It’s Pride Month and as more and more businesses have climbed on board the rainbow train, Republicans are running out of places to dine out.
“Rainbow washing” and “rainbow capitalism” have become common refrains from some in the community who are weary of corporations slapping a rainbow on their logo without supporting the community during the other 11 months of the year. But with over 600 anti-LGBTQ+ laws proposed at the federal and national levels by Republicans and the religious right, this is the year to overlook that in favor of just making them squirm.
But as the far-right boycotts Disney, Target, Budweiser, and any other company they can, the perpetually angry are quickly running out of options. Even Chick-fil-A, the right’s bastion of fast food righteousness, has been deemed too “woke” for waffle fries after they hired a vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
So where is a Republican supposed to go on Sundays after church like God intended? Not these restaurants. They’re not offering a side of hatefulness to their menus.
Click through to see some of the brands celebrating online
A $100,000 donation from HBO was announced on Wednesday for regional, national, and local LGBTQ+ organizations in conjunction with the Emmy, Peabody, and GLAAD-award-winning unscripted series We’re Here. The donations will benefit LGBTQ+ non-profits in the locations where the show recorded its third season.
PFLAG Fort Worth, MS Capital City Pride, Pride of Southern Utah, TriVersity Pride Center, Equality Florida, and Lambda Legal are among the organizations receiving the donations, according to HBO.
During season three, Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and Shangela toured Texas, Utah, Florida, Mississippi, and New Jersey, bringing together a range of residents to promote acceptance and raise awareness. In each town, the queens support their “drag daughters” by empowering them to express their true selves and to encourage acceptance and tolerance in their communities, despite increased opposition from state governments in Republican-controlled states nationwide.
The season was shot during the beginning of a fraught period for LGBTQ+ people as right-wing extremists and conservative Republican politicians targeted the community with a particular disdain for transgender people and drag queens.
Queer people, especially those who are trans, have been falsely accused of grooming children by the far-right.
In the show, local groups protested the production happening in their towns due to these conspiracies.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ghvJYFxt-0?rel=0&start=85We’re Here Season 3 | Official Trailer | HBOwww.youtube.com
This donation will benefit organizations supporting or advocating for the LGBTQ+ community in their state.
Dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV and AIDS, Lambda Legal focuses on impact litigation, societal education, and public policy nationwide.
Using lobbying, grass-roots organizing, education, and coalition building, Equality Florida protects the LGBTQ+ community from harassment and discrimination, particularly in the face of an all-out assault by the state’s Republican governor and 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis.
As a community-based organization in Mississippi, MS Capital City Pride provides safe spaces for LGBTQ+ communities and mentors emerging leaders. Among the many services the TriVersity Pride Center offers to the LGBTQ+ community in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are events, educational programming, a media center, and support groups.
PFLAG Fort Worth provides confidential peer support, support for families, education, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ people in that part of Texas. As a community-based organization in Mississippi, MS Capital City Pride provides safe spaces for LGBTQ+ communities and mentors emerging leaders.
All major social media platforms do poorly at protecting LGBTQ users from hate speech and harassment — especially those who are transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming, the advocacy group GLAAD said Thursday. But Twitter is the worst.
In its annual Social Media Safety Index, GLAAD gave Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter low or failing scores, saying the platforms don’t do enough to keep their users safe. That said, most improved from a year ago.
Twitter, which was acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk last October, was the only exception. GLAAD’s scorecard called it “the most dangerous platform for LGBTQ people” and the only one that saw its scores decline from last year.
Twitter’s communications staff was eradicated after Musk took over the company and for months inquiries to the press office have been answered only an automated reply of a poop emoji, as was the case when The Associated Press reached out to the company for comment.
LGBTQ advocates have long warned that online hate and harassment can lead to violence offline. But even when it does not, online abuse can take a toll on a person’s mental health.
“There isn’t a week that goes by that we don’t have a doxxing situation for somebody in our community that we have to come in and help them stop it and stop the hate, stop the vitriol and stop the attacks,” said GLAAD CEO and President Sarah Kate Ellis referring to the malicious practice that involves gathering private or identifying information and releasing it online without the person’s permission, usually in an attempt to harass, threaten, shame or exact revenge. “It’s really been amped up to a level that we’ve never seen before.”
