Hard-earned progress in the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ equality is under attack. A record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in 2023, and 2024 is on pace to surpass that mark. The ACLU is currently tracking over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across the US, and the conservative majority of the Supreme Court is signaling openness to reconsidering marriage equality.

These attacks, and the legislators driving them, are funded by companies that many of us unwittingly support. Companies and brands like Home Depot, AT&T, Comcast, FedEx, and Brawny are among the largest and most consistent direct donors to the politicians leading these anti-LGBTQ+ efforts at the federal level*. Popular Information identified 25 of the largest anti-LGBTQ+ funders, led by AT&T at nearly $1.3m in such funding since the end of 2023. Comcast is right behind at $1.2m+, followed by many leading consumer companies and brands.

Yet at the same time, many of these companies make a very public show of claiming to support the LGBTQ+ community as rainbow-flag-waving corporate citizens. Companies like AT&T, Walmart, CVS, and Comcast promote their support of LGBTQ+ equality and actively pursue the LGBTQ+ community as a target market and revenue source. Whether through the promotion and sale of rainbow-themed merchandise or pronouncements of their commitment to diversity and inclusion, these companies make a very rainbowy display of expressing their support for the LGBTQ+ community, while simultaneously and hypocritically funding the very legislators working against equality. Without consequences, there is no incentive for companies to change this two-faced behavior.

The good news is that there is an tremendous amount of untapped consumer spending power that can be aggregated to create consequences for companies trying to have it both ways. The more than 13 million LGBTQ+ Americans represent over $845 billion in annual consumer spending power. When all voting-age Americans who support marriage equality are added in, it explodes to $15 trillion in consumer power. If LGBTQ+ Americans and their allies shifted just $100 per month away from companies working against their interests, it represents a shift in nearly $275 Billion in consumer spending, dwarfing the millions companies are spending on these anti-LGBTQ+ legislators.

To put this in context, it is estimated that Bud Light has lost between $1b and $1.5b as a result of the backlash received due to their partnership with a transgender influencer last year. This is less than one-half of one percent of the consumer power we could put into action by switching $100 per month away from the companies funding work against the values and beliefs of the majority of Americans to let people be who they want to be, and love who they want to love.

As we head into the heart of the 2024 election season, we have an opportunity to send these politicians and their corporate enablers a powerful message, to vote not just at the ballot box but with our wallets. At Spending Spotlight, we’ve worked to make it easy for you to align your spending with your values by researching the companies that most consistently provide the greatest direct support to anti-LGBTQ+ legislators. We’re asking people to make one switch away from a company or brand supporting extreme anti-LGBTQ+ legislators. Just one switch to help us create consequences for companies trying to have it both ways.

*Either directly, or in the case of Brawny through their parent company Koch Industries.