San Francisco Pride vote to Ban Google

Members of San Francisco Pride Ban Google (and other corporate sponsors).

On January 15 the public membership of San Francisco Pride passed a resolution to ban YouTube, Google and its conglomerate parent company Alphabet from all Pride events. It is not yet clear whether the resolution has a legally binding status. A second resolution was passed to ban the Alameda County Sheriffs from marching with the San Francisco Police following what was described as “militaristic” behaviour. A third and final resolution was passed to force the board of San Francisco Pride to be more transparent when allocating grants and awarding sponsorship contracts.

Previously the open discussion of such awards and processes was “forbidden” in the public domain. One such issue which may challenge the resolutions is expected to be concerns that Google had signed a “multi-year contract” with San Francisco Pride behind closed doors. Campaigners have been working since June 2019 to challenge a creeping corporate presence at Pride events in San Francisco, and public members of Pride took to social media to celebrate what they consider to be a huge step forward in the back-to-basics approach to Pride. Against a backdrop in the UK of growing concerns surrounding corporate sponsorship deals associated with Pride, in November Peter Tatchell issued a press statement calling for London Pride to return to its protest roots.

A statement on the SF Pride facebook page from Carolyn Wysinger the San Francisco Pride President appeared to contract this resolution.

To our members:

Our legal team has reviewed last week’s vote by a small group of Pride’s 326 members and determined this measure to ban Google and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department from participating in the June parade is not binding. As such, there is no ban in place at this time. This small group is not representative of the larger Pride community, and our lawyers determined it is not reasonable for them to make motions at a meeting which doesn’t have enough people to equal a quorum and expect that vote to be a binding measure for the Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors was elected to represent our members and the community as a whole. They have a fiduciary responsibility to advocate for an inclusive, successful and safe celebration each year. The Board will meet February 5th to determine the next steps.