On Twitter, attacks on LGBTQ users have increased substantially since Elon Musk took over the company last fall, according to multiple advocacy groups.
A big part of the reason is the drastic staffing cuts Musk has enacted since his takeover — there are simply not enough content moderators to handle the flood of problematic tweets that range from hate speech to graphic material and harassment. Musk has also described himself as a “free-speech absolutist” who believes Twitter’s previous policies were too restricting.
In April, for instance, Twitter quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups. Musk has also repeatedly engaged with far-right figures and pushed misinformation to his 143 million followers.
Twitter, as part of the same retooling of its site policies, also changed how it responds to tweets that violate its rules. While in the past, offending tweets were removed, the company now says it will sometimes restrict a tweet instead of removing it from the platform altogether.
“Twitter is is largely a cesspool now. You can’t post without getting attacked. There’s no room for conversation. It is just about hand-to-hand combat,” Ellis said. “And that’s what it is. It’s like backyard dogfights.”
Ellis lamented that before the takeover, Twitter was a “leader” among major social media platforms when it comes to protecting LGBTQ users.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, saw a 15 percentage point score increase for both its platforms, to 61% and 63%, respectively. GLAAD’s index measures 12 LGBTQ-specific indicators, such as explicit protections from hate and harassment for LGBTQ users, offering gender pronoun options on profiles, and prohibiting advertising that could be harmful or discriminatory to LGBTQ people.
While Meta has improved and has strong policies in place, GLAAD says the company does not consistently enforce them. For instance, the group says for many abusive posts that it reports, Meta will send an automated response stating that due to the high volume of reports it receives, it is not able to review the post.
Meta said in a prepared statement that it works with “civil society organizations around the world in our work to design policies and create tools that foster a safe online environment,” including getting input from LGBTQ safety and advocacy organizations.
TikTok, which saw its score increase from 14 points to 57%, said it is “proud to have strong policies aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ individuals from harassment and hate speech, including misgendering and deadnaming, and we’re always looking to strengthen our approach, informed both by our community and the advice of experts, such as GLAAD.”
Google’s YouTube, meanwhile, scored 54%, up nine points from 2022.
“Our policies prohibit content that promotes violence or hatred against members of the LGBTQ+ community. Over the last few years, we’ve made significant progress in our ability to quickly remove this content from our platform and prominently surface authoritative sources in search results and recommendations,” said spokesperson Jack Malon.
Musk, in tweets and public statements, has repeatedly said he supports freedom of speech and calls himself a “free speech absolutist” who wants to turn Twitter into a “digital town square” where people with differing views can debate freely. The company’s newly installed CEO, Linda Yaccarino, also tweeted recently that “you should have the freedom to speak your mind. We all should.”
But GLAAD and other organizations advocating for marginalized groups note that unfettered freedom for one group can infringe on the free speech of others.
“Freedom of speech does not mean I get to, you know, bully and harass people relentlessly,” said Jenni Olson, GLAAD’s director of social media safety. “And that is why companies have hate speech policies, because … if someone is bullying and harassing me that actually means that I don’t have freedom of speech because I’m afraid to say anything.”
Bud Light and Target were not always political punching bags. But both companies have been drawn into the center of a long-brewing conservative battle after the brands released campaigns supporting or featuring LGBTQ people.
Target announced Tuesday it was pulling some LGBTQ-themed items from stores following what a company spokesperson described as “threats” to employees over this year’s line of Pride Month merchandise. In interviews, Target customers and employees at stores in North Carolina and Texas said the company moved Pride collections away from the front of the store.
Bud Light, meanwhile, drew backlash from right-wing commentators after partnering with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on a marketing campaign in April. Influential conservative figureheads called for a boycott, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a contender for the GOP presidential nod — said he would never drink Bud Light again. Sales have continued to plummet.
But several mainstream brands have publicly supported LGBTQ people for years. So what’s different now? Advocates and marketing experts say it’s the growing power of a vocal minority of far-right political commentators, conservative politicians and religious legal groups, which have led the calls to boycott the companies while these right-wing groups and individuals also support a historic wave of state legislation that seeks to restrict LGBTQ rights.
