Bud Light and Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch has canceled the San Francisco Pride (SF Pride) sponsorship citing financial constraints.
Ranked as the largest LGBTQ+ event in the world attracting over 1 million participants, the San Francisco Pride will take place between June 28 and June 29, 2025, in California’s fourth-largest city. This year’s theme is “Queer Joy is Resistance” in the face of Trump’s onslaught on the radical woke ideology.
The beer brand lost over $27 billion after partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate “365 days of girlhood,” resulting in a conservative boycott that wiped out 30% of the company’s customers. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Pride continues to hemorrhage sponsors resulting in the loss of over $300,000 in funding out of the remaining $1.3 million after five sponsors pulled out. While the event’s overall funding goal is $2.3 million, SF Pride already has over $1 million committed.
The massive pullout occurred hot on the heels of various companies ditching woke policies including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring standards that prioritize race, gender, and sexual orientation. Besides Anheuser-Busch, other companies pulling out of the SF Pride include Comcast, Benefit Cosmetics, and Diageo, a British producer of popular alcoholic brands such as Smirnoff, Johnny Walker, Guinness, and La Crema wine. However, La Crema said it had not entirely ditched the LGBTQ+ community and hoped to partner with the SF Pride organizers in some limited capacity.
The San Francisco Pride also cut ties with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp parent company Meta over its decision to ditch censorship and DEI hiring policies. Earlier this year, Meta removed tampons and other female sanitary products from men’s bathrooms, resulting in pro-transgender silent protests. Lamenting the pullout, SF Pride’s executive director, Suzanne Ford described the withdrawals were “very abnormal,” suggesting that companies were steadily shifting their priorities.
“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.”
In the present “return to common sense” era under President Trump, Ford inadvertently pointed out that becoming involved with radical woke policies was a risky business decision. However, she blamed the Trump administration for allegedly putting pressure on companies.
“I’m very concerned. Obviously, there’s pressure from the federal government,” Ford told a Fox News affiliate KTVU.
“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.”
Nonetheless, Ford said the event would proceed as planned as they would look for new sponsors although its future was bleak. Ford also warned that many small businesses that benefitted from SF Pride would be significantly affected.
“The whole world will be watching to see if San Francisco still has those values. That they can come here and live their authentic lives,” Ford added.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to terminate DEI policies across the federal government in hiring, contracting, and spending. While U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore blocked the order, a three-bench appeals bench lifted the injunction allowing the policy to proceed.
