今日吃瓜

This year, Meta and Google have not renewed their partnerships with Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

The two tech companies have recently made enormous changes and removals to their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the United States, since Donald Trump became President of the United States for the second time.

This marks a significant change for the tech giants, who have previously had robust DEI programs and initiatives, and have participated in Mardi Gras , including Meta’s participation in the 2023 World Pride. Meta was also a media partner and Google was a supporting partner of Mardi Gras in 2024.

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, renowned for its vibrant celebrations and advocacy for LGBTQIA+ rights, has stringent partnership criteria, outlined by its Ethical Charter.

Meta’s recent policy revisions have raised concerns within the LGBTQIA+ community. In the last month, the tech giant has removed its Pride themes, and rolled back its hate speech policy to permit users on Facebook and Instagram to call transgender or gay people “mentally ill.”

Similarly, Google has scaled back its DEI programs, including the .

These significant rollbacks have led to questions and serious concerns from the LGBTQIA + community about the companies’ dedication to the community’s rights, safety, and inclusivity.

Meta & Google at Mardi Gras: Not a withdrawal, but no contract renewals

Star Observer understands that the tech companies’ contracts with Mardi Gras had expired, but they were not approached with new ones.

Every participating float and partner must adhere to the Mardi Gras’ Ethical Charter process, and with the ongoing rollbacks to DEI programs in the US, its likely that Meta and Google no longer meet the requirements in the Charter.

“For half a decade Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has called upon our Ethical Charter framework during the final stages of prospective partnership opportunities. This ensures we enter into relationships with organisations鈥� who share our values and commitment to our communities, and who actively advance our communities鈥� missions through their audiences, processes, staff and strategies,” reads the Charter’s introduction. “Simply put, the Ethical Charter framework is the foundation our relationship is built upon and reassures our communities of organisations alignment and active allyship.”

The Charter rates each organisation between 1 and 5 in different categories, to ensure that the ‘prospective partner’ actually aligns with Mardi Gras’ values. The first of these categories is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

“We want to partner with industry leaders in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – who champion DEI as an integral part of their organisation,” reads the charter.

The other categories are:

• Human Rights and Sustainability 鈥� “We want to partner with organisations… who share a commitment to human rights”
• Authenticity and Integrity 鈥� “We want to partner with organisations who share a deep and authentic commitment to our communities, who align with our values, and are genuinely invested in seeing our communities thrive”)
• and Collaboration 鈥� “We want to partner with long-standing supporters of our community, who want to stick by us for the years to come…”.

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