Yet another recent uproar centered on the Dodgers, which faced pressure from conservatives such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to disinvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a decades-old LGBTQ nonprofit, from the team’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night. The team later reversed course, re-inviting the group, and drew more criticism from conservatives.
The most protracted battle of all concerns Disney, which has been locked in an increasingly bitter feud with DeSantis. The root of the conflict: Disney’s decision, under former CEO Bob Chapek, to publicly oppose Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay bill restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. DeSantis hit back, targeting the media giant’s special self-governing status in Orlando, home to Walt Disney World.
The firestorm around these brands stems in part from efforts made by corporations to be more inclusive. In recent years, against a backdrop of growing cultural visibility for historically marginalized communities, consumer-focused companies have increasingly featured LGBTQ people in advertising, marketing and other public-facing initiatives, such as Pride events.
Of course, major companies also saw a clear capitalist incentive: LGBTQ people in the U.S. collectively represent roughly $900 billion in annual purchasing power, according to a 2019 report from LGBT Capital, a financial services company.
That hasn’t made them immune to backlash that has been intensified in part by internet-fueled conspiracy theories and a wave of anti-LGBTQ bills in statehouses.
Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ program director for Media Matters, a liberal watchdog organization, said a common thread connecting firestorms around Target and Bud Light’s campaign with Dylan Mulvaney is Matt Walsh, a political commentator for far-right website the Daily Wire.
“He’s been one of the most strident voices pushing this forward,” Drennen said. “Now, they’ve been picked up kind of more broadly throughout the right-wing media from people following that lead, but he’s been the person who’s really been pushing this kind of aggressive boycott tactic.”
She noted that Walsh declared victory over Target on social media, where he has 1.9 million followers on Twitter.
“The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands. If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that they’ll pay a price. It won’t be worth whatever they think they’ll gain,” Walsh tweeted on Wednesday.
“First Bud Light and now Target. Our campaign is making progress,” he added. “Let’s keep it going.” Walsh did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.
Brendan Whitworth, the CEO of Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch, distanced the company from Mulvaney and said in the days after the backlash that it “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.” Roughly a week later, Anheuser-Busch confirmed media reports that two of the marketing executives who worked on the campaign were taking leaves of absence.
Drennen said that part of what is allowing Walsh to get traction is his increased national recognition in efforts to restrict transition-related medical care for minors. In February, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves invited Walsh to speak ahead of Reeves signing a bill to ban transition-related care for minors in the state. Earlier that month, NBC News reported that Walsh’s advocacy also influenced Tennessee’s decision to reject more than $8 million in federal funds to combat HIV.
“All of this is a coordinated attempt to make it untenable to be specifically trans in public,” Drennen said. “And one of the ways that they’ve attempted to do this is by removing any kind of political support, any kind of corporate support — just basically making it untenable to be an ally to the trans community. And I think that’s the real connective tissue between these.”
She added that Fox News covered a new North Face campaign that featured drag performer Pattie Gonia during a segment on Wednesday. On Thursday, conservative commentator Candace Owens announced during her Daily Wire show that, due to the campaign, “there will be nothing in my home that is from the North Face.”
Bob Witeck, president of Witeck Communications, a firm specializing in LGBTQ marketing, said that while the controversies surrounding Bud Light and Target were “created” by a small number of people, they were amplified by social media and some news outlets.
“The kerosene just carries a lot further today,” Witeck said of how controversies sparked by a small number of people spread further more quickly. He added that the conservative response to Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney campaign was ignited, in part, by commentator Ben Shapiro, and then picked up by other right-wing voices and news. Shapiro did not immediately return a request for comment.
Conversations about LGBTQ people, at a time when LGBTQ issues are more visible than ever, “become distorted quickly,” he said. Witeck added that LGBTQ advocates are likely to continue filing legal challenges against anti-LGBTQ laws because they violate the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, a 2020 ruling holding that gay and transgender employees are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The decision galvanized many grassroots conservative activists.
