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Oct 24, 2023

Pride Month was once an easy win for brands. Now, the stakes are much higher

New York — Companies have long embraced Pride Month in June as an uncomplicated

New York — Companies have long embraced Pride Month in June as an uncomplicated way to market to members of the LGBTQ+ community while telegraphing progressive values. But this year won't be nearly so straightforward.

In recent weeks, two major brands, Target (TGT) and Bud Light, were targeted by right-wing media and on social platforms for relatively small LGBTQ+ initiatives: Bud Light's Instagram partnership with a trans influencer, and a subset of Target (TGT)'s line of goods marketed to trans customers and allies.

Right-wing commentators, politicians and others called for boycotts, and the brands’ employees were threatened with violence. In both cases, the companies seemed cowed: The CEO of Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch (BUD) released a vague statement calling for unity and Target pulled items from shelves. Both brands say they continue to support the LGBTQ+ community: Bud Light on Tuesday announced a donation to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce in support of LGBTQ+ owned small businesses, and Target has continued selling much of its Pride merchandise in stores.

Pride month merchandise is displayed at a Target store in New Jersey on May 24.

But the backtracking shows that backlash and threats could create a chilling effect for companies, and leave them without a clear path forward.

Executives "are becoming much more skittish about taking these stands and making strong statements," said Daniel Korschun, associate professor of marketing at Drexel University. "The pendulum is swinging a bit back … toward a more conservative approach, where they’ll be less vocal."

Although support for gay rights has increased over the years, gaining acceptance among most Americans, trans acceptance is a more contentious issue. About 43% of adults said society had "gone too far" when it comes to accepting people who are transgender, according to a March survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal and Norc. About 33% said society "has not gone far enough," with 23% saying society has reacted "about right." When it comes to accepting people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, a smaller percentage — 29% — said society had "gone too far."

Campaigns that may have been considered low-risk are now drawing ire from public figures who oppose trans rights along with their supporters, creating a PR mess that may hurt sales. Backing away — rather than quelling the negative reactions — has dismayed the very demographic the campaigns were supposed to reach and may close avenues for future inclusive marketing efforts.

"Allyship is sometimes uncomfortable," and businesses are learning that, said Jared Todd, press secretary of the Foundation at the Human Rights Campaign, which maintains the Corporate Equality Index, a measure of companies’ LGBTQ+ practices. "I don't think people realize that quite enough."

They might realize it now. Anheuser-Busch lost its spot on the HRC Foundation's Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality in 2022 list over its response, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom called out Target's CEO for "selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists."

California Governor Gavin Newsom (left) and Senator J. D. Vance are pictured here in a split image.

The current landscape "is alarming," Todd said. "It's alarming to businesses, it's alarming to executives — and it should be."

Staying quiet may once have been an antidote to potential boycotts, but "there's not as much of a neutral space anymore," Korschun said. "That middle ground is going away."

So this year, companies that want to participate in Pride have to be prepared to take a real stance.

The conventional wisdom about boycotts was once simple, Korschun noted: Angry customers will likely lose interest or get distracted by another perceived corporate transgression.

But it "feels that we are moving into a new phase now, where politicians are getting much more involved," Korschun said. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) tweeted that Target "decided to wage war on a large share of its customer base," adding "I no longer shop at Target."

That involvement from politicians is "mobilizing consumers in a way that they might not have mobilized otherwise," Korschun said.

Some of those lashing out have described a campaign against Pride itself, rather than Bud Light or Target (TGT) specifically. "The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands," right-wing commentator Matt Walsh said on Twitter. "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."

It's no coincidence that the anti-trans assault comes as trans rights are under legal attack across the nation. More than 200 bills have been introduced targeting transgender and non-binary people this year, HumanRights Campaigns reported in late May. Transgender people are more than four times as likely to be victims of violent crime than cisgender people, according to a study from the UCLA School of Law.

"This has been a well-funded and a coordinated effort to silence the LGBTQ community," said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, which aims to build acceptance for the queer community through media. "It's an all-out assault."

Yet groups like GLAAD have seen this reaction before — and it ended up turning around.

Though Pride has been mainstream for years, there was a time not long ago when featuring gay and lesbian people in ads could spark negative response, noted Ellis.

"Ten years ago, we used to have war rooms behind when a company would have a new ad that included LGBTQ people," she said. "There were a couple of years it was a little rough going."

Eventually, sentiment turned toward mainstream acceptance. Now, "I think we’re at that inflection point again," she said.

