Eighty pastors across Ohio just delivered a message that Kroger’s corporate boardroom cannot ignore: abandon your LGBT activism or watch your customers walk away.
At a time when the grocery giant is shuttering 60 stores nationwide, these religious leaders from Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian and other congregations are reminding interim CEO Ronald Sargent that alienating faith-based shoppers makes little business sense.
The pastors’ letter pulls no punches. “Instead of staying socially neutral on controversial political causes to satisfy the majority of your customer base, your company has left the marketplace of ideas and is aligned and closely associated with a shameful and diabolical LGBT policy,” they write. Their concerns span from gender transitions and sexually explicit school library materials to males competing in female sports.
Evidence backing pastors’ claims is extensive
Kroger maintains a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2025 Corporate Equality Index, a benchmark that rewards companies for advancing LGBT workplace policies. The grocery chain’s website features a dedicated “PRIDE: Fresh for Everyone” page promoting “LGBTQ+ Owned & Founded Businesses” and rainbow-themed “Pride essentials” designed to make “throwing a party” for LGBT pride celebrations easier than ever.
“Here at Kroger, we’re proud to support diversity and inclusion in everything we do,” the company declares on its pride page. But this corporate stance has already created workplace conflicts. In 2020, the company faced a lawsuit alleging it fired two employees who refused to wear aprons decorated with rainbow pride symbols.
The timing of the pastors’ intervention is particularly pointed. While the U.S. Department of Education celebrated “Title IX Month” last June to honor girls’ sports, and Ohio legislators consider establishing “Natural Family Month” between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day through House Bill 262, Kroger chose to participate in Pride Month celebrations instead.
Pastor representatives remind Sargent of Kroger’s Christian roots, noting how founder Bernard “Barney” Kroger “would credit his Bible-believing mother with instilling in him a deep sense of self-discipline, enabling him to manage and expand his company.” The contrast with today’s corporate direction could not be starker.
“With the closure of 60 under-performing Kroger’s stores nationwide over the next 18 months, we believe your company would benefit by not ‘upsetting the applecart,'” the pastors write. “For what it’s worth, please stay out of politics and do not alienate your customer base, otherwise your customers may just walk out the door and never come back.”
More conscientious consumers and communities are pushing back
This Ohio coalition joins a growing movement of consumers and faith communities pushing back against corporate activism. The business casualties are mounting. Disney’s stock price and theme park attendance suffered after the company opposed Florida’s parental rights legislation. Bud Light lost billions in market value following its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Target faced widespread boycotts over its Pride Month merchandise displays.
The November 2024 election results have only strengthened this trend. President Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris sent a clear signal that Americans are rejecting progressive ideology in the public square. Corporations are taking notice. Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s, Jack Daniel’s, John Deere, Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, Toyota, Coors, and even Disney have quietly backed away from their most controversial diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
For Catholic and Christian consumers, the Kroger situation represents more than a business dispute. It touches on fundamental questions about the role of faith in public life and whether corporations should use their market power to advance ideological agendas that conflict with religious convictions. Church teaching has long emphasized that businesses, like governments, should serve the common good rather than promote policies that undermine natural law and traditional family structures.
The pastors’ letter also highlights the practical reality facing many grocery shoppers. Families who hold traditional Christian values on marriage, gender and sexuality now find themselves funding corporate campaigns that directly oppose their deeply held beliefs every time they purchase groceries. This creates genuine moral dilemmas for conscientious consumers trying to live out their faith consistently.
The economic pressure is real. Religious Americans represent a significant portion of Kroger’s customer base, particularly in Ohio and other Midwest markets where the company maintains strong market share. These customers have demonstrated their willingness to change shopping habits when companies take positions that conflict with their values.
Kroger’s cave to ‘woke’ unites Christians
What makes the Ohio pastors’ approach particularly effective is its interfaith character. Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Presbyterian leaders rarely unite on every theological question, but their shared commitment to biblical teaching on marriage and family provides common ground. This broad Christian coalition demonstrates that concerns about Kroger’s policies extend far beyond any single denomination or theological tradition.
The pastors also frame their concerns in business terms that corporate executives can understand. They point out that controversy drives away customers at precisely the wrong time for a company already struggling with store closures and market competition. Smart businesses focus on serving customers rather than advancing political causes that divide their consumer base.
Kroger’s choice: perfect scores with LGBT advocacy groups or loss of faith-based customers
Kroger now faces a choice that many major corporations have confronted over the past several years. The company can continue pursuing perfect scores from LGBT advocacy groups while risking the loyalty of faith-based customers, or it can return to a more traditional approach that focuses on providing quality products and services without taking sides in culture war battles.
For Ohio families and Christians across Kroger’s market area, the next few weeks will reveal whether the company values their business enough to reconsider its current trajectory. The pastors have made their position clear. Now it’s up to Kroger’s leadership to decide whether keeping LGBT advocacy groups happy is worth potentially losing customers who have supported the company for generations.
The broader implications extend beyond grocery shopping. This confrontation represents part of a larger recalibration happening across American business as companies weigh the costs and benefits of political activism. The Ohio pastors may have just provided other faith communities with a roadmap for holding corporations accountable to the values and priorities of their actual customers.