“Trans people have been dehumanized, people are defining them in political terms that are dehumanizing, and so it’s much easier for these media influencers to line up those things in front of people,” he said of the backlash to Target and Bud Light, even though “these aren’t the motivating issues in their lives.”
Laurel Powell, director of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the U.S., said “far-right extremists sense an opportunity,” and that is why there has been a more intense response from conservatives to Target’s Pride Month collection, for example.
“We’re coming off of the most hostile and dangerous state legislative season when it comes to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation,” Powell said. “We are existing in a country right now where one of our major social media networks has essentially become an alt-right platform. They see an opportunity, and what they’re going to find out is that they are out of step with most Americans; they are out of step with the vast majority of people who believe that LGBTQ+ people should be able to live lives free from discrimination.”
In 2016, a slew of major corporations, including American Airlines, Apple, Microsoft, eBay and Nike, signed on to an amicus brief supporting the Justice Department’s efforts to block North Carolina’s “bathroom bill,” which barred trans people from using restrooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificate.
Seven years later, the American public and U.S-based companies have only become more accepting of LGBTQ people, the latter with both their internal policies and via public marketing campaigns. However, Witeck said the difference between then and now is that lawmakers have proposed nearly 500 bills to restrict LGBTQ rights in dozens of states.
“In 2016, you had just one state doing something novel that other states weren’t doing,” Witeck said. To take a stand on even 10 of the bills proposed this year would be a challenge, “and most major corporations are based in all of those states.”
Witeck said he expects Pride Month this year to be “militant,” because LGBTQ people are anxious and worried.
“Corporate allyship is going to be tested like we’ve never seen,” he said. “Allies have got to really be prepared to grow spines, to really stand by their values.”
Canyon Club Brewery in California announced on Monday that it was cutting ties with a professional fisherman after he expressed support for a new anti-gay law in Uganda.
“We learned of Mr Dyer’s view this morning and immediately severed our relationship with him. We could not disagree more strenuously with Mr. Dyer’s view and the abomination that is going on in Uganda,” the Canyon Club Brewery in California said in response to a tweet that shared screenshots of Blake Dyer’s support of the new law.
Dyer’s Twitter account has been deleted, but screenshots posted on social media showed him responding to a tweet from Texas Senator Ted Cruz discussing the new anti-gay law. “With Uganda on this one,” Dyer reportedly said in response to the law.
Read the full article. Dyer has deleted most of his social media accounts and made his Instagram page private.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s gender-affirming care ban for transgender youth.
The organization is suing alongside other groups and law firms on behalf of two families who believe the law violates the U.S. Constitution. It is the eighth lawsuit filed by the ACLU and its affiliates against trans health care bans, according to the Los Angeles Blade. Lawsuits have also been filed in Arkansas, Nebraska, Montana, Oklahoma, Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
“This law is a dangerous intrusion upon the rights and lives of Idaho families,” said Amy Dundon, a Legislative Strategist with the ACLU of Idaho. “Our state should be a safe place to raise every child, including transgender youth, and HB 71 threatens to deny them the safety and dignity they deserve. We welcome this opportunity to defend the transgender youth of Idaho and their families from this discriminatory political attack and we won’t stop defending them until each one has all the care and support they need to thrive.”
The lawsuit calls the legislation “an unprecedented intrusion into families’ fundamental autonomy” and says it “preempts Idaho parents’ (and doctors’) judgment about what is best for their own children.”
One of the anonymous plaintiffs, a 16-year-old trans girl, said it has been a “long journey” to living as her true self.
“My medical care has been an important part of that journey,” she said. “My family, my doctors, and I have worked together to make decisions about my medical care, and it’s shocking to have politicians take those decisions away from us. Trans people like myself deserve the same chance at safety and liberty as everyone else, but this law specifically targets us and our health care for no good reason. I’m 16 – I should be hanging out with my friends and planning my future instead of fighting my State for the health care I need.”
Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) signed H.B. 71 in early April. It is considered one of the nation’s most punitive bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth. The bill made providing such care to a trans person under the age of 18 a felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Only one other state, Alabama, has made it a felony to provide gender-affirming care. The 11 other states that ban such care have imposed administrative penalties like the loss of a healthcare provider’s medical license.
