For 50 years, Seattle’s Pride Month festivities have been some of the city’s most iconic staples. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people join in to celebrate through parades, events and even reviewing Pride merchandise. But with Pride Month just a few days away, this year’s celebrations might look different.

April articles published in the Seattle Times and The Stranger reported that the city’s two largest Pride organizers, Seattle PrideFest and Seattle Pride, are struggling to gather sponsorship funding this year. Seattle PrideFest, which throws events in Capitol Hill and Seattle Center, reported being short one-third of its sponsorship funding—a $75,000 deficit. Seattle Pride, who organizes the Seattle Pride Parade and several other events, is $350,000 short of its $1.5 million budget.

The funding deficits have many Seattle University students feeling unsurprised, including Fourth-year Communication and Media Major Kevin Rocha.

“I was expecting this, if I’m being honest. With the current administration and so many companies like Target pulling out of their DEI initiatives, it’s not surprising for a city like Seattle… [to be] losing their supporters, especially with a lot of the supporters and donors being big companies and corporations,” Rocha said.

There are a few reasons that Pride event sponsorships have decreased this year. As Rocha mentioned, several corporate sponsors have pulled out as a result of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) rollbacks. This hasn’t completely diminished funding for the two organizations, but it is one of the leading factors. 

Third-year Criminal Justice and Forensic Psychology Major Masee Anderson believes that corporate sponsors pulling out this year shows that their previous support was performative.

“Them pulling out shows that while they were ‘committed to DEI’ under the Biden administration… it was all performative, and that none of this was long-lasting,” Anderson said. “None of this did anything that truly mattered for the community that I’m in because they completely flipped the script.”

Anderson first heard of the corporate cuts in class, which was not surprising to her. She cited the rollback of DEI policies as the reason she expected Seattle’s Pride celebrations to be affected, and also pointed out that Pride events all over the country have lost funding.

While a loss of corporate sponsorships doesn’t tell the full story of why Pride organizers are strapped for cash, it certainly is a major contributor to the deficit. Another reason for the shortfall can be tied to the organizers themselves—Pride event planners have been more selective with their sponsors this year. 

Seattle Pride vetted potential 2025 sponsors based on LGBTQ+-friendly workplace policies, political donations, relationships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other factors. As a result, the organization cut ties with sponsors that didn’t meet its ethical codes.

This has led to Seattle Pride parting with major sponsors, including Washington aerospace giant Boeing. Seattle Pride will still receive funding from major companies such as Alaska Airlines, Starbucks, QFC and Pokémon. 

Other sponsors, notably smaller companies and businesses, have pulled out due to financial constraints and the presumed impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. While sponsorship shortfalls aren’t predicted to impact this year’s events, they could affect future Pride celebrations as early as 2026.

While 2025’s celebrations are facing budget deficits, both Seattle PrideFest and Seattle Pride hope to make up ground through individual donations. Seattle PrideFest has set up a GoFundMe to raise back some of the $75,000 they are short of this year. As of publication, the fundraiser has brought in over $13,000.

Rocha worries that current DEI rollbacks could further affect Pride celebrations in the future.

“It’s the [Trump administration’s] first summer, there’s still three more to go,” Rocha said. “I just wonder what else they could do, and there’s plenty they could do to make this worse.”

For some, recent Pride sponsorship cuts don’t just signal a setback to the events themselves, but to inclusivity as a whole. Anderson believes this speaks to President Trump’s policies and intentions.

“In my mind, the whole plan is to finish [Project 2025], which would create a non-inclusive America, a non-inclusive USA. And I’m not saying we’re 100% inclusive, we have our problems. But this will make it where homophobia, transphobia [and] LGBTQ+ hate is much more prevalent than it already is,” Anderson said.

Several policies that Trump’s administration has implemented have been criticized for being anti-LGBTQ+, notably a ban on transgender people serving in the military. Trump also enacted an Executive Order stopping passports from reflecting a trans person’s gender, among other restrictions.

Seattle U responded to Trump’s military ban in support of its transgender students. In a January email sent to Seattle U students, faculty and staff, President Eduardo Peñalver and Senior Vice Provost Tamara Herdener wrote that any ROTC student affected by the legislation would have their scholarships honored by the school.

Close to campus at Cal Anderson Park this weekend, political tensions boiled over when a rally organized by right-wing group Mayday USA was met by a wave of counter-protesters, leading to several arrests. The rally and counterprotests made national headlines, putting Seattle at the forefront of the national conflict surrounding trans issues and reproductive rights.

The rally incident, Pride event funding issues, and new policies have been difficult for many LGBTQ+ Seattleites. The current political climate has also left a mark on many students, and Seattle U’s clubs and organizations are starting to take notice.

Collin Durfee is a fourth-year political science major and the event coordinator of the Triangle Club, which provides a safe space for LGBTQ+ students and allies. Although he isn’t sure if Trump’s rhetoric has prevented students from attending meetings, he has noticed a trend in attendance.

“What we have seen is that a lot of queer students seem afraid to come to us for our meetings… I don’t know if that’s out of fear [of] backlash over homophobic students finding out they’re going to [Triangle Club] meetings, or if it’s something else entirely, but I have noticed that compared to meetings last year, we get about half the amount of people,” Durfee said.

Despite uneasy feelings about the current political landscape and what the national defunding of Pride events could entail, student groups and school organizations hope to make a difference.

One of those organizations is Seattle U’s MOSAIC Center, which offers several resources for LGBTQ+ students. The Center operates the Pride Link, located on the third floor of the Student Center, a space that supports LGBTQ+ students. MOSAIC also runs the Gender Affirmation Support and Products Program, which provides care products and other resources to Trans and non-binary students through appointments. The Center also partnered with the Social Work Department to host Trans solidarity workshops for staff and faculty and a name and gender marker change clinic, also in collaboration with the law school. Tacadena said the Social Work Department spearheaded both of those efforts.

As for future ways MOSAIC can continue to support LGBTQ+ students, Assistant Director Brandon Tacadena has some ideas.

“I think further collaboration with community org[anization]s  is important, because we’re near Capitol Hill… there’s a lot of queer nonprofits that are set [up] here. I think we should be in relationship with these folks, and be able to share these resources and [make] sure that students are supported,” Tacadena said.

The Triangle Club is also planning for the future. Durfee shared that the organization is planning to ramp up operations next school year to better serve Seattle U’s LGBTQ+ community.

“We’re hoping that next year we’re going to hold a lot more meetings, and hopefully more people will have the opportunity to check us out, and [we want to start] earlier in the year too so we get a solid base to support Triangle Club as it moves forward,” Durfee said.

Fourth-year Communication and Media Major Avani Koganti called upon the LGBTQ+ community and its allies to make the change they want to see.

“The administration is what it is right now, but correcting it and being active in your community on a local level will make those larger impacts,” Koganti stated.

While Pride may look smaller this year, the reduction in corporate sponsorship and administrative support for the LGBTQ+ community does not negate the celebration of Pride in Seattle. Parades will still march through downtown Seattle and LGBTQ+ friendly local organizations will continue to uplift the queer community throughout June and beyond.