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Which Companies Ended Their DEI Support?

Updated: Apr 1

Companies across the country have been ending their DEI programs to appease the far-right so which ones still support us and which ones need a lesson in the almighty pink dollar?


INTRO


To add a touch of pride to any outfit, check out our Make Lying Wrong Again pins and Rainbow Knots bracelets. Get yours today at ProfessorPride.com.


Companies around the world have been changing their policies when it comes to hiring, promoting, or supporting outside groups to appease a minority of neo-Nazis. In a coming episode, we'll talk about Stochastic Terrorism and a man named Robby Starbuck who we found in our research for this episode as the main reason a majority of these Fortune 500 companies changed everything they're doing.


But for now, it is important to note that in the United States, it is against the law for employers to discriminate against potential or current employees based on their sex, race, disabled status, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. In each of the following cases, you might notice companies breaking these laws which opens them up to lawsuits from current or potential employees. But because of the scale of these actions, courts might force a class action lawsuit when these cases eventually make their way to court.


We're going to cover companies and organizations which have ended their DEI programs and LGBTQ support to show you which companies no longer deserve the almighty pink dollar (or financial support from LGBTQ people). But we'll also cover their competitors who stand firm in their support so you have options on who to support instead. With that said, because this will be a constantly evolving list, we'll be updating our blog post at ProfessorPride.com linked in the description any time a company takes either side.


Please click on any of the following company names to learn more about what programs they ended.


First, let's discuss companies which ended their DEI and LGBTQ programs:

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

In a move no one expected, the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ political lobbying group in the United States, fired 20% of their workforce recently in a move they claim is because of the evolving political and financial landscape. You should know, they have boasted for years about exceeding their fundraising goals. In 2023, they wanted to raise $63 million but actually raised $85 million. In 2024, they raised $75 million but their expenses somehow stood at $89 million. 


The worst part is, they are claiming this will help them do more to help LGBTQ people. They said in a statement, “We’re sharpening our focus on where we can make the most impact…This is about ensuring that we are agile and strategic in this moment.” 


When reporters asked their CEO if the layoffs would weaken their influence or ability. Kelley Robinson dismissed those concerns, saying “If it’s our opposition asking that question, I think they do at their own peril. The best thing about being a queer person is that we have a history and legacy of confronting impossible challenges and coming out the other side.” 


In other words, the Human Rights Campaign gave up fighting for us. They brought in $75 million and only had 230 staff members, 50 of which are being laid off this month. So, unless those employees were making $326,000 each, the financial standing of the organization should still be stable. They claim this will help them do more but they have 20% less staff to do it with. So, it’s hard to convince companies to take part in your equality index survey and help your cause when even the HRC is giving up in the face of political threats that have been there for the past 10 years.

WALMART

Immediately after the election in November, WalMart chose to pull all LGBTQ books from their physical stores and website including all of the books written by Powered By Rainbows. They have also now pulled everything relating to the LGBTQ community in their stores, saying those products were 'aimed at children'. WalMart also specifically pulled all chest binders from their stores because they might be used by transgender children.


Companies owned by their parent company:

  1. Sam's Club

  2. ASDA Stores Limited

  3. Great Value

  4. Bonobos

  5. Equate

  6. Hayneedle

  7. Jet

  8. Mainstays

  9. Marketside

  10. Massmart

  11. Moosejaw

  12. Onn

  13. Time and Tru

  14. Wonder Nation

  15. ShoeBuy

AMAZON

Years ago, Amazon introduced a brand called Glamazon to market their products to the LGBTQ community. They've been a large sponsor of Pride events worldwide and had a robust DEI hiring program for their employees. However, they recently said they will be altering their approach to DEI and hope to be ending their approach to outdated programs by the end of 2024.


They have not mentioned which specific programs they will be ending but this announcement came immediately after Trump was elected and their Founder, Jeff Bezos supported Trump with not just a large donation but by attending his second inauguration. So, we can only guess these changes will have negative effects on the LGBTQ community. With that said, our LGBTQ products are still available on Amazon's website at the time of this writing.


Companies owned by their parent company:

  1. Whole Foods Market

  2. Zappos

  3. Audible

  4. IMDb

  5. Zoox

  6. Goodreads

  7. Ring

  8. AbeBooks

  9. PillPack

  10. Souq

  11. Alexa Internet

  12. AWS

  13. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

  14. Woot

  15. ComiXology

  16. Book Depository

  17. Amazon Air

  18. Amazon Fresh

  19. Twitch Interactive

  20. Kiva Systems

  21. Amazon Robotics

  22. Amazon Logistics

  23. Kindle Direct Publishing

APPLE

Apple electronics company has long said they are an ally of the LGBTQ community. Their CEO, Tim Cook was called a DEI hire by some conservatives since Cook is openly gay. But they have long been a supporter of Convicted Felon, Donald Trump.