A 2022 poll conducted by Morning Consult for the Trevor Project found that about 29% of US adults personally know someone who is trans. The remaining population, said Ellis, is "being filled with misinformation … and hate and discrimination."

Demystifying trans lives for more Americans will lead to greater acceptance, she said, noting that this is a "critical" moment for trans rights and acceptance. "We need corporate America and we need these powerful CEOs to help."

This year, Pride is different for companies.

GLAAD has organized a "corporate rapid response team for Pride," Ellis explained, designed for brands to prepare for and address possible outrage. The goal is to prevent "quick decisions that end up hurting our community, ceding space to bullies and violent folks," she noted, adding none of the companies that partner with GLAAD have backed away from LGBTQ+ initiatives.

The Human Rights Campaign is taking a similar approach, said Todd: "We are in the business of sitting down with these companies and making sure that they have a clear pathway for inclusion and supporting diversity."

It's not just about goodwill, advocates say. Companies that have remained committed to polarizing positions are often rewarded financially. Nike (NKE), for example, didn't waver from its campaign with football player and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick. The ad was supported by the coveted young consumers demographic and won Nike (NKE) an Emmy. In the years since the campaign, Nike (NKE)'s share price has increased.

Most Americans "believe that representation matters," Todd said. "When companies lean into that, and prove that through what they do and say, they come out on top."

Plus, noted Drexel's Korschun, customers tend to punish companies when they go back on their word.

Shoppers are willing to overlook certain changes in stores, noted Korschun, like price increases or temporary shortages. But customers bristle at what they see as hypocrisy.

"Consumers react very poorly when companies say one thing and do another," Korschun said. "Inconsistency is very disconcerting to many consumers."

That's partly because when companies walk back decisions, customers wonder whether they’ll do the same in business dealings — like return policies, for example.

As Korschun put it, "If I come to the store with a problem in the future, related to just a regular purchase … are they going to walk back promises there, too?"

These days, companies that want to benefit from marketing to marginalized groups have to be ready to back those decisions, agreed Jared Watson, assistant professor of marketing at New York University.

"When brands are deciding to participate in advocacy in any format, they need to think about what that long-term advocacy looks like," Watson said. "Whether they’re willing to internalize that support as a value for their brand, or not. And if they aren't, then it's maybe not something that they should be championing."

Ultimately, Watson suspects the higher stakes will have a polarizing impact on brands.

Some might decide to play it safe. But others, he said, will lean in. North Face this year moved forward with a Pride marketing campaign that features Pattie Gonia, a drag queen and environmentalist — and the company isn't backing away despite calls for a boycott from some Republicans.

Some brands will think, "‘What's happening to Target is an attack, not just on the LGBTQIA+ community, but all of us,’" Watson said. "’We need to show we’re not afraid.’"

___

In the early hours of June 28, 1969, the New York Police Department unwittingly helped start the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. At the time, clubs with gay or lesbian patrons weren't allowed to serve alcohol, but the Stonewall Inn still served booze to their customers, which gave police cause to raid the bar. The clientele pushed back, and 13 people were arrested. LGBTQ+ people and their allies protested for days. Among the crowd was transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson, who later founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization that provided resources for LGBTQ+ youth and sex workers.

After the events at Stonewall—which the NYPD eventually apologized for in 2019—more and more people pushed for LGBTQ+ equality. Activists organized the first LGBTQ+ marches in the United States and around the world, giving rise to annual Pride parades. In 1973, the American Psychological Association no longer considered being gay or lesbian a mental illness, and the first openly lesbian politicians were elected in the following year. Currently, openly gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer candidates occupy political offices at most levels of government, including in the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and state governorships.

There is still more to be done, but since Stonewall, the government has passed laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal. More than two dozen countries have passed legislation giving marriage rights to everyone.

In the military, it took decades for gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members to win the right to enlist. And it wasn't until 2011 that LGBTQ+ troops could openly serve in the United States armed forces. While the Obama administration repealed the ban on transgender troops in 2016, former President Donald Trump effectively reinstated it in 2019 (though the ban was overturned by the Biden administration in 2021).

To find out more about LGBTQ+ history, Stacker combed through news reports and used data from GLSEN to compile over 50 years of LGBTQ+ progress. Read on to see the evolution of this movement, from then to now.

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Anger erupted after New York City police arrested 13 people during a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a bar and safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. Advocates protested for days, even though police took action—even turning fire hoses onto the crowd. Many say the event catalyzed the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.

The events of Stonewall led to the creation of the GLF, a group that organized the Christopher Street Liberation Day in New York in 1970—now considered the first Pride parade. It started with only a few hundred people, but by the time the group reached Central Park, thousands were marching for LGBTQ+ equality.

