Over the last few years, Pride Month – annually celebrated in June – has come with ample rainbow graphics and performative advertising from recognizable brands. This has been particularly true in the beauty space where many brands have been born out of the platforms of charismatic queer entertainers such as Jonathan Van Ness (JVN Hair) and Trixie Mattel (Trixie Cosmetics).
Earlier this month, Popular Information reported on 25 major companies – including three of the beauty industry’s biggest retailers, Amazon, Walmart and CVS – that have donated at least $13.5m to anti-LGBTQ+ politicians since January 2022. That money was either donated by corporate Pacs to the campaigns of members of Congress that received a zero rating on the latest congressional scorecard produced by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC); to state legislators who sponsored anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Florida, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas; to the governors who signed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation into law in those states; and to the primary 527 organizations that support anti-LGBTQ+ state legislators and governors.
