With DEI initiatives firmly in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, many large corporations that were once so quick to celebrate June as Pride month have quietly ditched their public support for LGBTQI+ rights even faster.
It used to be common for companies to emblazon their social media accounts with rainbow-themed versions of their logo, but in 2025, the same big businesses that were so vocal about supporting Pride initiatives have fallen silent.
The controversial post that sparked a social media backlash.
That’s certainly true for big international airlines in the United States, which were falling over themselves to show their support for Pride until very recently (critics might argue they were just chasing the so-called ‘Pink Dollar’).
In 2025, the social media accounts of American Airlines, Delta, and United make no mention or reference to Pride, even if these airlines do still support LGBTQ+ initiatives (Alaska and United are still sponsors of San Francisco’s Pride parade even as other big name corporations drop their support).
German flag carrier Lufthansa doesn’t seem too concerned that supporting LGBTQ+ rights is no longer fashionable… at least not in Trump’s America.
On June 2, the airline posted a photo of a pilot waving a Pride rainbow flag out the window of a cockpit, captioned with the words: “Carried with pride, waved with passion. We will always spread the love, across borders, screens, and the skies.”
Lufthansa has been quick to respond to critics.
It seemed like a pretty inoffensive and inspiring message that didn’t directly reference LGBTQ+ rights, but it didn’t take long for Lufthansa’s Facebook page to be deluged with homophobic comments.
But it looks like Lufthansa knew exactly what it was getting itself into, and its social media team quickly fired back at critics with sassy replies that shut down the hateful comments without censoring them or turning off the comment feature altogether.
“Thank you for you for giving me a reason not to be a Lufthansa passenger,” one person wrote underneath the post. Lufthansa clapped back with: “You’re welcome to join us on board whenever rainbows are not scary to you anymore!”
While one person inferred that inclusivity was a safety issue, saying: “That could actually affect the flight of the plane. I’ll take the bus.”
Lufthansa was not having any of it, though, relying: “It is a disappointment that we are losing you as a customer for this reason, but we stand by our values.”
Another referenced DEI, saying: “Never flying on a plane with one of them pilots. You know they are a DEI hire. I’m not testing fate for their delusional world.”
Again, Lufthansa stood firm: “Sorry to see you go but we stand by our values and will continue to implement DEI.”
Many responses to the post have, however, been positive, and some fans have pointed out that the response has proved exactly why, even in 2025, Pride is still needed.
June has traditionally been recognized as Pride Month to mark the Stonewall riots that occurred in late June 1969. Since then, several US presidents have issued proclamations, declaring June as the month of Pride, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week that President Trump has no plans to issue a similar proclamation this year.
Trump was, however, the first Republican President to acknowledge LGBT Pride Month back in 2019 when he Tweeted a message in support of the commemoration.
Mayor Muriel Bowser addressed the closure for the first time in a public radio appearance Friday afternoon. She called the closing an “unfortunate error” and said she would “continue to try to lean on” the National Park Service “for a different decision.” At the same time she appeared to defend the decision, saying police had “a lot of events to be responsible for” and that “unfortunately, the public safety issue rose to the top over the public celebration.”
A cyclist draped in a rainbow Equality flag chanted “shame” as she rode loops around the park. Passersby, turned away by police from entering the circle, shouted expletives. A man, driving top-down in a convertible through the snarled traffic around Dupont Circle, shouted, sarcastically: “Oh no! I’m a heterosexual man, and I must be protected from Pride!
The park has been a historic gathering place that has hosted celebrations following the first Pride events in the 1970s, AIDS protests in the ’80s and ’90s and vigils after violent attacks on the LGBTQ community, including a vigil for the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and a Black Trans Lives Matter rally.
Earlier this week, D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto and Zachary Parker announced that the Metropolitan Police Department had withdrawn its request to close the park following backlash from community members. But federal officials proceeded with the shutdown anyway and have not responded to requests for comment.
“I am extremely disappointed and frustrated that Dupont Circle Park will be closed this weekend despite MPD’s commitment to keep folks safe there,” Pinto said in a statement to The Advocate.
“This closure is disheartening to me and so many in our community who wanted to celebrate World Pride at this iconic symbol of our city’s historic LGBTQ+ community. I wish I had better news to share.”
Underscoring their desire to implement the closure, USPP highlighted criminal incidents that were initially pointed out in Smith’s April 22 letter. Those incidents, which took place during the District’s Pride celebration, included damages to the park’s historic fountain in 2023 that amounted to approximately $175,000.
In 2019, panic erupted at the park after loud popping sounds were perceived as gunshots being fired. However, it was later determined no firearm had been discharged. Seven people were transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries prompted by the chaos that had initially broken out.
Police responded to recent incidents of vandalism to Pride decorations in D.C. The suspects tore down rainbow wraps from poles in the area, according to two incident reports from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). One incident is listed as a suspected hate crime. The suspects got away in both cases, according to MPD.
Chris De Anda said he wrapped himself around one of the poles to block the suspect from ripping off the rainbow wrap, thinking that would stop him. It didn’t.
“He starts to rip down the flag, rips my arms off trying to get into them to pull down the paper a little bit more, but the entire time I basically hold on to it,” de Anda described, saying the man scratched his arms a bit to get to the flag.
The lawless, corrupt occupation regime in DC is doing this on purpose as a way to inconvenience, snub and insult the lgbt community. Their long term goal is to silence, cancel and eradicate lgbt Americans, so expect increasing instances of these kinds of things, and worse.
So…a bunch of bigots have been vandalizing things in Dupont Circle, so they close it all off so the people who AREN’T the bigoted vandals can’t go there? Kinda sounds like they’re letting the bigots win here…
Childish petty thin skinned MAGA cultists in the White House just can’t let anyone celebrate anything that isn’t specifically a “Christian” event. I wonder what would happen in Thousands just show up to DuPont Circle enmass, what are they going to do, arrest them all???
With DEI initiatives firmly in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, many large corporations that were once so quick to celebrate June as Pride month have quietly ditched their public support for LGBTQI+ rights even faster.
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