An investigation by Popular Information this year found that 25 brands including AT&T, Comcast, Home Depot and Deloitte have given a collective $13.5 million to anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers since 2022. So far in 2023, more than 80 anti-trans laws have passed in state legislatures across the U.S.

Brands have the ability to change hearts and minds and culture. That’s what we do.

Tamara Littleton, founder, The Social Element

Still, the focus of the public discourse around LGBTQ+ issues, and trans rights specifically, has largely moved beyond the lawmakers passing anti-trans legislation with the monetary support of brands. That’s happened as the rhetoric of those lawmakers has spread, Billard explained, and as members of the Republican party have closed ranks around it, which “has radically transformed the conversation around these policies.”

Real allyship means weathering the backlash

In the face of more vitriolic discourse around LGBTQ+ issues from a small but vocal minority (around 80% of Americans support policies protecting queer folks from discrimination), brands have a role to play, marketers told Adweek.

To start, though, “you have to earn your right to be in the conversation,” Littleton said. That means connecting with the LGBTQ+ community beyond Pride month and ensuring that you have resources in place within your organization to support your own queer employees before considering any external messaging targeting the community.

On the practical side, Littleton tells clients to be prepared for the backlash. “It’s about focusing on the key messaging, having teams in place to actually moderate and engage in the right tone of voice,” she said. “We’re doing a lot of helping brands be braver when they are facing a backlash because it’s a very human situation.”

Littleton, whose company Polpeo offers crisis simulations to help clients prepare for backlash and practice responding, said there’s been an increase in demand for those services—specifically around storylines involving LGBTQ+ issues and trans influencers.

“This is the time for brands to actually push forward,” Littleton said. “Brands have the ability to change hearts and minds and culture. That’s what we do. We’re advertisers, we’re marketers, we’re comms people. It’s really important that people are standing by the [LGBTQ+] community.”