Times they are a-changin’.
Just a few years ago, brands were tripping over themselves to get their annual “Pride Month” posts up on June 1st to show everyone just how inclusive they are and (virtue) signal their support for the LGBTQ community.
I mean, you couldn’t log onto social media without seeing rainbow logos everywhere.
But times have changed, and while there were still plenty of rainbows all over social media, there were some brands who have participated in years past that decided to skip the tradition this year for one reason or another. And one of those brands that fans quickly noticed had opted to sit this one out was NASCAR.
For the past few years, NASCAR has been faithful with their Pride Month posts on June 1:
But June 1 came and went, and there was no mention of Pride Month on any of the NASCAR social media channels.
Of course it’s possible that it’s still coming later in the month this year. NASCAR was racing on June 1 this year, with yesterday’s Cracker Barrel 400, and maybe they just didn’t want to deal with the backlash they receive every year for their pride post while trying to focus on the race.
Fans definitely took notice that there was no acknowledgement of the “holiday” though. Some were upset, while others praised NASCAR for the decision:
Naturally, plenty of people blamed the lack of a Pride Month post on President Donald Trump and his efforts to end DEI programs. Trump attended the Daytona 500 earlier this year, his second time at the Great American Race, and just last week Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth served as grand marshal for the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.
NASCAR also quietly renamed their Drive for Diversity program during the offseason, instead opting to call it only their “Driver Development” program. The change has reportedly been under consideration for several years, and was made to broaden the program’s scope and develop the next generation of NASCAR drivers.
The racing series first established Drive for Diversity back in 2004 as a developmental program aimed at attracting more female and minority drivers to the sport. Since 2009, NASCAR has partnered with Rev Racing to train drivers and selected for the program and field cars for them in lower racing series’ like the Whelen All-American Series and the K&N Pro Series in hopes of getting them into NASCAR.
And there have been some pretty successful drivers come through the series over the years. Rising Truck Series star Rajah Caruth was a member of the Drive for Diversity program for several years, as were current Cup Series drivers Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace. But by far the most successful former participant in the Drive for Diversity program was Kyle Larson, who has gone on to win a Cup Series championship and 32 races in NASCAR’s top series.
But NASCAR is far from the only company that’s scaled back on their LGBTQ programs in recent years. Earlier this year, it was announced that Anheuser-Busch would be ending their sponsorship of the St. Louis Pride Festival after 30 years. Tractor Supply and John Deere also announced that they would be ending their sponsorship of Pride events, and other companies like Jack Daniel’s, Harley Davidson, Ford and Lowe’s have also scaled back their DEI policies and trainings in the wake of the culture shift and pushback against the practices.
Obviously I don’t expect NASCAR to comment on the lack of a Pride Month post. I’m sure they were hoping it would go unnoticed, or at the very least that the number of fans upset by it would be significantly smaller than those who approve of the decision.
