As a guy who does PR in the corporate world, my hunch is that they wanted to try to keep him, but the pressure internally from employees/LGBTQ employee groups grew and grew as the week went along.
There is a reality that if you talk about being an inclusive workplace and and you value employees as they are that you have to walk the talk.
The whole thing is unfortunate. But when you take the corporate money, you have live up to their values.
No question that JT will not have a problem finding someone to sponsor him. He does seem to have a good sense of style, so it would be sort of cool for him to simply wear what he wants to wear from all kinds of manufacturers.