The anti-LGBTQ sentiment that has come to a head in the past weeks with boycotts against Bud Light (BUD) and Target (TGT) have dominated the headlines, but one anti-discrimination organization wants to highlight companies that haven't folded under the pressure.
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis went on CNBC Thursday to give props to a group of companies that have stood by the community her NGO represents in spite of growing pushback from the right.
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"I think we need to reframe this and I think the headlines got away from us on this one," Ellis said.
"Companies that did back down to bullies actually saw this escalate. But there are hundreds of companies that are still running pride campaigns. And there are many companies that stood up to these extremist bullies and didn't see any problems because they didn't back down."
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While she didn't call out the companies that "backed down," Ellis gave a shout out to Nike (NKE), Walmart (WMT), Cracker Barrel, and North Face (VFC) for not bowing to the anti-LGBTQ backlash that forced Target and Bud Light to rethink their campaigns.
CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin pushed back on that narrative however, by noting that Bud Light has lost a quarter of its sales due to the boycott, so it might have been necessary for them to "back down."
But Ellis says that the drop has been more pronounced because the LGBTQ community has shunned the beer also.
"If you look at LGBTQ folks, our community and our allies talk with our dollars. And we don't want to support a company that didn't support us when the going got tough."
You can watch the full interview below.
