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The UK\u2019s biggest businesses are rolling back their public support for Pride celebrations, Guardian analysis suggests, prompting warnings that \u201cclear signals\u201d are needed in the face of growing global LGBTQ+ hostility.<\/p>\n
Analysis of social media posts by the country\u2019s biggest companies found mentions of Pride had plummeted by 92% since 2023, mirroring a trend seen in large American firms.<\/p>\n
The findings come after the US president, Donald Trump, signed a series of executive orders in 2025 that overturned federal government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, leading companies on both sides of the Atlantic to rebrand, scale back and even scrap fairness policies.<\/p>\n
The Guardian analysed the main customer-facing social media accounts of the 10 biggest UK-listed or headquartered companies, and the 10 biggest US companies by market capitalisation.<\/p>\n
Among the British brands were the technology company Arm Holdings, the pharmaceutical firms AstraZeneca and GSK, the nicotine products company British American Tobacco, HSBC bank, the chemicals company Linde, the defence and engineering company Rolls-Royce, the oil company Shell and the food conglomerate Unilever.<\/p>\n
In 2023, a total of 52 posts made on their Facebook, Instagram and X accounts contained the word or hashtag \u201cPride\u201d \u2013 in connection with Pride events, Pride months, weeks and weekends, and employee LGBTQ+ networks.<\/p>\n
By 2024, the number of posts had dropped by 48% to 27 \u2013 falling to just four in 2025, an 85% year-on-year decline and down 92% from 2023\u2019s total.<\/p>\n
HSBC remained the British company most likely to post on social media about Pride throughout the period analysed \u2013 although its posts, mirroring the wider trend, fell by 94%. AstraZeneca, Shell and Unilever were least likely to post about Pride at all from 2023 to 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cA tally of social media posts does not reflect the breadth of our approach,\u201d HSBC said in a statement.<\/p>\n
<\/span>HSBC says it is \u2018committed to inclusion for all our colleagues and customers\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Chris Helgren\/Reuters<\/p>\n Our analysis of the top 10 US companies \u2013 as of 1 December \u2013 revealed a similar trend. A total of 39 \u201cPride\u201d posts could be found on the main customer-facing Facebook, Instagram and X accounts belonging to Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom, Eli Lilly, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla in 2023. In 2024, the total fell 46% to 21 posts. In 2025, the number came in at 18, representing a 54% decline.<\/p>\n The most likely US brand to post about Pride was Apple. It was the only company to buck the declining trend, with its post count rising by 22% between 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n The least likely companies to post about Pride included Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom and Tesla.<\/p>\n Simon Blake, chief executive of LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall, said \u201cin a world in which LGBT people are feeling less safe and less welcome in lots of places\u201d it was in the best interest of companies to send \u201cclear signals\u201d of support. However, he added how businesses were \u201cshowing up on a day-to-day basis\u201d was a better indicator of commitment to inclusion than social media trends.<\/p>\n \u201cI absolutely want to ensure that it\u2019s about walking the walk every single day of the year, rather than making a logo rainbow coloured during Pride month,\u201d Blake said. \u201cHowever, I do also think it\u2019s important that we make sure we reflect flags and other things because it does send the signal.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that such messaging tells LGBTQ+ people \u201cyou\u2019re welcome here, we want you to thrive, we want you to have all of the opportunities everybody else has\u201d.<\/p>\n Blake said he was optimistic about companies\u2019 commitment to inclusion, with corporations continuing to sponsor Pride events and \u201ca refocused energy\u201d within company Pride networks. \u201cI am in meetings every single week where you have very senior people being very clear that they are continuing to invest and to support LGBT inclusion in the workplace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But speaking of the political climate, he said: \u201cIs the environment more hostile for people? Yes. Is there a global rollback of LGBT rights which we\u2019re seeing in all sorts of places? Yes. Is the UK immune to it? Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Posts about Pride among the UK\u2019s 10 biggest companies fell 92% from 2023 to 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Alishia Abodunde\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Paul Sesay, the founder of the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers, National Diversity Awards and Elevate 1000, set up to link young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds with employers, said his research indicated that if companies reduced diversity budgets, it had an outsize effect on corporate LGBTQ+ networks because their data showed they had been the most numerous and best funded.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hold roundtables and speak to our members all the time, and some DEI budgets have been significantly reduced in recent months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever lots of people in companies tell me they feel DEI needed a reset to a certain degree, to simplify it and go back to basics \u2013 that it got too politicised, rather than concentrating on what it actually means: equality for everybody within an organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n Podcaster and workplace culture expert Bruce Daisley, a former vice-president of Twitter EMEA and YouTube UK, said: \u201cSome organisations have maintained initiatives, but they\u2019re just trying to do them in a lower-key way. All of it is in a context where Trump has created fear about organisations endorsing these things.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the groups who are nominally meant to be the beneficiaries of these things it could demonstrate the old adage \u2013 \u2018a principle is only a principle if it costs you money\u2019. A lot of people within the LGBTQ+ community, like the trans community, are finding it a difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n Daisley said that the visibility of \u201ctoxic replies\u201d and \u201cextreme rightwing\u201d views on X, formerly Twitter, since Elon Musk bought the platform could also deter companies from being vocal on social media.<\/p>\n The Guardian approached all of the companies featured in the analysis for comment. Arm Holdings said \u201cinclusion has always been at the heart of our culture and values\u201d and that its social media presence reflected a \u201cbroad set of conversations\u201d. Rio Tinto said diversity was \u201cvery important\u201d to its business, and it supported staff in participating in Pride events in Brisbane, Perth, Montreal and London.<\/p>\n A GSK spokesperson: said: <\/strong>\u201cWe are committed to building an inclusive culture that values different perspectives and experiences. This includes our continuing support for Pride in the UK and in many countries where we operate through social media, partnership initiatives and at Pride events.\u201d<\/p>\n A HSBC UK spokesperson said: \u201cWe are committed to inclusion for all our colleagues and customers and celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community in many ways, including through an active Pride network, ambassador and mentoring programmes and as a signatory of Conduct for Business.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/p>\n Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Rich Cousins<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UK\u2019s biggest businesses are rolling back their public support for Pride celebrations, Guardian analysis suggests, prompting warnings that \u201cclear signals\u201d are needed in the face of growing global LGBTQ+ hostility. Analysis of social media posts by the country\u2019s biggest companies found mentions of Pride had plummeted by 92% since 2023, mirroring a trend seen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1285,99,1823,177,7138,2406,694],"class_list":{"0":"post-38678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-big","9":"tag-businesses","10":"tag-pride","11":"tag-public","12":"tag-revealed","13":"tag-rolling","14":"tag-support"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact us about this story<\/h4>\n