Anheuser-Busch has decided it will not renew its sponsorship of PrideFest this year, the nonprofit Pride St. Lous announced Tuesday.
The brewer had been a key supporter of the event and parade celebrating LGBTQIA+ pride in St. Louis for 30 years, said Pride St. Louis President Marty Zuniga.
“For them to walk away from the table in negotiations, simply to note that, ‘we just don’t see the value in it anymore,’ it’s like a bad breakup,” he said.
Representatives from Anheuser-Busch did not immediately return a request for comment.
Anheuser-Busch isn’t the only past sponsor cutting back its support of the event. Zuniga said other larger corporate sponsors of the past are “coming in at historic lows,” leaving the nonprofit about $150,000 behind its target.
“The difference there [is] they’re still working with us and we’re working with them to find ways how we can still benefit each other to be successful and highlight pride in this city,” he said.
Zuniga noted the current political climate, including attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, may be behind companies’ reconsideration of their support for Pride St. Louis and its programming, which includes scholarships and community dinners over the holidays as well.
“We feel for Pride St. Louis; it isn’t easy navigating a shifting and increasingly hostile environment,” said Angelo Ossessivo, co-founder and festival director of Tower Grove Pride. “Every Pride, no matter how they get their support, is at serious risk right now.”
Ossessivo pointed to how economic uncertainty, increasing social hostility and political attacks are putting these events and their organizers around the country at risk.
He added that Tower Grover Pride has sought to limit the size and visibility of corporate sponsorships to help insulate the festival from the “corporatization of Pride and the fears, now being realized, that big businesses are likely to withdraw their support when they assess we are no longer worth the expense.”
Ossessivo added a general call to support the LGBTQ community.
Pride St. Louis has launched a grassroots fundraising campaign called 45for45 to bridge the funding gap.
“We’re hopeful that by asking the community now to get involved, to help us make up some of these shortfalls, that we can continue to have this celebration,” Zuniga said. “Pride will happen, period. We will have a festival. May it look different than other years? Yes.”
Since launching the call for donations Tuesday morning, Zuniga said the nonprofit has already raised $17,000. He said the immediate support has been phenomenal.
“We’re still proud. We started 45 years ago as a protest, and now it’s a parade,” Zuniga said. “Maybe we need to protest again this year and take it back to what it started with, to remind people of why we’re where we are today and to make sure we don’t go back.”
