At least one progressive San Francisco political group wants San Francisco Pride to put its money where its mouth is. Specifically, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club wants the SF Pride organization to cut ties with companies that have jettisoned diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and programs.
What started as a backlash against DEI efforts major corporations instituted during and after 2020's reckoning on racial justice after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer became an evisceration after Republican President Donald Trump's election last year. Since returning to office in mid-January for his second term, Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders aimed at companies contracting with the federal government that target DEI programs and reverse civil rights-era equal employment rules.
The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee, which puts on the annual parade on Market Street and festival in the Civic Center Plaza, has long received sponsorships from major companies – including some that have ended DEI efforts, such as Google, Amazon, and Target.
SF Pride this week announced its 2025 theme is "Queer Joy is Resistance."
"We want to give a message to the rest of the country that here in San Francisco our community is celebrated and we're not gonna stand for what we're facing," SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford, a transgender woman, stated on Instagram.
Regarding the organization's sponsors, the Milk club posted a letter on its Instagram page last week. It references a Bay Area Reporter news article stating that Meta – the former SF Pride corporate sponsor that owns Facebook and Instagram – would not be participating this year. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg terminated the company's DEI programs in January, attended Trump's inauguration, and donated $1 million to his inaugural fund. The company shortly thereafter agreed January 29 to pay $25 million as part of a legal settlement with Trump after the company shut down his accounts in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Around the same time Meta changed disinformation and hate speech rules for its platforms. As part of the policy changes at Meta, it clarified in its community standards that, "We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like 'weird.'"
The Milk club was critical of the changes.
"Facebook's recent decision to remove fact-checking on its platform is not just a matter of corporate policy – it is an action that actively endangers marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals," the Milk club stated.
"While the SF Pride has told press that it does not expect Facebook to participate in the parade this year, we believe the Board should actively ban Facebook and companies engaged in similarly harmful actions – like previous SF Pride sponsors Google, Amazon, and Target, who have publicly announced they are ending DEI initiatives – from participating as a matter of policy," the club's post continued.
"Additionally, these companies' increasing alignment with right-wing political figures, sometimes including outspoken support of Donald Trump and his regressive, anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, is deeply troubling," the club continued. "Allowing these corporations to march in the Pride parade not only legitimizes their harmful policies but also sends a message that corporate power is more important than the well-being of our community."
Ford didn't return multiple requests for comment for this article. In announcing Pride's theme on its media partner KGO-TV March 4, Ford told the station's gay news anchor, Reggie Aqui, that the "resistance" part of it "will include letting go of some companies no longer aligned with SF Pride's values."
In January, Ford had told the B.A.R. that Meta had not participated in the 2024 parade because "most or all of our internal contacts [at Meta], queer employees, are gone," and that she didn't expect the company would return this year.
Other companies' actions
Last month, Google's parent company Alphabet edited out references to DEI in its report to the Securities and Exchange Commission and ended diversity hiring targets, MSNBC reported. (https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/google-dei-diversity-hiring-trump-rcna19102) Google CEO Sundar Pichai also attended the Trump inaugural, which had limited attendance as it was held inside the Capitol.
Amazon also removed references to "inclusion and diversity" from its SEC report, CNBC reported. The online retailer's former CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the owner of the Washington Post. Last year he spiked the paper's editorial board's planned endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, breaking with an almost half-century old tradition of presidential endorsements. Bezos was also a guest at the Trump inaugural. He recently changed the paper's op-ed policies to only adhere to two topics, personal liberties and free markets.
After Minneapolis-based Target Corporation announced the end of some DEI policies January 24, Twin Cities Pride ditched the retailer, the Advocate reported. Target had been a major corporate sponsor of Twin Cities Pride and the company had pledged $50,000, but the Pride organization quickly raised over $89,000 after the split, the LGBTQ publication reported.
The B.A.R. reported last year that Target had removed Pride displays from the front of many stores and even shifted some items to its website for online purchase only, leaving designers and artists feeling angry and betrayed.
SF Pride sponsors
As of February 7, a screenshot of Pride's partners tab on its website showed Amazon and Target as sponsors. However, as of March 5, no partners are listed for 2025's parade, though sponsorship and partnership opportunities are advertised.
"These companies' presence in the parade would be an affront to the activists, community members, and allies who rely on SF Pride to be a space of integrity and resistance against injustice," the Milk club stated.
"We urge the SF Pride Board to take a principled stance by denying anti-trans and anti-DEI companies the opportunity to march in the parade," the statement concludes. "We should uplift organizations and businesses that actively protect and support the LGBTQ+ community, rather than those that undermine our rights for profit and political gain. Thank you for your time and for your ongoing commitment to equality and justice. I look forward to your response and hope SF Pride will take the necessary steps to uphold its values."
The B.A.R. called Milk club co-presidents Reid Coggins and Melissa Hernandez to ask if they'd spoken with Ford, if they planned to go to a future SF Pride meeting to present their concerns, and how SF Pride should pay for its festivities without the large corporate sponsors the club is asking the organization to jettison. The B.A.R. agreed to accept written answers to these questions when they could not speak to them on the record at the time of the interview. Coggins sent a written statement.
"During a membership meeting earlier this year, a majority of members of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club asked the Executive Board to send a letter to SF Pride urging them to ban the participation of corporations like Facebook, who have sold out trans safety in favor of currying political favor with far-right bigots like Donald Trump," the statement reads. "We hope that the board will take our concerns into consideration as it plans for Pride this year."
"Pride began as a people-led protest and has slowly become a corporate festival over the years," the statement continues, answering only the third question. "There are plenty of other marches that put on amazing Pride events without bowing to these corporate sponsors. At a time when the most vulnerable in our communities are being attacked – particularly trans people – there hasn't been a more important time for us to prioritize our community's safety over corporate whitewashing and profit."
The SF Pride board will be having a remote meeting Wednesday, March 5, and an in-person membership Wednesday, March 12, at a location to be determined. Both are scheduled for 7 p.m.
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