Running Scared

It worked.

Trump's intimidation worked.

They scared stiff of getting Trump's wrath!

Big brands distance themselves from Pride events amid DEI rollback

LGBTQ+ celebrations coast to coast are facing funding shortfalls as corporate sponsors cut back. And even backers are electing to be “silent partners.”

The Washington Post

By Taylor Telford

May 5, 2025

Marty Zuniga, who helps organize PrideFest in St. Louis — one of the Midwest’s biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations — could tell by January that this season would be unlike any he’s seen.

That’s when Zuniga noticed that corporate contacts weren’t answering his emails. In the weeks that followed, longtime partners like Anheuser-Busch declined to sponsor this year’s two-day festival while others slashed donations, leaving him with a massive gap in his budget. Meanwhile, he told The Washington Post, several companies willing to commit financially also asked him to keep their names out of it.

Their rationale was consistent, Zuniga said: “We still want to support you, but we can’t scream it from the rafters.”

Trump is so proud that he has created an environment of fear! It fans his ego, that he is so powerful that captains of industry quake in their boots over him. Oh yes, he is gobbling this all up.

Amid the Trump administration’s targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, companies are distancing themselves from Pride, a celebration of queer identity that began in the 1970s following the Stonewall uprising and now spans scores of cities across the globe. Intent on staying out of the government’s crosshairs, many big brands are backing away from LGBTQ+ celebrations of all sizes as part of a broader rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, leaving organizers from coast to coast — including for marquee events in San Francisco, New York and the Midwest — with budget shortfalls at a time when most are anticipating higher turnout, as well as facing heightened safety and logistical challenges.

Tear up the Civil Rights Act of 1964... Trump has shredded it up!

Pride has become a particular point of anxiety in the past couple of years, Hartig said, as executives took notice of how some brands’ efforts to embrace the LGBTQ+ community backfired.

They also fear... MAGA! They are concerned about our own backyard. Last year during Pride month NBC Connecticut writes,

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security is asking people to be aware of potential threats from foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters at LGBTQ-related events this year.

"Obviously there's always some sort of underlying fear concern with such a large-scale event," Haley Stafford with Middletown Pride said.

Stafford is the event coordinator for Middletown's PrideFEST, an event that draws tens of thousands of people to downtown Middletown to ring in Pride Month.

"Normally, between 20,000 and 25,000 people we get down here to celebrate with us," Stafford said.

It is trickle down violence... the top stirs them up and they then take their anger out on us. In places events have been canceled because of fear.

Kehlani’s Central Park concert canceled after NYC mayor raises security concerns

AP News

By  PHILIP MARCELO

May 5, 2025

 Kehlani ‘s planned concert in Central Park next month has been canceled after New York City’s mayor raised security concerns about the R&B star’s performance during Pride month, organizers announced Monday.

The “After Hours” singer had been set to headline a June 26 concert billed as “Pride with Kehlani” at the iconic Manhattan park as part of SummerStage, an annual slate of free concerts at parks across the city.

But organizers, in their announcement, cited concerns from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration about the “controversy surrounding Cornell University’s decision to cancel Kehlani’s concert at the University, as well as security demands in Central Park and throughout the City for other Pride events during that same period.”

“We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds,” the organization wrote in the announcement posted on Instagram. “However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is of the utmost importance and in light of these concerns, the concert has been cancelled.”

You know this is how it all began in Germany in the 1930s with Kristallnacht or the "Night of Broken Glass the rampaging mobs attacking Jews and Jews businesses. Back then businesses were afraid to support anything Jewish for fear of bring upon them boycotts and violence. Just like we are seeing now.

It is not just Pride events but sponsorship across the board, anything LGBTQ+ is being cut. The Times writes...

Rolls-Royce, the FTSE 100 aerospace and defence giant, has become the latest big company to ditch diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies under pressure from Donald Trump’s White House.

Staff have been informed that the company, led by Tufan Erginbilgic, is cutting support for its employee “inclusion networks”, set up to back minority groups within the workforce.

Employees belonging to groups such as Prism, Rolls-Royce’s LGBTQ+ inclusion network, can still meet informally. But the company will no longer provide funding for events. And the groups will not be allowed to have a presence on the Rolls-Royce intranet or put posters up on company premises.

The companies fear "The Wrath of Trump" and it is trickling down to us.