Pride Month

This June, you may have noticed something different about your social media feed. Fewer rainbow logos. Quieter corporate accounts. Some brands that used to sponsor Pride parades simply did not show up.

That is not an accident.

In 2024, roughly 9% of companies pulled back from Pride sponsorships and public support. In 2025, that number jumped to 39%, and not one of those companies planned to do more. Mastercard, Citi, Pepsi, Nissan, Anheuser-Busch: brands that used to headline parades walked away. 

Here is what that tells us: for a lot of those brands, the rainbow was a marketing decision, not a belief. The moment showing up carried any risk at all, the flag went back in the corporate closet. Rainbow washing and the corporate effect on Pride were always questionable, but if corporations are people, then they showed us who they truly are in the last year.

What Marriage Actually Means

At Echo Event & Design, I plan weddings. And I want to be direct about something that sometimes gets lost in the timelines and logistics and song list:

Marriage is a civil right. And it carries legal and financial weight.

When two people marry, they gain access to over a thousand federal rights and protections — many of which are invisible until you desperately need them. The right to make medical decisions for a spouse in a crisis. The right to inherit without a will. Spousal Social Security and survivor benefits. The ability to file joint tax returns. Immigration protections that allow families to stay together. Health insurance access through a partner's employer. I’m old enough to remember friends who died during the AIDS crisis, and their “families” not allowing their longtime partner to visit or have access, even after death. 

Research published by the RAND Corporation in 2024, drawing on two decades of data, found that married same-sex couples saw measurable increases in income, financial stability, and well-being compared to unmarried couples in similar circumstances. The longer the marriage, the greater the benefit. These are not abstract numbers; they are the difference between families that are protected and families that are exposed.

Marriage is not just a measure of love and commitment, though it is profoundly that. It is also a legal structure that safeguards the people inside it. And for LGBTQIA+ couples, that protection was hard-won, contested at every step, and under threat to this day.

Why This Matters to Me

I am a wedding planner, and I believe that everyone who chooses to build a life with another person deserves to celebrate that commitment with enthusiasm, joy, and the full protection of the law. I came out as bi in 2008, I have queer family members, and my life and career have been entwined with the queer community. 

I show up every June because I show up every other month, too. Not because it is good marketing. Because it is who I am, and because the couples I work with deserve a planner and a vendor team who truly support them.

For Allies 

When you are planning your wedding, it’s worth it to ask if your vendors are LGBTQIA+ supporting. If your vendors aren’t inclusive, are they the right pick for you? You can support your friends and loved ones’ rights with your decisions as well.

Sources: Corporate Pride sponsorship data referenced via public reporting. Legal and financial benefits of marriage: RAND Corporation, "Legalizing Marriage for Same-Sex Couples Benefited LGBT Individuals and Their Children: Twenty Years of Evidence" (2024). Federal marriage benefits: U.S. federal benefit frameworks as documented by FindLaw and Military OneSource.