The Idaho bill bans gender-affirming surgery from being performed on trans minors, though such surgeries aren’t performed on minors. The bill also bans doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy to people under the age of 18.
Puberty blockers are reversible, life-saving medications that delay the permanent effects of puberty so that young people and their families have more time to understand their identities. Puberty blockers don’t work if they’re taken years after the onset of puberty.
“We are determined to protect the transgender youth of Idaho, their families, and their medical providers from this unjust and dangerous attack on their rights and lives,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, a Senior Staff Attorney at the LGBTQ & HIV Project with the ACLU. “This health care is supported by every major medical organization in the U.S. and is critical for the futures of transgender youth across the state. We will not rest until this unconstitutional law is struck down.”
With Pride Month officially underway, businesses will be finalising their plans to celebrate and support their LGBTQ+ employees and colleagues. We share some suggestions on how to truly champion LGBTQ+ employees beyond the standard gestures of solidarity.
The month of June serves as a time when the entire LGBTQ+ community can unite and remember the progress made, all while addressing the ongoing issues that are impacting the community. As this year has already been plagued with hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and homophobic rhetoric in the news, Pride should also serve as a time to stand up and against the bigotry that has reared its ugly head.
For employers, Pride Month is low-hanging fruit when it comes to supporting LGBTQ+ employees, and the recent hasty retreats of brands like Target and Bud Light after their LGBTQ+ inclusive marketing efforts attracted bigoted hate are examples to brands and businesses of how not to handle Pride Month.
Offering honest support and a commitment to LGBTQ+ people at work goes beyond hanging some rainbow flags and putting on a Pride-themed event. While these are admirable gestures, LGBTQ+ employees value more than these surface-level actions.
To make an authentic difference and celebrate LGBTQ+ employees during Pride Month (and beyond), here is a list of meaningful ways employers can support their LGBTQ+ employees.
Update what is currently being done
Simple steps like encouraging the sharing of pronouns in emails and on name badges and offering gender-neutral bathrooms is a great starting points, but companies now need to refine and assess how inclusive those things are.
Do the company’s internal systems offer pronouns outside of the binary? If a colleague uses they/them pronouns then they should exist identically in HR documents. How accessible are those gender-neutral bathrooms? If a key is needed, then it may not be that accessible.
This approach also applies to the imagery that is on display throughout the workplace and in communications: If the company flying the Pride flag, consider updating it to the Progress Pride flag, which more explicitly represents queer people of colour, the trans community and intersex people.
Offer diversity training
Providing diversity training that specifically addresses LGBTQ+ issues can help educate employees and create a more inclusive workplace. Training like this increases awareness of unconscious biases, promotes respect and provides practical tools for fostering an inclusive environment.
When employers invest in ongoing diversity training, they are demonstrating their commitment to creating a broader atmosphere of understanding and acceptance throughout the year.
Re-examine benefits and how they are written
Nothing says “lack of inclusion” like employer benefits and policies that don’t reach everyone within the business. Benefits like family leave should reflect all the different ways families are created, such as through adoption or surrogacy. Employers should also double-check and make sure that all family leave is equitable rather than focused on the binary of maternal and paternal.
Regarding more complex experiences like gender-affirming care and transitioning, employers should be ready to support and advocate for their trans and non-binary employees where they can. Being this advocate could change internal policy and also influence medical providers to cover things like surgeries and hormone treatments.
Know the history of Pride
Given the political vitriol hurled at the LGBTQ+ community, now is a perfect time for businesses to be reminded why Pride is celebrated in June. Understanding the origins and significance of Pride is crucial for creating an inclusive environment. Employers can educate themselves and their employees about the Stonewall riots in 1969 and the struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community throughout history.
By acknowledging and respecting this history, employers can foster empathy, awareness, and appreciation for the progress that has been made. It’s also key that employers are vocal themselves, and not put the onus to spread awareness on the shoulders of their LGBTQ+ employees.
