(LifeSiteNews) — America’s apparent cultural shift away from “woke” ideology continues with reports that LGBT activist groups in multiple states are scaling back their “pride” events due to lower donations and less cultural receptiveness.
The Christian Post reported on several such recent announcements, starting with the decision of Oklahoma-based “Bartlesville Equality” to postpone its entire “Pride 2025” event schedule because “fundraising efforts have not met the financial needs of Pride 2025.”
“Austin Pride” in Texas similarly announced at the end of the month that it has “been impacted by the current political climate — and yes, that includes our funding,” meaning that “the festival will look and feel a bit different than what you’re used to.” The only specific in the announcement was that “(a)ll entertainment will be 100% local.”
At the same time, New York City’s 2025 “pride” parade lost a reported $750,000 in corporate sponsors, with businesses also withdrawing support for similar organizations.
“A lot of these companies are saying, ‘I won’t engage on anything LGBT related because I don’t want to find myself being a target,’” admitted Fabrice Houdart, executive director of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors.
Recent years have seen concerted efforts to infuse business, entertainment, academia, and more with left-wing ideological stands to an unprecedented degree, sparking political and customer backlashes that have translated to business woes for companies such as Disney and Bud Light. Over the past two years, Amazon, Walmart, Target, McDonald’s, Jack Daniel’s, John Deere, Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, Toyota, and Coors have all dropped “woke” corporate policies in response to public pressure.
Relatedly, after the 2024 election, polling by the pro-Democrat firm Blueprint found that the statement “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class” was the third-biggest reason for why overall voters chose not to vote for her, and the number one reason why swing voters rejected her and voted instead to return President Donald Trump to office.
“Giddy (World Pride DC 2025) planners had anticipated up to three million mostly LGBT-identified individuals from around the world would descend upon and overwhelm the nation’s capital for another three weeks of in-your-face LGBT celebrations from mid-May until early June, but the large crowds failed to materialize,” LifeSiteNews’ Doug Mainwaring wrote on July 1. “WPDC25 was a bust, and so was the just-ended LGBT ‘Pride Month’ across much of the nation.”
