Sponsored by multiple corporations with anti-LGBTQ ties, Lexington Pride Festival held indoors for a second year

By Dan Moon and Quinn Troia

This year’s Lexington Pride Festival was very different from years’ past. Instead of an open-air festival in the Courthouse Plaza, the event was held indoors at the Central Bank Center on Saturday, June 29th, 2024. Traditionally, the Lexington Pride Festival had been a free event hosted outside in downtown Lexington but since the move inside, attendees must now pay a $10 admission fee. The venue change, first instituted in 2023, elicited some negative reviews from attendees. 

“I feel like it’s a little more manufactured,” said Natalie, who has attended Lexington Pride for several years. “It feels less organic than being outside and kind of like anybody can walk in… it makes it a little more obvious how corporate it feels.” 

The move indoors to the convention center was initially marketed as a more accessible venue that could accommodate the growing size of the festival. Reactions from community members were mixed after the initial announcement of the location change in 2023. On social media, some opponents of the change cited concerns for the local businesses along Limestone near the Courthouse plaza, claiming that they would take a financial hit. Others shared that moving inside went against the history of pride celebrations, and represented a move “back into the closet.” 

Connie McNeely has been attending pride festivities in Lexington for at least 20 years. “It (the pride festival) started at Two Women's Farm,” she explained, “it was just a picnic, just open for gays and lesbians.Then a decision was made by a few people to move downtown, and that was a huge deal” said McNeely. “There were musical groups and it was just so exhilarating. People were so happy to be outside in the open, in the public.” She too has mixed feelings about the festival being indoors. “I love the fact that I'm sitting in an air conditioned room and there are all these other vendors, and more people than used to come before. What I don't like is the fact that we are in here and we're not open in the downtown area where it was very public.”

Several attendees mentioned the heat as a key factor in their feelings about the festival’s location. Andrea Shackelford, owner of Shack’s Knickknacks, had a vendor booth to sell her custom art.  She told Limestone Dispatch “I like the idea of it not being in the heat because the last couple years it was really hot. I'm a nurse, I know there were a few medical emergencies the last few years that it was outside.” Ultimately, Shackelford “preferred it (the festival) outside if it wasn't as hot,” however. Speaking on the admission price, she said “I'm okay with it because you have to rent the space. I mean pride's not a business, but things still have to be paid for. I don't think $10 is horrible, and there was help for people that couldn't cover the $10. I think that they've tried to make it accessible for everybody.” The Lexington Pride Center did offer a waiver for those seeking financial assistance with the admission cost.

Another attendee, Delaney, told us this was her second year attending Lexington Pride. She appreciated the indoor location for its accessibility, specifically access to air conditioning and restrooms. When asked about the variety of vendors at the festival, she said “It's probably more corporations and businesses than I would like. But I mean, what can you do, it's everywhere, not just here in Lexington”.

A venue change funded in part by corporate sponsors

It’s true– corporations are increasingly eager to participate in pride celebrations and present themselves as affirming to the LGBTQ community. At first glance, it may seem as if their motivation comes from a genuine desire to promote positive change and a more accepting world, but their political giving tells a different story. A Popular Information investigation found that a group of 25 major corporations with prominent pro-LGBTQ ad campaigns and/or lobbying activities also donated $18 million to anti-LGBTQ lawmakers since the last election cycle. 

In a statement made on Facebook on June 14th, the Lexington Pride Center stated that the cost of renting Central Bank Center “is covered by corporate sponsors, vendor fees and fundraising events throughout the year” while “ticket fee and merchandise sales revenue support the funding of the Lexington Pride Center.” With the controversial new venue of the Festival being bankrolled in part by corporations, Limestone Dispatch investigated a few of this year’s sponsors to see if the progressive image they presented at the festival was in-line with their political spending in Kentucky. 

This year’s festival boasted over 30 sponsors, including over 10 large corporations such as Lowes, Jim Beam, Kroger, and Amazon. In a packet for prospective sponsors on the Lexington Pride Festival’s website, the organizers of the festival wrote “sponsorship packages still remain affordable and a great value to you as a business owner. We believe in giving you the most exposure for the least amount of cost to you.” Also, all sponsorships are tax deductible– a lucrative prospect for many businesses. There were 7 sponsorship levels based on the minimum contribution amount, with the highest levels (Blue, Purple, and Rainbow) having minimum contributions of $5,000, $7,500, and $10,000, respectively. In exchange for sponsorship, the organizers of the festival offered sponsors different levels of exposure through printed ads, social media posts, and booth space(s) at the festival. Based on the minimum contribution amounts and the list of 36 sponsors on the Pride Festival’s website, the festival received over $100,000 from sponsors this year. 

