Don’t Lose Pride: The Business Leadership Case For LGBTQ+ Support
Participants at a recent Chicago PrideFest parade.
What do vodka, credit cards, automobiles, haircare, soft drinks, beer, home repair, cars and investment companies have in common in June?
Unfortunately U.S. business leaders at more than a dozen major companies that produce these products are reportedly decreasing or eliminating their promotions for National Pride Month this year due to aggressive politicized efforts, even as many business leaders call for pride support and visibility in workplaces and communities.
But leaders can choose.
CNN reports, “The subdued approach marks a shift for businesses, which used to turn the annual June celebration of LGBTQ Americans into a branded holiday.” According to CNN, “The proportion of American adults who identify as LGBTQ has risen to 9.3% of the population.”
Read more in Take The Lead on LGBTQ+ business leaders
The 14 major companies on the list of those foregoing a salute to Pride Month, according to Yahoo News, are Target, Walmart, Mastercard, Citi, Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, Smirnoff, Lowe’s, PepsiCo, Booz Allen Hamilton, Nissan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Garnier, and Skyy Vodka.
In Gravity Research’s 2025 Pride Pulse Poll, of the nearly 200 executives surveyed, 39 percent say they plan to scale back public Pride Month engagements this year. “That includes sponsoring Pride events, posting supportive messages of LGBTQ rights on social media and selling Pride-themed merchandise,“ Digiday reports. “No respondents said they planned to increase their spending in the area.”
Why does this cutback shift matter to individuals, business leaders, communities and consumers? And what can leaders do to express inclusion and support for all?
“Going backwards: Gravity Research’s 2025 Pride Pulse Poll: Of 200 executives surveyed, 39 percent say they plan to scale back public #PrideMonth engagements this year. #leadership @Gravity_Rsrch”
Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead writes on Pride Month: “This month is therefore a good time to take a look at the evolution of workplace cultures within the context of the changing culture overall.” She adds, “The personal is always political, and the politics of the body are among the most passionately ingrained, believed, and debated.”
Creating a space where everyone in the workplace feels welcome is essential. Leaders need to make efforts to acknowledge individuals and communities and speak up against bias, harassment or exclusion.
“If people feel unsafe to be out at work, the board, CEOs, managers and employers can make sure people know that at every level of your organization, prejudice and discrimination won’t be tolerated,” NHS Employers reports. “You can help create an environment where people feel safer to bring more of their authentic selves to work.”
“Creating a space where everyone in the workplace feels welcome and can be their authentic selves is essential. #PrideMonth #inclusion #workplace #support ”
This is necessary work, because as recently as 2021, Take The Lead reports, “According to a new study from University of California-Los Angeles’ Williams Institute, 53% of LGBTQ employees across the nation surveyed said they were treated worse at work than non-LGBT employees. Twenty-three percent of non-LGBTQ persons shared that sentiment. Almost half, or 45% reported hearing anti-LGBTQ remarks at work.”
This bias is confirmed in the latest McKinsey Women In The Workplace report in 2024, which states, “Women, especially LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities, remain more likely than men to experience microaggressions, which make it harder for women to speak up, take risks, and raise concerns at work. Compared with five years ago, women today are just as likely to experience ‘othering’ microaggressions, which can erode a sense of belonging and make it harder for individuals to bring their whole selves to work. Again, LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities report these demeaning interactions at the highest rates.” Those rates are as high as 60 percent.
This holds true as the reality now is that as more people say they feel comfortable expressing their identities, many more are frightened by directives that have not been culturally evident –in this country and elsewhere--for many years.
“Women, especially #LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities, remain more likely than men to experience microaggressions, which make it harder for women to speak up, take risks, and raise concerns at work. @McKinsey #PrideMonth @takeleadwomen ”
It is true that a small number of corporate leaders identify as LGBTQ+. According to GLAAD Media Institute, the LGBTQ+ 2024 Board Monitor Report found that 0.9% of Fortune 500 board seats are occupied by LGBTQ+ individuals. This does not reflect the nearly 10% of the population.