Donate to charities that align with company goals
There’s no better way to show allyship than with a sizeable donation. With the help of employee resource groups (ERGs), companies can find charitable organisations that align with the company’s values and missions. If there is an employee-led fundraising campaign underway, companies can easily match employee donations.
Charitable donations are a win-win for the business. They are tax deductible and it’s another sign to LGBTQ+ employees that the company they work for is committed to LGBTQ+ inclusion outside of the workplace.
Let ERGs and employees lead the discussions
There is no gatekeeping in allyship, so business leaders should give the space to let LGBTQ+ ERGs and individuals drive the conversation around Pride. Employee-led groups can share their own experiences and what inclusion looks like to them. Companies with progressive benefits often utilise these volunteer-led networks to help shape and form those policies.
It’s important to note the difference between LGBTQ+ employees leading discussions and putting the responsibility for starting those discussions on them. Queer employees want the space, but shouldn’t have to create the space themselves. ERGs are more impactful when there is an executive sponsor that advocates for them.
Make resources readily available
Employers can go the extra mile by providing additional resources specifically aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ employees. This could involve creating an LGBTQ+ library or resource centre that offers books, articles, and educational materials.
Additionally, implementing mentorship programs or pairing LGBTQ+ employees with allies can provide invaluable support and guidance. These resources contribute to a sense of belonging, personal growth, and professional development among LGBTQ+ employees.
Stand up for what is right
Already this season, brands and businesses have succumbed to the backlash from the “anti-woke mob.”
From issuing public ‘apologies’ to taking down Pride retail displays, when businesses backtrack like this it severely impacts the LGBTQ+ community. It makes many in the community feel further isolated and it also encourages more hateful speech and discrimination towards LGBTQ+ people.
A clear majority of Americans who don’t identify as LGBTQ believe companies should publicly support the community, according to a new survey from gay rights organization GLAAD.
About 70% of more than 2,500 adults who don’t identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or an otherwise member of the community said support from companies should come through hiring practices, advertising and sponsorships, according to online responses to GLAAD’s annual “Accelerating Acceptance” study, conducted in February.
“When people are exposed to LGBTQ people and experiences in media it changes hearts and minds and shifts culture and sentiment,” GLAAD said in its release. “Measuring comfortability in media is a pathway to 100% acceptance for LGBTQ people.”
Three out of 4 survey respondents said they feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ people in advertisements, and nearly 70% reported feeling comfortable seeing an LGBTQ family with children included in ads.
The study comes as retailers like Target, Kohl’s and PetSmart have come under attack for their annual LGBTQ Pride merchandise displays and ad campaigns.
Mega retailer Target went as far as to pull some of its merchandise from the retail floor last week. A spokesperson for the company said threats to employees were “impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.”
Critics continue to incite anti-LGBTQ attacks in stores and on social media, with some calling for boycotts.
In April, Bud Light came under fire after partnering with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The campaign prompted violent videos of customers shooting cans of Bud Light and a right-wing boycott. In response, the marketing executive who oversaw the partnership at Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch Inbev took a leave of absence.
Sales of Bud Light since then continue to suffer, according to data by Evercore ISI. In the week ended May 20, Bud Light sales volume — the number of units of beer sold — declined 29.5% compared with the same period last year.
The company has also faced criticism from LGBTQ leaders who have dinged the company for not defending its ties with Mulvaney and the community more strongly.
In a statement responding to the backlash, Anheuser-Busch said it “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
GLAAD and more than 100 leading LGBTQ advocacy organizations wrote a letter on Wednesday calling on Target to “reject and speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ extremism going into Pride Month,” which is celebrated in June.
“Doubling down on your values is not only the right thing to do,” the group wrote in a statement. “It’s good for business.”
A separate survey conducted by GLAAD and the Edelman Trust Institute in December found that if a brand publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights, Americans are twice as likely to buy or use the brand.
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis emphasized in her personal call to action on Twitter last week that companies need to stand behind their products and ad campaigns instead of backing down.
“Anti-LGBTQ violence and hate should not be winning in America,” said Ellis. “But it will continue to until corporate leaders step up as heroes for their LGBTQ employees and consumers and do not cave to fringe activists calling for censorship.”
