But his hatred is having a profound effect on Pride. Companies are afraid of getting on the wrong side of Trump.
May 30, 2026Weekend Edition SaturdayBy Hannah Frances JohanssonPride celebrations across the country continue to lose out on large sponsorships as corporations, a key source of funding, shrink their affiliation with diversity causes and LGBTQ+ events.Corporate sponsorships of celebrations in several cities, including New York City, Salt Lake City, Louisville, St. Louis, Orlando, and Pittsburgh are down from previous years, organizers said.Jordan Braxton, co-president of the United States Association of Prides, which supports Pride celebrations nationwide, said that while some smaller Prides have seen a growth in sponsorships, a majority have seen a reduction.She said the Trump administration's dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, has scared corporations away from sponsoring Pride celebrations. "I think that's why some of the corporations have pulled back, because they don't want that government scrutiny," she said.
The squeeze is on; companies are nervous to bring down the wrath of "The Don." When big money walks away, working-class solidarity and community roots can step in to fill the gap.
It was beginning to be felt last June, as Non-Profit Quarterly wrote back then,
Citi, Lowe’s, Mastercard, PepsiCo, Target, and Walmart.These are but a handful of the major corporate sponsors who have backed out of supporting Pride celebrations across the country this year.In a climate increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, many corporations renounced their commitments to Pride festivals and events parallel to dissolving their DEI initiatives. According to The Advocate, even before President Trump renounced DEI through executive order, “dozens of major companies had already abandoned their practices. Many made their decisions after conservatives online specifically targeted them for their policies and threatened boycotts.”
And now companies are quaking in their boots and bowing to the Golden Idol.
NPR goes on to write:
"It takes a lot of money to do this," said Dena Stanley, director of Pittsburgh Pride. "Permittings costs, security costs, headliners costs, staging costs, cleaning crew costs, insurance costs, all of these are expenses."
Over on the other side of pond, British organizers have coupled with unions,
Solidarity between LGBTQ+ people and unions has saved an event denied ‘a single penny’ of council moneyGuardianHannah Al-OthmanSat 30 May 2026As the annual Pride parade weaved its way through Durham, the rainbow flags, trans rights placards and sequined cowboy hats filled the medieval city’s cobbled streets with a huge splash of colour.But this year, the rainbow flags were almost matched in number by trade union banners, as miners, postal workers, and train drivers swelled the parade’s ranks in solidarity, making it the biggest in Durham Pride’s history.When Reform UK won control of Durham county council last year, one of the party’s first moves in power was to take down the rainbow flag that flew over its headquarters. Soon after, it announced it was axing funding for the city’s Pride event.“Durham Pride won’t be getting a single penny from this council next year,” the deputy leader, Darren Grimes, said last summer. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be bankrolling it.”
Conservatives are the same world wide... picking on minorities as scapegoats.
Maybe we should get back to our roots since Trump is trying to take us back there?
Gay TucsonBy Tony Ray BakerJanuary 29, 2026For years, we’ve seen it every June, all over the news: a downtown skyline glowing in neon pink and purple, the bank logos suddenly sporting six-stripe flourishes, and the aisles of retailers overflowing with “Love is Love” t-shirts. We’ve come to know this phenomenon as “Rainbow Washing” (or Rainbow Capitalism)—the practice where companies adopt LGBTQ+ branding for profit during Pride Month while fundamentally lacking a deep, long-term commitment to the community.But as we navigate the landscape of 2026, the masks have finally slipped. It turns out that for many of these “allies,” our community wasn’t a cause to support—we were just a demographic to rent.[...]Returning to Our RootsThe era of “Rainbow Washing” is ending because the corporate world has realized that standing with us requires actual courage—a commodity many of them lack. This betrayal is leading many Pride organizations to pivot back to their “protest roots,” seeking community-led funding rather than relying on unreliable corporate partners.Here in Tucson and beyond, it’s time to ask: If your support is only available when it’s profitable, why should we give you our business at all?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Why did the Stonewall Uprising happen?
- What has Pride turned into?
- Have hate crimes against our community increased?
- Are hate crimes on the rise?
- Have we gone back to the 1950s?
USAFactsNationwide, the number of reported hate crimes have increased by about 100% since 2015, rising from 5,843 to 11,679.[...]Sexual orientation and gender identityTogether, sexual orientation and gender identity biased crimes accounted for 23% of total hate crimes in 2024. The primary biases were anti-gay male (49%), anti-transgender (17%), and anti-LBGTQ+ as a whole (34%).Anti-LBGTQ+ biases, as a whole, account for all but 1% of sexual orientation- and gender-identity-motivated hate crimes, and they’ve risen by 110% since 2015.The FBI first collected data on gender-identity motivated hate crimes in 2012. Anti-transgender crimes accounted for 378 of 521 reported gender identity hate crimes in 2024, up 55% since 2020. (Due to the newness of the category to FBI tracking, we're highlighting the 5-year change rather than a decade.)
Are We Returning to the Era of the Lavender Scare?
When we ask if we have gone back to the 1950s—to the mid-century McCarthy era—we should remember that the United States government weaponized the state against our community in what became known as the "Lavender Scare." Today, we are watching history repeat itself with a modern twist.
The Trump administration's aggressive dismantling of protections for the LGBTQ+ community and attacks on laws and policies enacted since Stonewall are stripping away the very rights and safeguards we have spent decades fighting to secure. Just as we saw back then, with companies caving to government pressure and firing LGBTQ+ employees, we are now seeing corporations ditch their support for Pride the second things get tough.
When we ask if we have gone back to the 1950s—to the mid-century McCarthy era—we should remember that the United States government weaponized the state against our community in what became known as the "Lavender Scare." Today, we are watching history repeat itself with a modern twist.
The Trump administration's aggressive dismantling of protections for the LGBTQ+ community and attacks on laws and policies enacted since Stonewall are stripping away the very rights and safeguards we have spent decades fighting to secure. Just as we saw back then, with companies caving to government pressure and firing LGBTQ+ employees, we are now seeing corporations ditch their support for Pride the second things get tough.
With June we usually see a increase in acts of vandalism. Many time people do not want to report them to the police because they are afraid of their name coming out in the news. So Connecticut has set up tip line...
Have you experienced or witnessed a bias or hate incident in Connecticut? Tell us what happened.If you have experienced or witnessed a bias or hate incident in Connecticut, you can report that information here. The State of Connecticut will use this information to determine when and where hate incidents occur, improve resource allocation, and develop community anti-bias programs.Information may be shared with law enforcement. To ensure this incident is investigated by the police, please contact law enforcement directly.This information will be kept private and confidential by the state agencies that receive it. However, it is not exempt from Freedom of Information requests. While state agencies will seek to protect your information from an FOI request, this cannot be guaranteed.Important: If you fear for your safety or the safety of others, please call 911 immediately.
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