by Joe Siegel

Some LGBTQ media outlets are reporting advertisers pulling out from local Pride celebrations, in part due to a cultural and political backlash against LGBTQ rights. But other problems are also impacting Pride events across the country as well.

“With ongoing political and legal attacks on DEI programs and trans rights, many large national brands have pulled back from visible Pride campaigns and sponsorships in ways that would have been hard to imagine even two years ago,” reported Pink Media in its newsletter. “Pride — once a near-automatic seasonal activation for major consumer brands — is now treated as a reputational risk in some boardrooms.”

Kevin Naff, editor of the Washington Blade, has noticed this first hand. “We have seen a drop in support from major brands as corporate America bends the knee to this corrupt administration and its racist crackdown on anything resembling DEI.”

But in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, Ken Schneck, publisher of the Buckeye Flame, hasn’t noticed such a trend. “We truly haven’t seen any difference for this year yet and haven’t heard of any backing off of sponsors. A few Prides in Ohio have been canceled, but that has been due to lack of volunteers.”

According to Tammye Nash, managing editor of the Dallas Voice, “Sponsoring Pride events just flat-out threatens government contracts and other sources of funding that a lot of these companies rely on. But I think we in the community have to do the work to find out which companies had to give in to stay in business, and which ones gave in just to avoid bad press from the right or to avoid losing what would be, relatively speaking, pocket change in terms of their overall budgets.”

Jason Parsley, editor of OutSFL in Wilton Manors, explained the state’s hostility toward the Florida LGBTQ community shows no signs of letting up.

“[Florida Gov.] Ron DeSantis recently signed in an anti-DEI law that makes it much harder for local municipalities to fund events like Pride,” Parsley said. “Currently the community’s biggest municipal partners are scrambling to find workarounds. But this law has sent a chilling effect, especially since it allows people to sue and allow the governor to remove elected officials for violations.”

The South Florida LGBTQ community is not taking any of this lying down.

“There will be court challenges and many believe it will at least be put on hold in the short term. There were a lot of efforts to get it watered down or eliminated while it was making its way through the legislature. There were a lot of exemptions and carveouts but nothing specific for the LGBTQ community,” Parsley added.

“Orlando’s Pride celebration is in October, so it’s a little early to tell if DEI concerns are affecting Come Out With Pride,” said Rick Todd, publisher of Orlando-based Watermark Out News. “However, Tampa Pride claimed to be taking a break this year because sponsorship support was dwindling. A new pride organization called Pride of Tampa was able to step up and make something happen in March. St. Pete Pride is at the end of June and I believe their sponsorship dollars are not what they were two years ago. So, it has an effect. We also have some sponsors decline their free sponsorship ads in the pride guides, I assume because of wanting to remain in the background. In Florida, the real test will come next year when Senate Bill 1134 takes shape prohibiting local counties and municipalities from funding, promoting or implementing DEI initiatives. We have already seen a waffling on support there.”

Some Pride organizations have imploded due to other factors.

“We do not support any of our local Pride organizations,” said Russ White, publisher of Las Vegas-based QLife magazine. “They are all corrupt. Disassociation has been the best strategy for us.”

White elaborated: “Las Vegas Pride lost their 501c3 status over a decade ago, when QVegas was the largest sponsor. I called them out on it, they canceled our sponsorship, and started a competing magazine with the explicit goal of shutting us down. They have received IRS audits, restored their status, the executive director was prohibited from touching any funds as a result, and left the city a few years later.”

In Los Angeles, Mark Ariel, editor of The Fight, noted LA Pride and West Hollywood Pride have fewer sponsors this year.

But L.A-based Q Voice News reported on the cancellation of Long Beach Pride in their May 15 edition.

“We knew Long Beach Pride had been struggling to raise money for this year’s festival; we had reported on it,” said Phillip Zonkel, editor of Q Voice News. “Then the news dropped that the city had canceled the festival due to permit documentation not being filed. And the city dumped the announcement close to 5:30 p.m., meaning city workers would not be around to make comments or answer questions from the press. Isn’t that a clever move?”

Zonkel noted that attendance at the festival had “plummeted” in recent years, that Long Beach Pride’s dealings with the city had become “problematic” and “difficult,” and that corporate sponsors withdrawing their support from Pride was “upsetting and frustrating.”

TOP STORY
Volume 28
Issue 4