Anti gay companies
Fifty-five years after a raid on New York City's Stonewall Inn sparked riots that catalyzed the same-sex attracted liberation movement and became a cornerstone of up-to-date LGBTQ advocacy, Pride celebrations are bigger and bolder than ever. Meant to commemorate the Stonewall uprising each June, Pride Month in many parts of the world has grown into a four-week extravaganza marked by parades, parties, concerts and an array of cultural events that remunerate homage to its roots in free expression and identity.
Corporations have cashed in on the festivities, especially since the U.S. legalized marriage equality in 2015.
But this year, public-facing Identity festival campaigns at some of the world's largest brands were quieter than usual. At other companies that previously had them, they were completely absent. Fewer public campaigns mean less visibility, which LGBTQ advocates and consumers in the community say can be dangerous in myriad ways.
Last year's conservative backlash
"Corporate Pride" entered mainstream conversations last summer as a flashpoint in the political debate over LGBTQ rights and, specifically, rights for non-binary students and young people. To that end, 527 bills to limit those rights wer
Business Statement on Anti-LGBTQ+ State Legislation
For years, business leaders have distributed the detrimental business impacts of policies and debates that exclude LGBTQ+ people from full participation in daily life, including negative impacts on workforce, recruitment, productivity, and bottom line. In recent years, these policies have increasingly targeted LGBTQ+ youth, including a variety of attempts to isolate transgender youth and to make schools less safe and inclusive for LGBTQ+ young people. Today we are seeing further expansion into policies that would block mention of LGBTQ+-inclusive families in schools, lead to book banning, and even attack the sexual harassment prevention, secure workplace, and diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings and programs that are vital to corporate operations, morality, and legal obligations.
These issues remain major concerns for business leaders, who are hearing concerns from employees and recruits about security and inclusion for themselves and their children in states where such policies are pursued. The cumulative effect of these many attempts to exclude Diverse people is real, and these business signatories endure impacted by
Popular Information
At the pride pride in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, accounting massive Deloitte promoted its help of the LGBTQ community:
In June 2023, Deloitte produced a report on "LGBT+ Inclusion @ Work." In a letter accompanying the report, Emma Codd, the company's Global Chief Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Officer, said she hoped it would enable organizations "to take the necessary steps to turn positive messaging on LGBT+ inclusion into concrete actions."
This month, Deloitte had its in-house designers create 10 postcards "designed to spread thousands of messages of hope, positivity and pride."
On X, Deloitte maintains an account assigned to its LGBTQ group, @DeloitteProud. "We are consecrated to elevating the voices, perspectives, and stories of those within our Event community," the company says on its corporate website. "Our social campaign #PrideIsEternal is part of our promise to elevate and celebrate the diversity of our 2SLGBTQIA+ colleagues. When our people speak, we seek to listen, embedding respect in everything we do."
Deloitte received a flawless score on the Corporate Equalit
These companies kept up LGBTQ advertising despite risk of consumer boycotts
Weeks after a Bud Light endorsement from trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney unleashed a torrent of online vitriol that escalated into a widespread anti-LGBTQ boycott, Anheuser-Busch had yet to contact her about it, she said.
"I was waiting for the trademark to reach out," Mulvaney said on Instagram in June. "They never did."
Anheuser-Busch did not respond to ABC News' request for comment about its message with Mulvaney.
A firm spokesperson pointed to a previous remark, which said: "As we've said, we remain committed to the programs and partnerships we possess forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the Gay community."
The sentiment from Mulvaney echoed wider concern among advocates about a potential chilling effect for LGBTQ-inclusive advertising in the aftermath of the financially damaging boycott against Bud Light, as adv as another against Target over its Pride display.
The consumer backlash has elicited concern among corporations about threats to their bottom line posed by such marketing, since a f
200+ Major U.S. Companies Oppose Anti-LGBTQ+ State Legislation
by Henry Berg-Brousseau •
Box, Inc., Compass, Gilead Sciences, Inc., HP Inc., Hyatt, and Mattel, Inc. among signatories joining Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans’ Business Statement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Human Rights Campaign and Autonomy for All Americans announced that more than 200 major companies have united together to subscribe on to the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans Business Statement on Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation. Together, these companies are merged in opposing the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, much of which specifically harms transgender youth, in states across the country. The list of signatories has more than quadrupled in the past year.
“Every day, more and more major businesses are refusing to sit idly by as mention legislators across the country push anti-transgender legislation and other bills affecting their LGBTQ+ workers, customers, and clients,” said Joni Madison, Interim President Joni Madison, Human Rights Campaign. “Cruel legislative attacks, especially against trans person youth, force employees to choose between states where they can p