Corporations pull back from LGBTQ Pride sponsorships, affecting South Florida events

Yahoo

5 hours ago

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The LGBTQ Pride month parades and festivals will go on.
But in the current political environment, organizers of the events in South Florida and across the nation are feeling pressure.
Hostility from President Donald Trump's administration toward anything touching on diversity, equity and inclusion is having an effect, financially. Some sponsors, whose contribuitons help defray the costs of parades and festivals are pulling back, wanting to avoid the spotlight and any potential controversy.
Each of this year's major South Florida events — Palm Beach Pride in Lake Worth Beach in March, Miami Beach Pride in April, and Stonewall Pride in Wilton Manors in June — have seen some sponsor departures. The nation's biggest LGBTQ Pride parades and festivals are seeing the same phenomenon during this year's June Pride month, with some experiencing major falloffs.
'I don't believe there's a single Pride organization in this country that has not seen a drop in financial contributions,' said Rob Legere, director of sponsorships at Miami Beach Pride. 'It's happening around the country. From New York City to D.C. World Pride, to Chicago, to Miami Beach Pride, down to the small ones, Naples Pride or Space Coast Pride in Florida. Everyone has seen the same thing.'
The last major South Florida Pride event of the spring is Stonewall in Wilton Manors on June 14.
'It does have an impact with Stonewall,' said Jameer Baptiste, events division president at Hotspots Happening Out, the organization that organizes the festival and parade. 'We are seeing fewer corporate sponsorships.'
At the same time money is getting tighter for Pride events, they are being hit with much higher costs for security. Police and sheriff's deputies seen at the events are paid for by the organizations that run them, which hire off-duty law enforcement officers.
Julie Seaver, executive director of the Compass LGBTQ+ Community Center in Lake Worth Beach, said Palm Beach Pride, which works 'very closely' with the Sheriff's Office, had to spend an extra $15,000 for extra water-filled barricades for enhanced security. That was not directly related to the political climate for LGBTQ events, she said. It was was part of the security enhancements that came after the New Year's Day attack in which a man drove a pickup into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people and injuring 57.
And Wilton Manors, at the recommendation of the city's police chief, is requiring metal detectors at all entrances to the Stonewall Street Festival and Parade this year. Budget documents the organization prepared for the city said the metal detectors would add $35,000 to the event's already heavy security costs.
The budget presented to city officials in May showed police, deputies and fire-rescue personnel plus metal detectors taking up about a quarter of the $761,000 budget for the event. The total does not include another estimated $324,000 of in-kind donations of goods and services.
Sponsors typically don't explicitly draw a straight line between the political environment and their decisions to end or pull back their support, executives of South Florida Pride organizations said.
'Nothing specific. Just very generic responses like, 'Unfortunately, this year our budget doesn't allow for it.' Things of that nature,' Baptiste said. 'We definitely don't want to assume. … We can only deduce that that's a possibility because we never experienced that with our corporate sponsors before. Some that we've had continuously for years upon years have all of a sudden backed out.'
Palm Beach Pride experienced a related phenomenon this year, Seaver said.
Seaver cited how a company, a public sponsor in the past, continued this year — but this time didn't want that support publicized. She said a company representative said it would 'continue to sponsor and support Pride events.' When she asked where the company wanted its sponsorship logos, she was told, 'We don't want to see any of that because we're trying to pull back from anything political right now.'
Seaver declined to name that sponsor, but said it was 'a longt-ime, reputable company that used to promote that they were sponsoring Pride events.'
There can be other reasons for curbing sponsorships, including economic uncertainty. Legere said sometimes companies change their marketing strategies or decide to concentrate on different parts of the country.
'Sometimes sensors just have a natural life cycle. They sponsor for a couple of years. They move on to something else,' said Todd Delmay, executive director of the political organization SAVE LGBT, who has held leadership in other LGBTQ organizations.
People who don't rely on sponsorships for funding aren't worried about offending people whose support they might seek in the future. 'Corporations have been pulling back on sponsorship of Pride rallies in response to the (Trump) administration's attacks on diversity,' said Stephen Gaskill, a strategic communications consultant and former president of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus.
Charles Zelden, a professor of history and legal studies at Nova Southeastern University, also said what is happening is clear. 'It's a sign of the trends that have happened since the election of Donald Trump,' Zelden said.
Companies that have supported Pride events in the past don't want to get caught up in controversy — or risk becoming the one or two that become examples, as has happened with some prominent law firms and universities, he said.
'Government can do a lot to affect business,' Zelden said. 'They're scared because it's disfavored, scared because the federal government has become retributive. … 'You do what we say or we're going to make you hurt.' So these companies are basically backing away in an overabundance of caution. It's chicken. But it's also rational in the current environment.'
The 2025 Pride Pulse Poll of executives in major companies conducted by Gravity Research, a consulting company that advises companies on reputation and risk management, found 39% plan to reduce Pride-related engagement in 2025, and none reported plans to increase it. Gravity also found 61% of executives cited potential pressure from the Trump administration as the top reason for rethinking their Pride strategies.
The change is welcome to Anthony Verdugo, executive director of the Christian Family Coalition of Florida, who said via email that 'the public, and especially parents, are fed up with having LGBT propaganda shoved down their throats.'
