Backlash To Pride Month Marks A Cultural Turning Point

Written By Hudson Crozier

What’s happening: Corporate America isn’t as bold about celebrating Pride Month this year amid persistent and unusually effective backlash to major companies’ LGBT messaging. This trend is part of what New York magazine calls “a new era of corporate caution” related to controversial social causes.

Effective boycotts: Ever since conservative figures called for boycotting Bud Light in April after the company endorsed transgenderism, its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, has lost tens of billions of dollars in stock, and Bud Light is no longer the top-selling beer in America. Target removed or relocated some of its Pride-themed merchandise for children due to backlash while Kohl’s quickly put it on sale. As of last week, Anheuser-Busch and the two stores have collectively lost $28 billion in market value.

Rejecting corporate politics: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led the charge with a legal and political battle against Disney that began last year after the corporation criticized him for restricting classroom instruction on sexuality and gender identity. By May, Americans considered it to be the fifth most polarizing brand, with 42 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of Democrats saying their feelings about Disney had worsened in the past year, according to polling.

A changing America: Polling shows that conservatism is on the rise in the U.S. while support for the LGBT agenda is declining. A Gallup poll released this month found that 38 percent of Americans consider themselves socially conservative—the highest in a decade—while social liberalism has dropped. Just last week, another poll showed that fewer Americans see homosexuality as “morally acceptable” while an increasing majority say that gender is biological, a rejection of transgenderism.