![]() Regina Birdsell in August 2020, was also attributed to Anheuser-Busch in campaign finance records viewed by VICE News, although the address listed on records belongs to a local Anheuser-Busch brewery. But between August and October of last year, Anheuser-Busch donated at least $1,250 to two known anti-trans legislators in Kansas and Washington state.Ī third donation, for $250, to New Hampshire Republican Rep. Bud Light, an Anheuser-Busch brand, also sponsored the New York City Pride March organizers. This year, Anheuser-Busch released a splashy pro-Pride initiative, bragging that the company had received a “perfect 100% score from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ Equality,” a metric that gauges how well companies treat their LGBTQ employees. ![]() The Coca-Cola Company has not asked Newton for its money back, the spokesperson confirmed.īetween August and October of last year, Anheuser-Busch donated at least $1,250 to two known anti-trans legislators in Kansas and Washington state. We are also transparent about what we give.” We call out the LGBTQ community as part of that equality and inclusion criteria. In the fall of 2020, we updated our political contributions criteria to specify equality and inclusion as one of the aspects we use to evaluate candidates. “We have explicit criteria for our political giving, and we are transparent about how we make our decisions. ![]() That support has not wavered,” the spokesperson said. “We have long supported the LGBTQ community through our actions inside our company and throughout society. We also support passage of the Equality Act.” We support the Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project and other organizations that advocate for full civil rights protections for the LGBTQ+ community. “We’re proud of our corporate value to Stand for Equality and our diverse team of employees, including our LGBTQ+ colleagues. “Our employee PACs contribute to policymakers in both major parties, and it will not agree with every PAC dollar recipient on every issue,” an AT&T spokesperson told VICE News in an email. In 2020, AT&T gave money to the political campaigns of at least 16 state legislators who had, by the time of the donations, already sponsored legislation that had done just that. In total, the corporation gave at least $7,750 to legislators, spread across nine states, who had backed bills that would’ve kicked trans kids out of sports that correspond to their gender identity or banned them from gender-affirming health care. The contributions uncovered by VICE News came both from AT&T itself and from the company’s state-level, employee-led political action committees. At least 40 more bills would have banned trans kids from accessing gender-affirming health care, although only one state, Arkansas, turned that legislation into law. This year has seen an unprecedented level of legislative battling over the rights of trans children: State legislators across the country introduced at least 75 bills that would’ve blocked trans youth from participating in sports that match their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that tracks public policy that impacts LGBTQ people. Yet, particularly in 2021, corporations clearly want credit for supporting LGTBQ rights, at least in principle. These donations, some handed out through a complex web of political action committees, arrived after those lawmakers had sponsored the anti-trans legislation. “They’re opening the door so that their lobbyist can go in.” ![]() “They’re not giving to candidates for partisan purposes or ideological purposes.
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