“That is unusual,” he said.
“We’ve seen folks moving a little bit more cautiously, what they would say is strategically.”
This year, businesses are anxious about their involvement.
While some are sticking to it, others are scaling back donations or declining to participate entirely.
They’rescared of the Trump administration’s anti-DEI stanceand threats of retribution.
They’re worried about the potentialsocial media backlash.
And they’re reacting accordingly.
“There’s a variety of responses.
It may be on track for a $200,000 shortfall in its anticipated $4.1 million budget.
Ten years later, Ford thinks that number could be $1 billion as crowds have continued to grow.
Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, and Nissan did not respond to requests for comment.
“I think there is a level of fear.”
“The cost of doing the festival year after year keeps going up,” Modeste said.
It’s not just the large Pride events that are seeing pullbacks.
Government grants have dried up, too.
“Those are pretty much gone now,” Laney said.
“It’s kind of like a change off,” she said.
It’s being more proactive about outreach and doubling the number of fundraisers it hosts.
As for the other four major donors, Clark said the organizers are taking a cautiously optimistic approach.
“Folks seem to have a ‘keep to their own’ mentality,” he said.
“I’m not taking any chances this year,” he said.
Someconservative social media influencersare on the hunt for targets to rile up their followers about.
This has led a number of major companies toscale back their DEI practices.
“So we’re really back to, in a sense, what Pride was originally intended to be.
It was sort of a civil rights activation.”
“In some respects, that’s a positive move,” he said.
“People are getting the message that Pride is fragile.
It always has been and always be,” Ford said.
It’s very, very hard to make that happen without corporate support,” Kilbride said.
“It’s still, I think, going to end up being on the queer community.
Emily Stewartis a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.