Image taken from the 2024 Sponsor Packet on the Lexington Pride Festival website

Political donations by Lexington Pride Festival sponsors

While corporations cannot donate to politicians directly, they can form Political Action Committees, or PACs, to contribute to campaigns and other PACs. PACs are funded by donations from a company’s owners and/or employees. Limestone Dispatch looked at donations made by the top corporate sponsors of the festival and their associated PACs using OpenSecrets and the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.

Jim Beam

Of the corporate sponsors investigated, perhaps the worst offender was bourbon manufacturer Jim Beam. The company was listed as a “Rainbow Level” sponsor of the festival, contributing a minimum of $10,000 to support this year’s festivities and had a very visible presence at the event. The federal PAC of their parent company Suntory Global Spirits gave $10,000 each to the Kentucky State Democratic Central Executive Committee and Kentucky Republican Representative Andy Barr’s PAC. Barr has voted against legislation to codify same-sex marriage protections, and sponsored attacks on trans healthcare. Even more concerning are Jim Beam’s political donations on the state level. Records from their associated Beam Suntory Inc PAC show that the company donated $100,000 to the Republican Party of Kentucky Building Fund, whose sole purpose is to renovate the Republican Party of Kentucky’s headquarters in Frankfort, according to the Kentucky Lantern. The donation was completed just a few days before the Lexington Pride Festival. Kentucky GOP legislators introduced 14 anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation during this year’s session.

Gilead Sciences

Another Rainbow Level sponsor of the festival was bio-pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. They did make a $10,000 contribution this year to the Equality PAC, which supports queer and ally candidates for office. But Gilead also gave $10,000 to Mitch McConnell’s deeply conservative Bluegrass Committee PAC, which serves as a warchest for the Kentucky GOP. Recipients of Bluegrass Committee funds include state Senator Max Wise, the main sponsor of the dangerous anti-trans bill SB 150, which passed in 2023. Former Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron and current Attorney General Russell Coleman also received money from the PAC. Both have a history of trying to block protections for LGBTQ people. Gilead Sciences is one of the main manufacturers of HIV treatments, and a supporter of multiple initiatives around the world to de-stigmatize and better treat HIV. In Kentucky, Gilead seems to have gone against their own efforts, since another recent recipient of Bluegrass Committee funds is State Senator Stephen Meredith. In addition to being co-sponsor of SB 150, he is also the chair of the senate Health Services Committee, which this past legislative session did not give a hearing to HB 618. The bill would have lessened the criminal penalty for knowingly transmitting HIV. Meredith allowed the bill to die despite unanimous support in the house.

LG&E/KU

LG&E/KU, an electric company that serves over 1 million Kentucky residents, including most of Fayette and surrounding counties, also made donations to anti-LGBTQ candidates in 2023 and 2024 despite being a sponsor of the pride festival. LG&E was listed as a Yellow Level donor, meaning they contributed between $1500-$2500. Through the LG&E-KU Political Action and Awareness and Civic Education Committee, the company contributed nearly $2000 to former Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s election campaign in 2023 as well as $3500 to current Attorney General Russel Coleman’s election campaign that same year. On the federal level, LG&E/KU lobbies through their parent company, PPL Corporation. This year, PPL’s PAC donated $12000 to the Bluegrass Committee, and $10000 to Andy Barr’s PAC.

While the above sponsors of the Lexington Pride Festival may attempt to position themselves as a pro-LGBTQ companies, their political spending indicates that consumers should think critically before engaging with them. Several sponsors have also given to democratic policymakers in Kentucky, but those donations are likely to be ineffective in the companies’ supposed goals of promoting equality for queer Kentuckians. With the KY GOP continuing to introduce anti-LGBTQ legislation every year while holding a super-majority in Frankfort, donations to the party support attacks on queer Kentuckians. 

Regardless of funding sources or venue, the Lexington Pride Festival does serve as a hallmark event for the city’s queer community– especially in the face of legislative attacks. Natalie told Limestone Dispatch in closing, “it's really easy as a leftist to be like ‘this is so capitalist’ and that's all true, those are true things and critiques to make of pride, but at the same time it is for most, especially young people who are coming to this event, just a chance to see other gay people and like talk to people. And I think that's really the most important part, the opportunity for connection.”