Yet, particularly in 2021, corporations clearly want credit for supporting LGTBQ rights, at least in principle. This year has seen an unprecedented level of legislative battling over the rights of trans children: State legislators across the country introduced at least 75 bills that would’ve blocked trans youth from participating in sports that match their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that tracks public policy that impacts LGBTQ people. These bills became law in eight states. At least 40 more bills would have banned trans kids from accessing gender-affirming health care, although only one state, Arkansas, turned that legislation into law.In 2020, dozens of legislators in at least 22 states sponsored similar anti-trans legislation. Just one state, Idaho, managed to pass such a law, which blocked trans kids from playing the sports that correspond with their gender identity. But those bills set the stage for the onslaught of anti-trans legislation to come in 2021. Take AT&T, which sponsored the 2021 New York City Pride March organizers. Earlier this year, the telecommunications giant signed onto an open letter, organized by the Human Rights Campaign and the Freedom for All Americans Education Fund, where more than 130 businesses declared that they are “deeply concerned by the bills being introduced in state houses across the country that single out LGBTQ individuals—many specifically targeting transgender youth—for exclusion or differential treatment.”These donations, some handed out through a complex web of political action committees, arrived after those lawmakers had sponsored the anti-trans legislation.
“Our employee PACs contribute to policymakers in both major parties, and it will not agree with every PAC dollar recipient on every issue,” an AT&T spokesperson told VICE News in an email. “We’re proud of our corporate value to Stand for Equality and our diverse team of employees, including our LGBTQ+ colleagues. We support the Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project and other organizations that advocate for full civil rights protections for the LGBTQ+ community. We also support passage of the Equality Act.”In 2020, AT&T gave money to the political campaigns of at least 16 state legislators who had, by the time of the donations, already sponsored legislation that had done just that.
This year, Anheuser-Busch released a splashy pro-Pride initiative, bragging that the company had received a “perfect 100% score from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ Equality,” a metric that gauges how well companies treat their LGBTQ employees. Bud Light, an Anheuser-Busch brand, also sponsored the New York City Pride March organizers. But between August and October of last year, Anheuser-Busch donated at least $1,250 to two known anti-trans legislators in Kansas and Washington state.Between August and October of last year, Anheuser-Busch donated at least $1,250 to two known anti-trans legislators in Kansas and Washington state.
Sometimes, the donations to anti-trans legislators appeared to be one-offs, like in the case of Coca-Cola or Lyft. The latter company, which both signed the letter and is a sponsor of the New York City Pride parade, also gave $1,000 to Birdsell. (It’s unclear if the donation came directly from Lyft or from a political action committee; the address listed on campaign documents matched an address associated with Lyft, Inc. in Federal Election Commission records.) Lyft didn’t reply to a request for comment.But many of the companies who gave to anti-trans legislators often did it more than once. Comcast and its subsidiary, NBC Universal, have launched a comprehensive initiative to celebrate Pride this month, complete with a slate of LGBTQ programming and an extravaganza for employees that the company has dubbed “virtual ‘Pride World,’ where we will feature events, Pride floats, Pride flags, and even a Pronoun Guide for employees.”Many of the companies who gave to anti-trans legislators often did it more than once.
On June 1, less than eight months after the last of its donations to anti-trans lawmakers, Pfizer released a lengthy video in honor of Pride month—complete with employees introducing themselves using their pronouns and a commitment to “affirm every way people may choose to identify.”Of the corporations surveyed by VICE News, Pfizer may have given the most widely to known anti-trans state legislators, donating at least $9,300 to 28 such lawmakers across nine states.