Who pays for pride? The parties and parades come at a price, and eager corporate sponsors are more than happy to foot the bill. (Pride 2003).

Look beyond the pink feather boas, rainbow flags, the white briefs, the bare chests, and the fake breasts at Atlanta's pride observance in the city's Piedmont Park. Look beyond the flash to the Porta Pottis, the Dumpsters, the tents, the chairs, and the tables needed to accommodate 300,000 revelers over the three-day celebration. Pride today comes at a price.

"The total budget in 1995 was $150,000, and now the total budget is over a half million," says Donna Narducci, executive director of Atlanta's pride festival committee, who has been involved with the celebration for more than a decade. "We're past the point of being able to pay for this event through the generosity of individuals. Atlanta's expectations far exceed that."

So Narducci and organizers of gay pride events across the country are lining up corporate sponsors to help foot the bills. In Atlanta the total contribution from sponsors is about $350,000, Narducci says. Of that, more than $200,000 is cash contributions and the rest is in-kind contributions, such as advertising, mobile phones, travel vouchers, and hotel rooms.

Twenty years ago, Los Angeles's pride observance was one of the first gay celebrations to attract corporate dollars--from Miller Brewing Co. and Anheuser-Busch. Today, it boasts about two dozen corporate sponsors, and Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light is a sponsor of multiple pride events, as are Showtime Networks, Absolut Vodka, Miller Lite, Wells Fargo, Del Monte's Pounce and Pup-peroni pet food brands, Bank of America, and Washington Mutual.

Another example is Whole Foods Market, which is involved in pride events in Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Madison, Wis., Durham, N.C., and Washington, D.C., among others.

"Whole Foods Market gives back at least 5% of our profits to the community," says spokesman Michael Duffield. "We donate products and services to worthy causes all the time. It's not just something we do. It's who we are."

The list of sponsors for Atlanta's celebration this June includes more than two dozen names, including CocaCola, BellSouth, Washington Mutual, Delta Air Lines, Verizon Wireless, Coors, Showtime, and Sheraton. The large number of sponsors means organizers of one of Atlanta's biggest outdoor events can stage an elaborate celebration at no cost to the public.

"We are committed to keeping our event free," Narducci says. "We want pride to be financially accessible to everyone. So we need corporate support to make that happen."

Organizers of smaller pride events say the same. Pat Baillie, copresident of the 27-year-old Albuquerque pride celebration, estimates that 30 sponsors will pay about 40% of the $36,000 budget for this year's party.

"We keep our gate admissions at donations and bring in a nationally recognized grand marshal and a headliner because of sponsorships," Baillie says. "As we grow, the only place in our budget we can grow to keep the event fun and safe is through the sponsors."

Corporate sponsors also add a certain legitimacy to pride events, says Paul Bashline, a regional director for InterPride, which provides organizational guidance for pride festivals internationally. "Because we're involved in politics, we understand the need for companies to have their names added to our supporters," he says. "By sponsoring pride events, corporations are making a statement that they do not condone discrimination."

Of course, the corporate dollars are more than gestures of goodwill. They're also good for the bottom line.

"Companies these days take a bottomline approach to this kind of marketing," says Jim Andrews, editorial director of the Chicago-based "IEG Sponsorship Report." Still, he adds, pride sponsorships also allow companies to demonstrate that they are making a commitment to the community.

Sponsors agree. "We're doing this because we live there, in these communities," says Becky Braniff, Washington Mutual's vice president of new markets. "We work there. We're building relationships with people. We've always had a presence in our communities."

Stephanie Gibbons, Showtime's senior vice president of advertising and promotions, adds, "Some things are very commercial in nature, [but] this is about having a presence in and a tie to the community."

In late April, Showtime announced partnerships with more than 25 pride and gay-related events this year, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, San Diego, Washington, D.C., and Provincetown, Mass. The sponsorships provide Showtime an opportunity to promote Queer as Folk and its upcoming lesbian-themed series The L Word to an estimated 5 million people, Gibbons says.

Narducci, whose event also counts Showtime as a sponsor, says gay men and lesbians often return the sponsor's investment--in consumer appreciation and loyalty.

She remembers last year that Coca-Cola became the target of a far-right letter-writing campaign after announcing its sponsorship of Atlanta's pride festivities. "There was some grumbling to Coca-Cola," she says. "But Atlanta's gay community, we put the word out that 'Hey, Coca-Cola is hearing bad things,' and our community sent hundreds of letters in response. Gay consumers are loyal."

Still, Coca-Cola and other companies aren't likely to be frightened away from pride events by boycott threats, according to Andrews of "IEG." "If the numbers are there, if they think they can do more business by getting gay consumers to buy their products, they aren't going to be afraid," he says. "From the people I've talked to, most say the support they get from the community far outweighs any negative backlash they get from conservatives."

But conservatives aren't the only critics of the corporate sponsorship of pride. Two years ago a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based group of gay and lesbian activists called Gay Shame protested commercialization of pride parades under a banner that read, IT'S A MOVEMENT, NOT A MARKET. Demonstrators also have targeted pride events in San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, and Toronto, and the dyke marches staged around the country typically shun sponsorship.

However, pride organizers say they aren't selling out and are convinced most pridegoers appreciate the corporate hand. A survey conducted at San Francisco's pride celebration in 2001, for example, found most people either ambivalent about or supportive of corporate sponsorships.

"I think our community is appreciative and proud of our pride sponsors," says Narducci, being sure to add that she's conducting her end of the interview on a donated Verizon Wireless mobile phone.

Neff is managing editor of the Chicago Free Press.