In 1972, Sweden became the first country to give people the right to legally change their gender on identifying documents. However, people needed to be over 18 years old, unmarried, and sterilized; the country didn't remove the mandatory sterilization law until 2013. In some U.S. states, people still need to undergo gender-reassignment surgery to legally change their gender.

The United Kingdom held the country's first LGBTQ+ Pride parade on July 1, 1972. Britain's GLF organized the event, and about 700 people showed up to march. Their slogan was simple: "Gay is good."

The Lambda Legal organization was formed to offer legal support for LGBTQ+ equality, but first, they had to represent themselves to fight for the right to exist in New York. In the '70s, the group fought for LGBTQ+ rights on the college and national levels. In 1983, they were successful in the first HIV/AIDS discrimination case in the U.S.

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Until the early '70s, physicians could diagnose someone in a same-sex relationship as mentally ill. But in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed "homosexuality" from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (or the DSM-II).

Kathy Kozachenko and Elaine Noble became the nation's first openly lesbian or gay elected officials in 1974. Kozachenko won a seat on the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan, while Noble held a position in the Massachusetts General Assembly.

Harvey Milk made history when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay male politician elected in a major city. Before he was assassinated a year later, Milk helped pass city ordinances to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In 1978, Harvey Milk's friend Gilbert Baker brought his 30-by-60-foot rainbow flag to an LGBTQ+ rights rally in San Francisco. Afterward, it became an enduring symbol of pride for the LGBTQ+ community. According to The Washington Post, Baker sometimes referred to himself as "the Betsy Ross of gay liberation." He died in 2017 at the age of 65.

Thousands of people marched for equality in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. They gathered together to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, including within the federal government.

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In 1981, Norway amended its laws to include protections for LGBTQ+ people. The legislation stated that business owners couldn't discriminate against customers based on sexual orientation nor deny them access to public events. Hate speech was also prohibited.

In 1981, the New York Times reported 41 gay men had been afflicted with a "rare cancer." Doctors originally thought HIV/AIDS was a skin cancer known as Kaposi's sarcoma. A year later, though, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) started calling the illness "acquired immune deficiency syndrome," or AIDS.

In 1981, Rep. David Clarenbach (D-Wis.) brought forth a measure to protect LGBTQ+ people from employment discrimination in public and private sectors, making Wisconsin the first in the U.S. to pass a statewide law against such discrimination. The law also banned landlords from denying housing based on sexual orientation.

BiPOL, the first bisexual political group, started in San Francisco in 1983. They helped put on the Bisexual Rights Rally a year later, which took place outside the Democratic National Convention.

After ruling out cancer, researchers in France and the United States discovered that a retrovirus caused AIDS. Scientists hoped a vaccine would be available by the late '80s, but it wasn't until 2012 that the FDA approved PrEP, the first drug to help prevent the transmission of HIV. In 2019, two men were "cured" of AIDS after blood stem cell transplants. More than 35 million people have died of AIDS or related illnesses.

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After Michael Hardwick failed to show up for a court summons for public drinking, a police officer went to his house. That's when he and a male friend were arrested for having consensual sex, which was illegal between two people of the same gender. The case, Bowers v. Hardwick, went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the state. The Court didn't strike down sodomy laws until 2003.

After more than a decade of debate, New York City passed an anti-discrimination bill in 1986: Sexual orientation couldn't be the basis of discrimination in employment, housing, or public accommodations.

The HIV/AIDS crisis continued into the late '80s. In 1987, Princess Diana dispelled the myth that the disease could be transmitted by touch: without gloves, she shook the hand of an infected man at the opening of the United Kingdom's first HIV/AIDS unit at the London Middlesex Hospital.

Although his straight allies and colleagues cautioned him against it, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) revealed his sexual orientation in 1987, making him the second openly gay congressman. Rep. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) reluctantly came out in 1983. Frank announced his retirement in 2011.

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) helped change the way people thought about the disease. Their slogan was simple but effective: "Silence = death." Many say that the group jump-started a movement that led to the creation of HIV/AIDS drugs.

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A year after the second March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, a group of activists founded National Coming Out Day (October 11), which aims to help LGBTQ+ people live openly.

Demark recognized same-sex domestic partnerships in 1989, which extended the rights of marriage to gay and lesbians couples. In 2010, same-sex couples in the country could register for adoptions, and by 2012, they could legally get married.

