The organizers of San Francisco Pride (SF Pride) shared financial concerns due to major companies pulling funding this year.
SF Pride executive director Suzanne Ford said that the show will still go on, but organizers are going to have to make due with a smaller budget. Ford expressed suspicion this was part of a wave of businesses distancing themselves from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs under the Trump administration.
“I’m very concerned. Obviously, there’s pressure from the federal government,” Ford told a local FOX affiliate.
“The tone has changed in this country. Businesses already hedge their bets, and I think people who, this isn’t their hard core value of their corporation, maybe they’re rethinking their investment,” Ford said.
SF Pride is a nonprofit that runs an annual parade and festival for two days in San Francisco. Scheduled for June 28-29, this year’s theme is “Queer Joy is Resistance.” The event is one of the largest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the world, drawing over 1 million attendees each year, according to their site.
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Ford said that five corporations pulled their sponsorship of SF Pride, resulting in a loss of approximately $300,000, and told Fox News Digital, “The overall budget goal is $2.3 million, and while we have nearly $1 million already committed, we now need to raise an additional $1.3 million to meet our target. We remain focused on securing the necessary funds and appreciate the continued support from our community and partners.”
The companies that reportedly pulled their funding are Benefit Cosmetics, Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, alcoholic beverage company Diageo, and wine company La Crema.
However, La Crema told Fox News Digital, “La Crema remains fully committed to the LGBTQ+ community. While we had to scale back our SF Pride activation this year, it was never our intention to step away entirely. We are in ongoing conversations with the organizers and it is our hope to still find a way to partner at this year’s event.”
The statement went on to say, “Our company has not distanced itself from DEI—we continue to support Pride events nationwide and in our backyard and maintain our long-standing advocacy partnership with Equality California.”
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President Donald Trump has cracked down on DEI by signing executive orders terminating DEI policies in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.
Major companies like Facebook, McDonald’s, Walmart and Harley-Davidson are rolling back or have completely abandoned their DEI efforts.
Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, Diageo, and Benefit Cosmetics didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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