The first Pride has its roots in the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 when queer and trans folks took a radical stand against violence and repression, and the first Gay Pride Rally in New Orleans was hosted by the Pink Triangle Alliance in 1978. Every year in New Orleans it seems we drift further and further away from these radical roots and the focus on our community’s resilience. More and more the parade has been dominated by major corporate sponsorship, from alcohol brands, pharmaceuticals, and most prominently, Shell oil. As climate criminals that have destroyed Louisiana’s coast, and sell their oil to fuel the genocidal IDF, we are sickened that the organizers of New Orleans Pride allow Shell to use our community’s space and event to pinkwash themselves: trying to improve their image by positively associating themselves with progressive LGBTQ+ policy and acceptance. 

This past year, QTCAP, Sunrise Movement New Orleans and others joined together to disrupt New Orleans Pride and call out this genocidal sponsor, but there is still a need to put greater pressure on pride organizers to hear our demands. 

While Shell does sponsor NOLA Pride, it does so cynically and in bad faith. According to an investigation by the Guardian, from 2013 to 2022, Shell donated $544,010 to right wing nonprofits that deny climate change, push anti-abortion legislation and policies, and attack LGBTQ+ people. Some of these organizations are the Focus on the Family, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Heritage Foundation.

Shell has influenced New Orleans politicians to bypass community input and fast-track the River District Neighborhood project, a 47-acre headquarters next to the Convention Center. The company, which brought in $28.25 billion of profit in 2023, secured a 15-year property tax break, avoiding $21.6 million in taxes despite failing to meet public benefit requirements.

Shell also profits from environmental destruction and violence all across the globe. In October of 2023, the company was already reporting a surge in the price of its stock as Israel was beginning its campaign of extermination against the Palestinian people. In 2008 and 2009, Shell’s operations in Nigeria resulted in over 200,000 barrels of oil spilling into farmland, water sources, and inhabited areas, and local protests to the destruction were met with murderous violence by authorities at the urging of Shell. In our own backyard, a Shell offshore drilling operation spewed 88,200 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2016, putting the livelihoods of fishermen in jeopardy and threatening the already endangered ecosystems of southern Louisiana.

We demand New Orleans Pride cut all ties with Shell PLC and immediately drop their Shell sponsorship. 

New Orleans Pride should not be a breeding ground for corporate propaganda with many floats serving merely as advertisements. New Orleans Pride should represent and value the LGBTQ+ community in New Orleans and Louisiana, putting people over profits. We cannot claim to value or even celebrate our community while simultaneously consistently taking blood money from corporations that aid in the murder of Palestinians and destroying the Louisiana Coast. Shell, and similar corporations like Bayer, do not care about the LGBTQ+ community. Their values lie solely in creating a profit, even if it means taking the life of another human.