June 1 marks the beginning of Pride Month. A month of celebration, resilience and recognition amongst members of the LGBTQ+ community. Since the Stonewall protests of 1969, Pride Month has only grown. 

The first Pride parade was held in 1970 in major cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. This parade marked the anniversary of the Stonewall protests and celebrated resilience. President Bill Clinton made June the official Gay and Lesbian Pride Month back in 2000, then later in 2009 President Barack Obama changed June to become Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, to include more identities. 

We have seen much growth and means to celebrate since the beginnings of Pride Month. In 2015 same-sex marriage was finally recognized by all 50 states. Then last year, in 2022 the Respect for Marriage Act was passed which gives same-sex marriages federal recognition. Many liberal states are now passing laws that protect transgender kids to receive gender affirming care. In Oregon, people seeking gender affirming care have the ability to access it. People over the age of 15 do not need parental consent, however those under 14 do. Regardless, gender affirming care is accessible across the state of Oregon under state legislation. 

However in recent years, as much as Pride has grown, it has received backlash, primarily from conservatives. There are numerous companies and corporations affected by the refusal to accept pride and countless individuals who have to live with this reality every day. 

This year, Target got backlash for some of their pride products, specifically the swimsuits that allow for tucking and binding specifically designed for those who are transgender and gender nonconforming. 

In some of Target’s southern state locations, there were threats to employees and an influx of homophobic and transphobic videos on social media calling out these brands and bringing shame to those who choose to purchase these products. 

With all of the controversy and violence following Target’s pride collection, multiple of the stores  in Southern states removed these products and put their pride display at the back of the store.

While Target is a privately owned retail store, they are putting political agendas above their consumers. And it’s not just Target. There are many other companies that are being politically influenced and adding to the discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. This is hardly the way to begin a month of celebration for the resilience and fight that queer people have had for decades. 

Bud Light is another company that has been the center of controversy in the past few months. The popular beer company attempted to become more inclusive in their marketing by partnering with TikTok personnel Dylan Mulvaney. Mulvaney is a transgender woman who has been documenting her transition via TikTok in a series called, “Days of Girlhood.” As an actress, comic, and content creator, Mulvaney has attracted nearly one billion views on her videos. 

In April, Mulvaney posted a video on her Instagram page promoting Bud Light’s March Madness contest and a new promotion of a Bud Light tallboy featuring Mulvaney’s face on the bottle. No one could have really expected the backlash that would follow this. 

Right-wing conservatives immediately made a fuss and demanded that there needed to be a strike against the Bud Light brand. Their argument was that having a transgender person representing “their” beer was a disgrace and therefore they had no choice but to boycott the brand.

At an extreme, there were videos circling the internet of people shooting down cans of Bud Light, one of the most popular being musician Kid Rock using an assault rifle to shoot down cases of their beer. 

When Bud Light saw a decrease in sales due to this boycott, they gave into the pressure. Two executives have taken a leave of absence since the controversy over their new promotion. The marketing team has also announced that they will be refocusing their branding on sports and music.

What started as a way to increase diversity, turned into yet another example of how politics and political gain can vastly affect corporations and the need for more diversity in the retail and consumer market. 

Additionally, the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team has also been in the media under scrutiny. For their 10th annual Pride Night, set to happen on June 16, 2023, the Dodgers planned on honoring many local organizations and giving them a Community Hero Award from the team. 

One of the local organizations originally invited was the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a non profit organization that has been serving the LGBTQ+ community for the past 30 years. Their performance was set to include queer and transgender folks dressed as Catholic nuns, but after releasing this information, conservatives began to express their concerns.  

The Catholic League and Florida Senator, Marco Rubio, found great offense and wrote a letter to Rob Manfred, the MLB Commissioner. Shortly after, the Dodgers released a statement saying that they were uninviting the Sisters from the lineup of honorees. 

In the statement they said, “Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the Sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees.” 

Immediately following this statement, many other organizations set to be honored that night pulled out from the Dodgers Pride Night, saying that this was no way to celebrate inclusion and pride. LA Pride said that they were “very disappointed” in the Dodgers decision. They said in a tweet, “Pride is a fight for equality and inclusion for the whole LGBTQ+ community and we’re not going to stop now. Let’s make this year’s Pride celebration louder than ever.” 

It is not really known what happened behind the scenes, but ultimately the Dodgers re-extended an invitation to the Sisters to come back and be honored at their Pride night. 

With the invite, uninvite, and then re-invitation, many are left to wonder what the Dodgers were trying to prove. 

Following the re-invitation to the Sisters, the Dodgers announced that they would be hosting a “Christian Faith and Family Night” later in the summer on July 30, 2023. Many players on the team, including pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, expressed much more support and interest in this event than in Pride Night. Some players have even spoken out about how they don’t support the invitation of the Sisters coming back to the field. But at this point, let’s hope the Dodgers don’t change their lineup any more. 

Perhaps the biggest corporation that comes up when we talk about politics in companies is Disney, specifically Disney World in Florida. Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, quickly became known for passing transphobic and anti-LGBTQ+ laws during his time in office. Unfortunately, it seems he is not slowing down.  

Disney and DeSantis have been in dispute about many LGBTQ+ issues, with Disney speaking out against these harmful laws and DeSantis continuing to pass them. 

In recent years we have seen Disney trying to become more inclusive and update some of their rides and advertisements to appeal to the greater audience. An example of this is the rebranding of the beloved Disney park ride, Splash Mountain. This ride has been a staple in the parks since its opening in 1989. However, the ride is based on the racist movie, “Song of the South.” Many of the details included in this ride are overtly racist and after considerations, Disney has decided to rebrand the ride base it off of the 2009 movie “Princess and The Frog.” The ride has been closed while this rebranding is underway and is set to reopen in 2024. 

Many of the changes Disney is making have come off as negative and offensive to right-winged conservatives, and tensions remain high between Disney and DeSantis. 

As Florida continues to pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws and legislation, Disney has spoken out and said that they do not support these stances or legislation. Most recently, Disney pulled a $1 billion office complex that would have tremendously helped job opportunities and the economy of Florida. This complex would have provided about 2,000 Disney jobs to the region providing an average salary of $120,000. Despite this though, Disney backed out as a way to protest the laws Florida is passing. 

The debate of Disney vs. DeSantis has escalated to an economic standpoint as well as a political playing field. Perhaps the squables will end with Disney removing themselves from Florida, but really only time will tell. 

The LGBTQ+ community continues to celebrate their resilience but their fight is far from over. There are still political agendas that are coming above the basic need for equal rights. Until this is fixed, there is no telling what else conservatives will attempt to say or do. 

However, more than anything, June is a month to celebrate the great strides the LGBTQ+ community has made in the past few decades. In almost every city there are parades and celebrations throughout the month to bring attention to the accomplishments of the community and what progress needs to be made.

There are many local businesses in Portland that will be doing special events during the month to give back and celebrate. The Portland Pride parade will take place July 15-16 through the streets of downtown Portland.

Despite the attempts of companies, politicians and conservatives to bring down the LGBTQ+ community in a time of recognition, there is still a prominent push for equal and fair rights as well as means to celebration. 

In Portland, there are events going on through the month of June and the Portland Pride Parade is set to take place July 15-16 through the streets of downtown Portland.