LGBTQ Buying Power

Despite Backlash, Companies Still Benefit From Being Pro-LGBTQ

Calls for boycotts and online harassment are a given these days. But most consumers want companies to be inclusive.

October 6, 2023 at 7:00 AM EDT

Almost 500 bills restricting LGBTQ rights have been introduced in the US this year, more than in the last five years combined. Eighty-six have passed. Rhetoric against the community is growing, with hate speech surging on social media in the wake of these restrictive laws. “That’s really dangerous territory when you’re demonizing a certain group of people to that extent,” says Maeve DuVally, principal of consulting firm Glasheen & Co. “It leads to violence against us.”

For companies with pro-LGBTQ policies, it’s no longer a question of whether they’ll face conservative backlash, but when. Target Corp. suffered a misinformation campaign when bigots claimed it was selling “tuck-friendly” swimsuits for trans children. It wasn’t, but that didn’t stop people from destroying Pride displays and harassing workers. An Instagram partnership with influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked such anti-trans furor that Bud Light’s US sales briefly dropped 18%.

Given that 7.2% of US adults identify as LGBTQ, politically timid companies might try to avoid controversy by simply not catering to them. But they’d be missing out on a lot of money. Globally, LGBTQ people hold an estimated $3.9 trillion in purchasing power, according to investment adviser LGBT Capital. A survey by the consulting firm Edelman found that Americans are twice as likely to support pro-LGBTQ brands and 4.5 times as likely to work for them.

Millennials and Gen Z are more likely than older generations to identify as LGBTQ, so companies courting them as customers or employees need to appeal to them. They notice when a company supports LGBTQ rights—and when it doesn’t. When conservatives targeted her with death threats, Mulvaney said, Anheuser-Busch Cos. never reached out to her. (Anheuser-Busch said the privacy and safety of its employees and partners was “our top priority,” but didn’t dispute Mulvaney’s claim.)

Young consumers expect more. When North Face ads featuring drag queen Pattie Gonia prompted Marjorie Taylor Greene and others to call for a boycott, the company didn’t back down. Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s perennial Pride campaign features models of various genders and sexualities.

It’s not just marketing, though. About 1 in 4 US employer-provided health plans cover some gender-affirming care. Earlier this year the job search company Indeed Inc. offered a $10,000 relocation fee for trans employees or those with trans children who want to leave a state with restrictive laws. So far, several people have taken it up on the offer.

In the end, an increasingly hostile climate has made the LGBTQ community less forgiving of empty corporate gestures. They want real support. They want health care. According to numerous polls, most Americans, regardless of gender or sexual identity, agree. “This is going to wash out the companies that really aren’t supportive of our community,” DuVally says. “And I don’t think that’s necessarily such a bad thing.”

Cerón is a Bloomberg News reporter and the author of the novel Viva Lola Espinoza.