Activist Simon Nkoli helped start the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand. GLOW organized the first Pride parade in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1990, where people also marched against apartheid. Some LGBTQ+ marchers were so scared of exposing themselves that they marched with bags over their faces. Only about 800 people gathered for the first parade; by 2018, that number swelled to 22,000.

Then-President Bill Clinton signed "don't ask, don't tell" as a compromise with Republicans: gay and lesbian service members could join the military, but they could not tell anyone about their sexual orientation. Some officials—including Colin Powell, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time—voiced concerns about AIDS and whether gay and straight soldiers would have to live in the same quarters.

As the mid-'90s approached, the AMA told doctors to have "nonjudgmental recognition" of their gay, lesbian, and bisexual patients, and also stopped recommending that physicians try to "reverse" a patient's sexual orientation. As of May 2022, Washington D.C. and 20 states have banned this type of conversion therapy.

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Until 1995, someone who was gay or lesbian might not get a federal security clearance because government officials considered sexual orientation a security risk, the rationale being that gay and lesbian people who kept their lives secret could be subject to blackmail. Then-President Bill Clinton signed an executive order ending the regulation.

In 1996, Clinton signed a law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In 2013, he wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post asking the Supreme Court to overturn DOMA. In the piece, Clinton wrote he believed the law to be "incompatible with our constitution," and the Court agreed with him.

After she started the Gay-Straight Alliance at her Utah high school, Kelli Peterson—a 17-year-old lesbian senior—made national news. The administration didn't want to allow her LGBTQ+ group but the Equal Access Act meant the school couldn't legally prevent them from meeting. Instead, Salt Lake City's Board of Education banned all high school clubs. Students sued the school, and a federal judge ruled in their favor.

Ellen DeGeneres told the world she was a lesbian on the cover of Time magazine. Then, her television character, Ellen Morgan, became the first openly LGBTQ+ lead in a sitcom. DeGeneres won an Emmy for writing the series, but her show was canceled a year later. In 2003, she started her long-running eponymous talk show and later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama.

Michael Page created the pink, purple, and blue bisexual pride flag in the late '90s. In 1999, Page and other activists created Bi Visibility Day, which is celebrated every September 23.

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A 1997 lawsuit led Vermont to pass a bill guaranteeing same-sex partners the same legal rights as married people. The Vermont Supreme Court held that the state was unconstitutionally discriminating against gay and lesbian couples. In 2009, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

After changing one sentence in their legislation, gay and lesbian couples in the Netherlands were given the right to marry, divorce, and adopt. The Dutch country was the first in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

When New York City passed the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA), it became illegal to discriminate in work, housing, school, or public services based on someone's sexual orientation.

The Supreme Court legalized all consensual sex acts between same-sex adults after the ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. "Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government," wrote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

On May 17, 2004, Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey became the first same-sex couple to get married in the U.S. A year earlier, the Massachusetts Supreme Court had ruled that the ban on marriage for gay and lesbian couples was illegal. It took until 2008 for another state (Connecticut) to follow.

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Then-President Barack Obama enacted the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to give the U.S. Department of Justice additional funding to investigate and prosecute hate crimes. This includes crimes committed based on a victim's race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Some activists, however, feel the law did not do enough to increase prosecution of crimes against LGBTQ+ people.

After same-sex marriage became legal in Iceland, the country's openly lesbian prime minister wed her long-time partner. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and Jónína Leósdóttir were previously in a civil union. That same year, same-sex marriage became legal in Portugal and Argentina.

At 12:01 a.m. on September 20, 2011, "don't ask, don't tell" was no longer in effect. Then-President Barack Obama signed a law repealing the policy in December 2010. The decision allowed gay and lesbian troops to serve openly in the military.

Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay or lesbian senator in 2012. Before heading to the Senate, Baldwin served as one of only four openly gay members of the House at the time.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Defense of Marriage Act—which stated that marriage could only be between a man and a woman—was unconstitutional. They also decided not to hear a case about Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage. This paved the way for nationwide marriage equality, which would come two years later.

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Under the Obama administration, the Department of Education extended Title IX coverage to transgender students. The civil rights law bans sex discrimination in schools or activities that are funded by the federal government. The Trump administration aimed to roll back trans protections and include only people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth in the legislation.

Transgender actress Laverne Cox became the first openly trans person nominated for an Emmy when she received the nod for her role in "Orange Is the New Black." She also appeared on the cover of Time the same year. Cox made history again in 2018 when she became the first openly trans person on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine.

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court historically ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Justice Anthony Kennedy reasoned that the Constitution grants all couples "equal dignity in the eyes of the law."

