In 'very abnormal' development, longtime sponsors bail on San Francisco Pride [View all]

Last edited Tue Mar 18, 2025, 06:40 AM - Edit history (1)

In the past four weeks, multiple companies told San Francisco Pride, the nonprofit behind San Francisco’s annual Pride Parade and Civic Center celebration, that they would not support the 2025 Pride celebrations. In an interview with SFGATE, San Francisco Pride’s executive director, Suzanne Ford, said she was “really disappointed” by the developments.

“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.”

Ford told KTVU-TV that those sponsors included Comcast; Anheuser-Busch, the company behind Budweiser and Beck’s beer; wine company La Crema; and Diageo, the beverage company that produces Guinness, Smirnoff and other alcoholic drink brands. Aside from Comcast, all of those companies specialize in alcoholic beverages, a market that has become more volatile as Americans’ drinking preferences shift.

Ford didn’t hesitate when asked whether the Pride festivities June 28-29 would still go as planned. “We have no choice,” she told SFGATE. “There are too many people depending on us. We will find a way to find the funds.”

https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/longtime-sponsors-bail-on-sf-pride-20226582.php