Disneyland is holding its first official LGBTQ Pride Nite this June, making the Happiest Place on Earth even happier.
Pride Nite will be from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on June 13 and 15 as part of the park’s “Disneyland After Dark” series. Dancing, special attire, and pride-themed backdrops are on the agenda. According to Disneyland officials, their Anaheim Park drew inspiration from its Parisian sibling for Pride Nite.
Tickets for Pride Nite go on sale on April 20 for $139 each.
This announcement comes as the Burbank entertainment company continues to face backlash in Florida for opposing the state, “Don’t Say Gay” law, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Florida and its governor Ron DeSantis have been in a dispute with Disney since the company opposed the law that prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade, the LA Times reported.
Under pressure, Disney’s former chief executive Bob Chapek said he called DeSantis to express disappointment and concern over the bill, the LA Times reported. In response, DeSantis and the state dissolved the special tax district where Disney operates Walt Disney World.
Reactions on Pride Nite were mixed among social media users, the LA Times said, some in support and others expressing discontent.
“In the wake of everything that’s happening to the country, that Disney is coming out in support of the community and inviting the community in, in this way, I think is a great thing,” said Eddie Shapiro, organizer of Gay Days Anaheim, an unofficial, formerly after-hours dance party at the park, but with a 25+ year history.
“Disney is obviously saying out loud, ‘We as a company are not cowed by [events in Florida],’ nor should they be,” Shapiro said. “I’m glad that they’re saying that.”
Shapiro added: “I think it’s kind of funny that 25 years later, Disney is ready not to have an unofficial thing but an official thing, and we’re back to having an after-hours, late-night event.”
However, Shapiro said the two events can and will coexist, according to the Times.
Right-wingers have cried foul again, this time targeting Lego’s LGBTQ+ A-Z of Awesome campaign for Pride, after internet troll Oli London tweeted “Lego turns trans”.
Lego’s A-Z of Awesome, launched for Pride Month last year, is a community-centred social media project aiming to highlight LGBTQ+ voices.
Reposting an advert of the campaign on Twitter, London – possibly best-known for his various plastic surgery procedures to make him appear like BTS star Jimin – wrote: “Lego turns trans,” and implied that “transgender building sets for kids” were included.
A Lego spokesperson told PinkNews: “We have not released any LGBTQIA+ sets aimed at children. The A-Z of Awesome was a marketing campaign released last year, that featured sets built by our amazing adult fans. None of these sets are for sale.
“Lego play is for everyone and we are committed to building a [kinder], more empathetic and understanding society now and for future generations.”
London’s post has garnered more than 900 retweets, with many joining him in calling for the brand to be boycotted.
One person commented “adding to my #boycottlego collection of boycotts”, while others also called for the brand to be blacklisted.
Lego’s A-Z of Awesome page highlights interviews with builders such as self-described Black, queer woman, Hope, from Boston, who has “dedicated her life” to supporting young LGBTQ+ people of colour, with her work paying “tribute to those themes of intersectionality”.
The brand announced in April that all of the A-Z of Awesome creations will be exhibited at its Legoland theme park in Denmark, from 24 May.
Lego’s first Pride range, Everyone is Awesome, was launched in May 2021. The range featured 11 figurines, all but one of which had no specific gender designation so as to “express individuality while remaining ambiguous”.
His reaction resulted in him being criticised online with people on Twitter coming out in force to slam his video, with social media users pointing out that the staff were just doing their job.
Ever-growing list of brands the right have called to boycott
Lego joins an ever-growing list of brands the conservatives have demanded be boycotted, including, Nike, The North Face, Bud Light, Target , adidas and Starbucks.
The announcement saw social media users say they were adding the brand to the list of businesses they would no longer frequent.
The brand released a statement supporting their partnership with Gonia, adding that the “outdoors are for everyone”.
Meanwhile, Bud Light continues to face the fallout from its collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney following the beer brand giving the trans influencer a single can of their brew with her face on it.
Another household name to be face ring-wing wrath is adidas, with its Let Love Be Your Legacy collection for Pride 2023, supposedly guilty of “erasing women” and “gaslighting”.