come on what not to do when faced with a controversy. Still, I think I would take their ads anyway and let the public decide if they are worthy of our business.”

The Fight, based in Los Angeles, published a list of companies holding onto their DEI policies, including Costco, Apple, Cisco, and even the NFL.

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Volume 27
Issue 1