Mentions of Pride Month were down on earnings calls and in filings for the first time in five years.
(Bloomberg) — Anti-LGBTQ protests targeting brands like Target Corp. and Bud Light have cast a broader chill across corporate America. For the first time in years, company mentions of “Pride Month” and other LGBTQ terms were on the decline in regulatory filings and earnings calls, a Bloomberg News analysis found.
References to “Pride Month” in filings, presentations and transcripts from April to June at more than 900 of the largest US companies dropped almost 40% from this time last year, the first decline in five years. Other LGBTQ terms showed similar declines, the analysis found.
“We’re in a toxic stew of a backlash against LGBTQ people, primarily trans people,” said Bob Witeck, a consultant who helps companies such as Walmart Inc. and Marriott International Inc. craft LGBTQ-friendly policies.
Read More: Corporate America Scrambles as Pride Month Collides With Boycotts
Protests against brands with LGBTQ-themed merchandise or marketing campaigns escalated ahead of this year’s June Pride Month. Target reported violent attacks against employees and beer drinkers boycotted Bud Light for its work with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Witeck referred to this rise in violence and anger directed at the community as the “Spring of Ugly.”
While some companies, like Target and the Danish food ingredients maker Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, capitulated to the threats, many others went ahead with unchanged Pride Month plans. But, Witeck said, “they were less vocal about it.”
The rise (and now fall) of mentions of Pride Month and other LGBTQ-related phrases in corporate and regulatory filings has mirrored the community’s broader acceptance into US society. In 2005, only one company in Bloomberg’s data set — Dell Technologies — referenced Pride Month in a regulatory filing. That was before the 2010 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage. LGBTQ terms really started rising after the US Supreme Court granted anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ workers in a 2020 ruling.
Now, with both anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation growing, Corporate America is getting quieter on the issue, a sign that the commitment to so-called stakeholder capitalism may be fading. After trending up steadily for almost a decade, the four-quarter average of LGBTQ-related mentions fell in each of the past three quarters.
“The politics of the year have saturated and soaked into the marketplace,” said Witeck.
Conservative groups say they’re going after companies that support “an absolutely far, far, far left extreme position,” said Scott Shepard, executive director of the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research, which pushes companies to remain neutral on social issues. “These companies, so far as they’re retreating, they’re being consistent with their fiduciary duty.”
Brands, however, face financial risks for withdrawing from LGBTQ causes. The community represents $1.4 trillion in US spending power, according to investment advisor LGBT Capital, and many Americans support a swath of LGBTQ issues. Baristas at Starbucks Corp. went on strike this month after claiming the company wouldn’t allow them to showcase Pride decor, which Starbucks denied.
“We make up too much of their future, their stakeholders, whether it be customers or employees,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the chief executive officer of GLAAD, which advocates for positive portrayal of LGBTQ people in media and culture. “When brands don’t support us, we leave them and we really don’t come back.”
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