Prodding your comment not to disagree but to add a consideration here for the general discussion. Applauding "Canada's gayest companies" should absolutely be a major item to be happy about.

Not because they didn't necessarily decide primarily on their sponsorship when it was also beneficial to them, but also because their sponsorship actually does make a very major difference to LGBT treatment in the workplace. You might laugh or think it absurd (and justly think it absolutely unreasonable), but most decision makers (director level and above) don't change ingrained social prejudices until they're forced to confront them. Often through realization that they're losing out on their competition/etc... whom are all seen at events like these as being supportive of an otherwise marginalized set of social groups. The shift is often not even one that's self-realized, where most executives simply take the stance that they were always pro LGBT or whatever improves workplace productivity irrespective of the fact that the sentiment holds no basis in reality. "Big company/business" has always been a good whipping boy, but I honestly don't think they deserve any such beating.

Put another way, having big companies help/sponsor these types of events is actually something that makes a nontrivial difference. I know of a number of people that were not able to be "out" due to their jobs alone prior to companies like TD making their involvement and support very clear in an unequivocal and visible fashion.

Big companies in particular (again, TD as the example because it's handy and easy) also have vast numbers of employees. Showing material support for something like Pride, even if also motivated by financial incentives, makes a huge difference to inordinate numbers of people. Telco's and banks for decades were horrendous to work for if you were a member of the LBGT community, where you always had to be wary that prejudiced business stakeholders would decide to turf you or create a "dead-end" situation if they found out you were gay. This is still a concern today (people haven't seen a decline in their to adopt/realize bigotry to date), but with larger companies not just tolerating but wholeheartedly embracing it there is an extraordinary shift in how the business world/culture deals with LGBT individuals.

I might anticipate calls of nonsense for this post and complaints that the companies are only in it for the money, but the impact on day to day lives of people working for these companies and their related companies (i.e.: RBC, Scotiabank, etc...) is incredibly significant. It's the difference between putting lip service to anti-discrimination policies and actually making it unambiguously clear at ALL levels that the anti-discrimination policies are not only to be obeyed but fully considered and actually adhered to in spirit as well as literal word.

Anti-establishment is great and all, but isn't something that's acting as a major driving force to materially improve status-quo. I don't care if they're also motivated by money, the goal from our perspective should be to actually improve things for the LGBT community, which is something their very visible support achieves in a very real sense. We can prefer corporations not be involved, but it would be to the detriment of the LGBT community for a "feel good" moment with only detrimental effects.

There's more to this, but I think I've rambled on enough here. Per the wall of text above, the societal advantages are something that most people fail to completely consider whilst shouting "ra ra down with the 1%".