Bay Area-based Robinhood gave to anti-LGBTQ lawmaker while touting 'Rainbowhood'

In October of 2020, Bay Area-based stock trading app Robinhood published a Medium post entitled "We're Coming Out — Introducing Rainbowhood!"

"Across Robinhood, we strive to provide a warm and welcoming workplace where our employees can be themselves without judgment," the post noted. "Rainbowhood" stuck around, becoming the name of the company's LGBTQ employee resources group. It was repeatedly invoked in a blog post Robinhood put out at the start of Pride last month.

"Equality for all can only be realized if those in majority positions within society unite with the marginalized and oppressed," Jason Warnick, chief financial officer and executive sponsor of Rainbowhood, was quoted as saying in the Pride post. "Never has it been more important for LGTBQ+ allies to unite with our friends and colleagues on a common mission for equality."

But a review of FEC filings by Robinhood's political action committee (PAC) calls into question how dedicated Robinhood is to that mission: In the second quarter of this year, the company's PAC donated to a Republican congressman with a history of anti-LGBTQ votes and rhetoric. Robinhood's CEO, Vladimir Tenev, also maxed out a donation to the same congressman, who has pushed back against stronger regulation of online brokerage firms.

On April 12, 2022, the Robinhood Markets, Inc. PAC gave $2,900 (the maximum allowed for a new PAC) to Rep. Patrick McHenry, a congressman from North Carolina who's been in office since 2005. Six days prior, on April 6, Tenev gave the individual maximum amount of $5,800 to McHenry. It was the Robinhood PAC's, and Tenev's, only direct donation to a congressman or senator this quarter. (Robinhood's PAC also donated $5,000 to at least one PAC dedicated to LGBTQ rights this quarter.)

Two months later, on June 24, McHenry — the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee — released a statement about the committee's investigation into the "meme stock event of 2021," in which Robinhood was a central player. The committee's top-line findings included the critique that "Robinhood exhibited troubling business practices, inadequate risk management, and a culture that prioritized growth above stability during the Meme Stock Market Event."

But McHenry dismissed those findings, writing that "Committee Democrats saw a chance to use partisan conspiracy theories to push an agenda that makes the stock market less accessible. Now, nearly 17 months later, there is still no evidence of collusion between market makers and broker-dealers, and the Democrats continue to ignore the fact that the underlying infrastructure of the market performed well during the meme stock event."

McHenry has served on the House Financial Services Committee for as long as he's been in office. He's opposed equality for the LGBTQ community for as long as he's been in office, too. In 2006, when the New Jersey Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, McHenry's office decried "creating a new right to homosexual marriage." McHenry said at the time, "This is another attempt to destroy the institution that is the cornerstone of civilization and family life — marriage."

This week, the congressman voted against a House bill that would provide federal protections for both gay marriage and interracial marriage. Forty-seven Republicans joined all congressional Democrats in passing the bill, which has taken on a renewed importance after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called for the court to reconsider its 2015 opinion that legalized gay marriage nationwide.

Gay marriage and interracial marriage were both mentioned in a 2021 Pride post by a Robinhood employee, who wrote that they were grateful for the company's equality-driven efforts. "Robinhood's dedication and support of intersectional work demonstrates that we really are democratizing finance for all. As a queer person in an interracial relationship, these issues are especially important and personal to me," they said.

In a statement on Thursday evening, Rochelle Nadhiri, vice president of communications for Robinhood, wrote the following about the company's donation to McHenry:

"The contribution philosophy of our newly-established PAC reflects the varied perspectives of our customers in line with our mission — to democratize finance for all. That means economic empowerment, equity, and access. Over time, you'll see that approach reflected in our public filings."