In June 2016, the military lifted the ban on transgender troops. That same month, the Obama administration dedicated the Stonewall Inn as a national monument, the first LGBTQ+ site added to the National Parks System.

Virginia voters made history in 2017 when they elected transgender candidate Danica Roem to their state legislature. That same year, then-President Donald Trump announced that the military would no longer accept transgender troops because of "tremendous medical costs and disruption."

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Voters elected more than 150 LGBTQ+ politicians to office in 2018. Among the history-makers at the time were Jared Polis, the openly gay governor of Colorado; U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Native American lesbian representing Kansas; and Malcolm Kenyatta, the first gay Black man elected to the Pennsylvania legislature.

Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. Only a year before, lawmakers voted to deny the right to same-sex couples.

Then-President Donald Trump's restrictions on transgender people in the military went into effect on April 12, 2019. While the administration claimed there was no ban, transgender troops were required to serve as the gender they were assigned at birth under this regulation.

Democrat Pete Buttigieg is the second openly gay man to run for president of the United States. (In 2012, Fred Karger, a lesser-known Republican, became the first.) Buttigieg—who entered the Navy Reserves under "don't ask, don't tell"—dropped out of the Democratic primary in March 2020 and endorsed Joe Biden. In 2021, he became the first openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. history, serving as Secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration.

The World Health Organization no longer considers being transgender a mental illness. The WHO removed "gender identity disorder" from the International Classification of Diseases, which is a global manual for diagnosing mental illness. The update may help put an end to the practice of forcing transgender people to get surgery and forced sterilization in order to legally change their gender.

For the first time since its inception, the NYC Pride March was canceled out of an abundance of safety and due to social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic. Other events around the globe were similarly canceled. But that hardly means Pride Month was called off—instead, virtual events have since become common during the month of June to celebrate the historic milestones of the LGBTQ+ movement and to observe the battles still being fought for equal rights today.

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Just five days after taking office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that overturned the previous administration's ban on transgender people in the military. Before the ban in 2017, it was estimated 2,450 service members were transgender, with about 0.1% of the total force seeking gender-related treatments. The Trump administration deemed gender-affirming care too expensive for the military to budget when in actuality it would only increase military spending by 0.04% to 0.13%.

A law passed in Arkansas banned physicians in the state from providing gender-affirming health care to minors—even with parental consent. Trans children in the state were immediately unable to access trans-related health care, health care which has been proven to lower the risk of suicide among transgender youth. In July 2021, following a court case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) spurred by protests and activists, the bill was overturned and gender-affirming care was once again accessible for minors.

Across the pond, in December 2020, the U.K.'s High Court ruled transgender children under the age of 16 could not consent to receive trans-affirming health care. Trans youth seeking medical treatment needed to consult a judge before receiving care. The National Health Service (NHS) appealed the decision and won in September 2021. Roughly 2,400 children a year in the U.K. seek gender-affirming health care through the NHS, making this overturned case paramount for a significant number of minors.

In September 2021, a two-thirds majority in Switzerland voted to legalize gay marriage in a referendum vote. This referendum also extended family rights for same-gender couples, allowing them to adopt children and permitting couples of two women to have children through sperm donation. The new ruling will be enforced in July 2022. Switzerland is one of the last Western European countries to legalize same-sex marriage.

In Japan, the country inched closer to marriage equality in a ruling which claimed to bar same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Gay marriage is not yet legal in Japan, but this ruling will likely set a precedent for future legislation.

As of May 2022, over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 36 states across the U.S. in 2022, some of which have become law in eight states. In Florida, one such measure—dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics—prohibits elementary school teachers from educating students in grades K-3 about sexual orientation or gender identity. Another law in Alabama that criminalizes gender-affirming medical care for trans youth was partially blocked by a judge in May. A significant number of these bills specifically target transgender people.

The U.S. has never had an openly lesbian woman hold the office of governor; however, during the November 2022 midterms, not one but two openly lesbian women won gubernatorial elections in their respective states.

Maura Healey of Massachusetts is both the first woman as well as the first openly lesbian woman to be elected governor in Massachusetts. Healey, who has been her state's attorney general for the last eight years, defeated Republican candidate Geoff Diehl by a wide margin to secure her spot as the next governor of the New England state.

Tina Kotek of Oregon was right behind Healey, becoming the second openly lesbian governor elected in the U.S. Kotek's race against Republican Christine Drazan was extremely close; however, her win continues a decades-long democratic hold on the governorship. Kotek is also the first openly lesbian woman to hold the position of Speaker of the Oregon House.

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