Verdugo applauded the Trump administration's moves to halt federal government deliberations of LGBTQ Pride and the message being sent. 'The Trump administration is listening to the voters by putting an end to Pride celebrations, and the private sector fortunately is beginning to come along.'
Leaders of the three major South Florida Pride events said there hasn't been a mass exodus.
Baptiste and Stonewall's website and advertising show past sponsors returning for its June 14 event. They include airlines JetBlue and Spirit, health systems Holy Cross Health, Baptist Health and Cleveland Clinic, and Fiserv, a payments financial services tech company.
Also returning is Target, the retail chain that has generated controversy after scaling back on its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. After protests in the past from conservative activists, Target has also scaled back Pride merchandise in some stores.
'We are happy to say that Target has come back. It was one of the ones that we thought wasn't going to because of the climate that's out there and the nature of what they're going through right now. But we're very happy and pleased to say that they're back with us,' Baptiste said.
Among those who haven't returned are American Airlines, Amazon and Florida Power & Light Co.
American and FPL didn't respond to requests for comment. Amazon also didn't comment, but provided a link to a statement on its website explaining inequitable treatment of anyone, including LGBTQ people, 'is unacceptable.'
Not commenting on the subject is common among former corporate sponsors. CNBC, CNN and The New York Times all reported that multiple major companies did not respond to requests to discuss their Pride month plans.
A new Stonewall sponsor this year is Stiles, the big construction and property management company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale. In December, Stiles and a North Carolina-based real estate company bought the Shoppes of Wilton Manors, where some of the city's most prominent LGBTQ businesses are the biggest tenants.
In South Florida, which is in many ways politically and culturally different from the rest of the state, local governments have largely been supportive of Pride events in their communities — especially in places known for their LGBTQ population.
Seaver said Lake Worth Beach, Palm Beach County government, and the Sheriff's Office provide some goods and services, but not money.
The Broward County Cultural Division is providing $25,000 this year to Stonewall in Wilton Manors under a new county cultural festival and events sponsorship program, said Phil Dunlap, division director.
Last year, the county provided financial support for Stonewall via its tourism marking agency. This year, Visit Lauderdale CEO Stacy Ritter said, the agency is providing some social media marketing support, but not money.
Data showed 2024 attendees 'were very, very, very local and our money has to be spent on marketing the destination to visitors.' Ritter, a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community when she was a state representative and county commissioner, said it was 'absolutely not' a county avoidance of supporting Pride.
Wilton Manors, the unofficial capital of the LGBTQ community in South Florida, is spending $50,000 of city money on Stonewall and what the city manager told commissioners was $48,000 in additional support in the form of expenses it covers, including water trucks and the time of city employees.
One government agency that sponsored Stonewall with $5,000 in cash and $5,000 of in-kind support in 2024 but nothing in 2025 is Memorial Healthcare System. Although it's widely known by that brand name for its network of hospitals and health services in the southern third of the county, it is actually a government agency, the South Broward Hospital District, which is governed by a board appointed by the governor.
'They didn't give us a specific reason, other than budget,' Baptiste said. 'All we know is that they didn't come.'
Tania Ordaz, the system's director of corporate communications, said via email that Memorial Healthcare focuses on investments 'that drive our mission as a healthcare provider. Our sponsorship committee regularly reviews and rotates sponsorship investments to ensure we are supporting stakeholders in our primary service area and sometimes beyond. As resources are limited, we are unable to sponsor every initiative each year.'
Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state enacted the Parental Rights in Education Law, called the 'Don't Say Gay' law by critics, which restricts instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools. It has imposed age restrictions on audiences for drag shows. And it banned light displays on state-managed bridges, except on official government holidays using red, white and blue, which effectively blocks rainbow-colored lights during Pride month.
In February, DeSantis announced a Florida version of DOGE would review local governments, inspired by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency that was led by Trump's ally-turned-enemy Elon Musk to end federal programs and fire employees.
With that backdrop, Delray Beach commissioners debated whether continuing the city-sponsored and -financed Pride festival and concert could attract the attention and ire from the state government.
Delray Beach Commissioner Juli Casale told her colleagues at an April meeting that she'd heard from the city's lobbyist that the city should be cautious.
'There could be financial ramifications,' Casale said. 'What I'm hearing is that we could be penalized.'
Commissioner Rob Long argued the city should not be 'at the whim of whatever winds are blowing from Tallahassee.'
'At a time when LGBTQ-plus communities are under increasing attack, it sends the wrong message for Delray Beach to even consider or even talk about pulling our modest support for an event that celebrates inclusion, Pride and community spirit,' Long told his colleagues.
The next day the city manager asked the lobbyist, Mat Forrest of Ballard Partners, to elaborate. Via email, Forrest told city leaders that when the state assesses funding for Delray Beach it 'would likely consider, as one of many factors, the City's sponsorship of any event. … The City should keep that responsibility, or vulnerability, in mind when allocating funds to any externally produced event.'
Ultimately, the City Commission maintained the $15,000 for Pride Fest and $15,000 for a Pride concert that evening, part of an annual Delray Beach special events budget totaling $951,000 for more than 30 events. Pride Fest and the concert are on June 14.