Read more in Take The Lead on pride of representation
Fortunately at the same time that many large companies are erasing demonstrations of support for LGBTQ+ individuals and communities, a comparable level of endorsement for Pride Month is on the table.
Major companies and corporations standing strong in Pride Month, according to Pink News, include Apple, MAC Cosmetics, Jansport, Aberecrombie & Fitch, Puma, Levis, Skullcandy, Diesel, Converse and Hollister.
Pink News reports on the Converse website: “Converse has always stood with the proud, the daring and the unapologetic,” adding: “For our 2025 ‘Proud To Be’ celebration, we’re not looking back, we’re lighting the way forward towards a future of love and joy for everyone.”
This sentiment resonates with consumers, as well as clients, colleagues, customers and associates in the workplace.
Read more in Take The Lead on LGBTQ+ fairness at work
Digiday reports, “A 2025 Social Lens survey of 124 LGBTQ+ consumers in 42 states found that respondents were universally encouraged by seeing brands work with queer creators and hire queer influencers and designers to create their Pride collections.”
The Pew Research Center reports 66% of LGBTQ adults say they have participated in LGBTQ-related events during Pride Month at least once in their lives. “This includes 49% who say they’ve participated more than once. A large majority, or 68% say all or most companies that promote Pride are motivated to do so by business interests.”
Listen to Gloria Feldt in Take The Lead podcast on pride at work
““A 2025 Social Lens survey of #LGBTQ+ consumers in 42 states found respondents universally encouraged by seeing brands work with queer creators and hire queer influencers and designers to create their #Pride collections.” @Digiday #PrideMonth”
Still, the reality of anti-DEI initiatives in government agencies and elsewhere is a harsh reality that deters leaders from creating spaces for employee groups to gather in solidarity. Mother Jones reports that the Office of Personnel Management “issued a memorandum telling agencies to ‘prohibit employee resource groups that promote unlawful DEIA initiatives or employee retention agendas based on protected characteristics.’”
This is creating what Mother Jones calls, “a new ‘Lavender Scare’—a purge that could roll back decades of LGBTQ gains and send those who remain in the government back into the closet.”
“ @MotherJones reports on “a new ‘Lavender Scare’—a purge that could roll back decades of #LGBTQ gains and send those who remain in the government back into the closet.” #PrideMonth ”
Feldt writes, “The gender binary is especially important in fundamentalist cultures, for it is one of the main ways power is allocated. Changing women’s rights and social roles, and LGBTQ identities, mess with such cultures’ rigid world views which in turn can present itself in negative or even violent reactions. These questions have little to do with science and everything to do with social power and control.”
Read more in Take The Lead on LGBTQ+ inclusive workplaces
“But how to achieve that visibility in a safe and appropriate way?” NHS Confederation writes. Some options include “senior staff sharing personal stories, for instance at staff-wide meetings, or through blogs or videos; and participation of staff from all levels of seniority in staff groups, including making sure there is an executive sponsor who can support activities and feed back to decision-makers.”
Read more in Take The Lead on inclusion of LGBTQ+ workers
Experts agree on inclusion as a path to countering negativity in the culture and at work. “Being an LGBT-inclusive employer is a process that can start with everyday actions. This can range from activity like pledging support during Pride or Trans Day of Remembrance, hosting LGBT networking events, profiling LGBT role models in the workplace or offering diversity training to staff. Each of these kinds of initiatives can help create a work environment where LGBT staff can be themselves and, because of that, thrive at work,” according to the Huffington Post.
“ “Being an #LGBT -inclusive employer is a process that can start with everyday actions,” @HuffPost reports. #leadership #business #PrideMonth”
Inclusion, support and kindness are key to a successful and accessible workplace and need to exist not just in June, but in every month of the year.
