the 2025 line up of sponsors at leeds official pride (like previous years) includes several companies with violent and unethical business practices. corporate sponsors such as legal firm eversheds sutherland, jet2, novuna and first direct bank all have ties with weapons manufacturers, the palestinian genocide and other unethical industries.
the origins of pride are in protest, liberation and equality. we want leeds official pride to:
- drop these sponsors for their active role in genocide and the climate crisis
- take measures to commit to more ethical sponsorship (or no sponsorship, community funding, or downsizing etc) in the future
- publicly acknowledge the on-going genocide in palestine
- prioritise actual inclusion of marginalised lgbtqia+ people of intersecting identities (people of colour, refugees, disabled people etc) instead of focusing on profits and sponsorships
more info about the sponsors and why you should boycott them:
first direct is owned by hsbc, hsbc:
- own shares of boeing, raytheon, caterpillar, general dynamics - all military companies
- has invested billions in fossil fuels and animal agriculture since the paris agreement
- invests in chevron (who extracted offshore gas from occupied territories of palesetine- which is a war crime under international law and makes them complicit in the illegal occupation of palestine)
- invests in marfrig: an industrial "livestock" company in brazil (one of the biggest in the world) responsible for the displacement of indigenous peoples in brazil, tens of thousands of hectares of deforestation and the slaughter of millions of cows
eversheds and sutherland is a legal firm which represents several businesses in the BDS movement's boycott list (such as seimens and coca-cola) as well as working with military clients such as bae systems.
jet2
-as a commercial airline have a significant carbon footprint which grew by 26.3% in 2019
- they use boeing aeroplanes: boeing is actually a "defence" company which manufactures various military technology and vehicles including apache helicopters which have been used against palestinians by the IDF (or israeli offence forces).
novuna is owned by the mitsubishi group. the mitsubishi group includes:
- MUFG: has invested $369.33 billion in fossil fuels since the paris agreement
- mitsubishi heavy industries: the largest weapons manufacturer in japan
- used forced labour during the japanese occupation of korea (1910-1945)
please sign and commit to boycott leeds pride until they stop allowing evil companies to advertise themselves at the pride parade! pride is a protest! #noprideinapartheid #noprideingenocide #noprideonadeadplanet
