Cracker Barrel has removed the “Pride” section of its website, which once highlighted the chain’s sponsorship of the Nashville Pride Parade. Visitors are now redirected to a “Culture and Belonging” page.
The company insists the change was part of routine site updates, not a reaction to backlash from right-wing conservatives.
“In connection with the Company’s brand work, we have recently made updates to the Cracker Barrel website, including adding new content and removing out-of-date content,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Cracker Barrel recently attempted to rebrand with a new logo and restaurant redesign. Its conservative-leaning customer base balked at the loss of the chain’s Americana “country store” décor, replaced by a pared-down modernist theme and the removal of “The Old Timer,” an elderly white man leaning on a barrel in the logo.
The changes sparked accusations that Cracker Barrel was trying to go “woke,” prompting the company to quickly reverse course and restore “The Old Timer” to its logo. That reversal did little to quell conservative anger.
The restaurant remained under scrutiny from conservative activists like Robby Starbuck and Chris Rufo, who have built their reputations on pressuring companies to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies — which they claim are discriminatory — and to end any support for or acknowledgment of the LGBTQ community.
Critics also pointed to Cracker Barrel’s sponsorship of the 2024 Nashville Pride Parade and its launch of rainbow-colored rocking chairs for Pride Month. Some objected to the creation of an LGBTQ employee group called the “LGBTQ+ Alliance,” one of several business resource groups that also included racial minorities and veterans.
Those business resource groups are now at the center of complaints filed in July with the Tennessee Attorney General by the right-wing legal group America First Legal. The group argues that Cracker Barrel’s DEI policies create discriminatory employment practices, allegedly favoring minorities at the expense of white heterosexuals. AFL further contends that, because Cracker Barrel’s clientele skews conservative, such policies betray the company’s customer base.
A Cracker Barrel spokesperson told Fox News Digital the company had changed its business resource groups “months ago” to focus on corporate giving. The BRGs, still listed on the company’s website as recently as August 27, have since been removed.
More than 9 in 10 LGBTQ adults are out to someone in their lives about their sexual orientation or gender identity -- yet many remain closeted when it comes to family members or co-workers.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January, 96% of LGBTQ adults say they have told someone about their identity, while only 3% say they have not come out to anyone. However, up to one-third of LGBTQ adults -- including those who have come out to “someone” -- say they are not out to extended family members, such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, or cousins.
Philadelphia is extending its reputation as the “City of Brotherly Love” with plans to open one of the nation’s first LGBTQ visitors' centers.
Slated to open in January 2026, the Philly Pride Visitors Center will debut in the city’s LGBTQ neighborhood of Midtown Village, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
“We don’t just welcome diversity -- we celebrate it,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation. “Our hope is that the Philly Pride Visitors Center becomes a place where LGBTQ+ visitors feel they belong from the moment they arrive.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed a same-sex couple's lawsuit against Lufthansa Airlines to move forward, after the pair alleged that airline employees effectively "outed" them to Saudi authorities, putting their lives at risk.
Filed in 2021 by John Doe, a U.S. citizen, and Robert Roe, a Saudi national, the lawsuit accuses Lufthansa of publicly disclosing private facts, breaching its contract, and negligently causing the couple emotional and financial harm.
In 2024, a district judge dismissed the case, ruling that although Lufthansa operates in California, Doe and Roe "failed to show that their claims arise out of or relate to activities in California." The 9th Circuit reversed that decision, clearing the way for the couple's lawsuit to proceed.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.