A host of longtime sponsors have begun backing out of their involvement in San Francisco’s 2025 gay “Pride” celebrations, SFGATE reported.
San Francisco Pride, a nonprofit that host’s the city’s annual pride event, has recently been scrambling for other methods to raise $300,000 for this year’s festivities, according to SFGATE. Notably, the news comes amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts nationwide.
San Francisco Pride’s executive director, Suzanne Ford, told the outlet that she was “really disappointed” by the sponsors’ decisions. Sponsors pulling out of the pride event include Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, the company behind Budweiser and Beck’s beer; wine company La Crema, and Diageo, a beverage company known for producing Guinness, Ford told KTVU-TV in an interview published March 15.
The sponsors all cited a shortage of funds when informing San Francisco Pride that they were backing out of partaking in the 2025 pride events, and none of them mentioned the current political climate in the U.S., according to SFGATE. Still, Ford added that it was “very abnormal” for several multiyear sponsors to suddenly drop their support for the event.
A few sponsors pull their support every year, she said, but they typically do so after a series of conversations with the nonprofit, the outlet reported.
“I just interpreted that companies are making decisions that at this time it’s not good to be sponsoring Pride,” Ford told SFGATE. “I think in this political environment that they thought that was a risky decision. But that’s just me reading the tea leaves. I think for a long-term sponsor not to sponsor us, they are responding to what we are.”
The Trump administration has been leading a massive push to eliminate DEI in the federal government, schools and universities. Trump signed a Jan. 20 executive order to end “radical” and “wasteful” DEI programs across the federal government.
Despite recent pushback from Democrats, some Americans are largely supportive of efforts to eliminate diversity programs. Many U.S.-based corporations have also backpedaled on their DEI policies over the past year following intense pressure from consumers.
“La Crema remains fully committed to the LGBTQ+ community,” A spokesperson for La Crema said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “While we had to scale back our SF Pride activation this year, it was never our intention to step away entirely and we are still in ongoing conversations with event organizers on how we plan to participate. We will continue to support Pride, both nationally and in our backyard, and continue our long-standing advocacy partnership with Equality California.”
San Francisco Pride, Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and Diageo did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from Crema.
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