are companies doing pride this year?
Before I get into my analysis on Pride 2025, I wanted to provide some quick FAQs, and you can also read more about the history of pride here.
What is Pride Month?
Pride Month is an annual celebration of the many contributions made by the LGBTQ+ community to history, society, and culture around the world. It’s a celebration as well as a remembrance of all who fought for civil rights throughout history.
Why is June Pride Month?
Pride Month is in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. On June 28, 1969 in New York City, police raided the Stonewall Inn – known to be a gay bar. Patrons of the bar fought back, inciting nearly a week of protests, violence, and outrage. This historical event is largely recognized as the moment where LGBTQ+ rights stepped into mainstream culture in a way that couldn’t be ignored.
Is Pride Month an official thing?
Yes! In 2000, President Bill Clinton officially designated June to be Pride Month. And in 2016, President Barack Obama honored the LGBTQ+ community with a 7.7-acre national monument around the Stonewall Inn.
Is Pride just in the US?
No! Pride events in Sao Paolo, Sydney, Madrid, Toronto, etc. attract up to 5 million attendees. It’s a worldwide party, somebody get Pitbull.
Pride in 2025
Now that we have a brief background of Pride, let’s bring it back to 2025. To put it lightly, this year isn’t off to the hottest start when it comes to equality in the workplace, and society in general. It started on January 6, when Donald Trump (who I will not be referring to as president as I don’t respect him as one) declared an end to DEI initiatives across all government agencies. Companies disappointingly followed suit, removing years-long efforts to advance underrepresented groups.
With this background, I was curious to see what companies would be doing for Pride this year. In previous years, tons of companies release a special edition Pride collection of apparel, accessories, and other items (like home décor birds from Target ‘cause why not?). Is it performative and a bit of a cash-grab? Maybe, but it also usually donated to great funds like The Trevor Project, PFLAG, and the ACLU (including links to their donation pages if you're feeling generous and prideful today).
So what is happening this year with Pride? There have been some merch drops – albeit a bit lackluster. And who was the first business to announce their Pride collection? Our bestie Abercrombie, of course!! *heart eyes emoji*
Other businesses with Pride merch include Apple, Levi’s, Converse, Target (sort of surprising given they nixed their DEI efforts), JCPenney, and Hollister. Overall, that list is shorter than in years past, and marketing efforts seem to be quieter.
However, Sarah Kate Ellis, President of GLAAD, says there’s reason to be hopeful about the state of corporate America for the LGBTQ+ community. Instead of being loud and *proud* about their efforts, companies are going internal, working behind the scenes to engage and empower their LGBTQ employees.
According to Gravity Research, only 14% of companies plan to reduce internal engagement about Pride Month (which is still too high of a number imo).
As Ellis states, “I do see there’s pivoting happening (for Pride Month). What I don’t see is corporates walking away from the LGBTQ community… They’re finding ways to thread their work supporting the LGBTQ+ community into their organizations.”
Well, Tennie isn’t a big bad corporation (yet), but we’re going to be as prideful as possible this month, bringing you a little bit of LGBTQ+ content with every Tennie Times in June. Happy Pride, friends!