Pride Month: Most Americans are skeptical about the motivation for business participation

June 03, 2025 at 11:07 AM EDT

Pride Month: Most Americans are skeptical of the business motivation surrounding the event

U.S. businesses that get involved in Pride Month celebrations will be met by skepticism by a majority of Americans over their motivations in supporting LGBTQ Americans and commemorating the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

A survey from Pew Research Group released just ahead of June 1 finds that both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ Americans think the reason that businesses participate in the month’s events is because they believe it will be good for their bottom line. Among LGBTQ Americans 64% agree with that sentiment while 54% of non-LGBTQ respondents thought the same.

More than a third of both groups say businesses feel pressure to participate and only around 15% believe companies genuinely have a desire to celebrate LGBTQ people.

“Many companies sell Pride-themed merchandise and express support for the LGBTQ community in other ways throughout June, although some have scaled back in recent years,” wrote Rachel Minkin, a research associate focusing on social and demographic trends research at Pew Research Center on the company’s website.

Here are some of the other key findings of the survey conducted in January and February:

66% of LGBTQ adults say they have participated in LGBTQ-related events during Pride Month at least once in their lives. This includes 49% who say they’ve participated more than once.
Adults who are not LGBTQ are less likely to say they have participated in LGBTQ-related Pride events. Still, 16% of non-LGBTQ adults say they have participated, including 9% who say they’ve done this more than once.
Certain groups of non-LGBTQ adults are more likely than others to say they’ve participated in Pride: Those younger than 50 (23% vs. 9% of those ages 50 and older), those with at least a bachelor’s degree (22% vs. 14% with some college or less education) and Democrats (27% vs. 7% of Republicans).
About a third of LGBTQ adults (32%) say they’re extremely or very informed about the history of LGBTQ people in the U.S. Another 44% say they are somewhat informed, and 24% say they are a little or not at all informed.
Among LGBTQ adults who indicate they know about LGBTQ history, few say they learned a lot about it in school. Instead, the most common source is the internet or social media: 60% say they learned a great deal or a fair amount from these sources. About half (51%) say they learned a lot from other LGBTQ people they know.

Read more: Investing with pride