In 2019, when Trump imposed tariffs on goods from China, Tim Cook appealed to Trump personally and worked with him to get an exemption for electronics including the iPhone. This year, Cook also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, saying it was in the spirit of bringing the country together. But he also attended the inauguration personally and has been working with Trump behind the scenes for years as a supporter.

BROWN-FORMAN

Famous for their whiskey brand, Jack Daniels, Brown-Forman first started its DEI programs in 2019 but announced this week they are ending all DEI and LGBTQ initiatives. In a statement, they claim the ending of these programs is the result of a changing "legal and external landscape."

CATERPILLAR

Large machine manufacturer, Caterpillar announced this week they will be ending their participation in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index survey. They also announced they will be re-evaluating all future donations and sponsorships to better align with the company's new direction. Finally, they said all future speakers at training programs and calls will be subject to senior management approval and should focus solely on "fostering high performance."

FORD MOTORS

In 2017, Ford Motor Company was advertising how the Human Rights Campaign Equality Index listed them as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ people. But this week, after right-wing bloggers on Twitter started investigating Ford, their CEO, Jim Farley said in an email they will not be participating in any LGBTQ surveys and changing some of their D EI policies moving forward.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON

After right-wing social media trolls called out Harley Davidson for having a perceived DEI program hiring LGBTQ people, women, and disabled individuals, the company responded publicly on Twitter, saying the company has not operated any such DEI programs since April 2024.


They added they have no hiring quotas and they no longer have any "supplier diversity spending goals". Harley-Davidson also announced they will no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index survey.


In their statement, they said they believe in "having both a broad employee and customer base is good for business..." While it is good for business to have customers and employees on both sides, this comment is funny because it very much sounds like they want to end all support for LGBTQ people, women, disabled people, and people of color, but they would sure love it if all of those people still continued to buy their products. But that's not how anything works, Harley-Davidson.

JOHN DEERE

In a statement on Twitter, the farm equipment manufacturer announced it will no longer sponsor "social or cultural awareness" events. They also said they would be auditing all training materials "to ensure the absence of socially-motivated messages".


John Deere added, "the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy."

LOWE'S

While their DEI policy still remains on their official website, Lowe's Home Improvement announced in an internal memo they will be scaling back their DEI policies in light of recent political climates.


As of this week, their CEO Marvin Ellison, who resigned from Home Depot citing his performance as one of their executives, said Lowe's will no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index survey and will stop sponsoring or participating in events, festivals, or parades that are outside of the scope of its business.


As a former Lowe's Associate myself, it saddens me to hear such a statement from Ellison, who tells all associates in a welcome video that 'We are all family here.' During my time there, they charged employees more for snacks and drinks than they did regular customers. Employees were forced to smell terrible all day because associates cannot be trusted to take a highly valuable vest home to wash them and bring them back to work the next day.


You should also know during my time there, they were extremely homophobic, sexist against men, practiced severely retaliatory management styles, and routinely asked male employees to perform duties outside the scope of their job descriptions. I should note, my husband and I are both insurance claims adjusters and know if you get hurt at work performing tasks outside the scope of your job description, as I got hurt at Lowe's myself, it is not covered by Workers' Comp.


As a former Customer Service associate, I was shocked when I heard any plant in the garden center was half off the sale price if it has a red marker on its UPC code. I was appalled that customers got a full refund for any plant in the garden center up to a year after their purchase without any questions asked...even one who admitted to using the flowers at her wedding the previous weekend.


I was happy when my employer donated $3 Million to the victims of Hurricane Helene but then heard rumors from management the money customers chose to donate on top of their order goes to paying my employer back for that donation. And I was a little upset when customers got a full refund for decorations that were obviously used being returned up to 30 days later, even if the holiday was over.


As a disclosure, my family owns stock in Lowe's and we plan to vote against Marvin Ellison being their CEO next time his position is up for a vote or anything else Marvin wants to do. Because, with those sort of policies, I don't know how you make money. But if you're an investor or customer, we should all be upset that all of those deeply costly policies are still in place.

McDONALD'S

This week, McDonald's fast food restaurant's corporate office sent a letter to all franchise owners, suppliers, and employees saying they will be ending some of their DEI initiatives and policies. This decision came after a right-wing channel on Twitter announced it would be doing an expose' on McDonald's 'woke policies'.


McDonald's also said they are conducting an internal 'civil rights audit' of their company to determine any further measures they feel are necessary.

META

As you may recall, Facebook banned Donald Trump from their platform in 2021 after Trump committed treason on the United States and incited an insurrection on the capital. For this reason, you might think Meta, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, would be proud of their stance against the orange man.


But recently, Trump was welcomed back to Facebook and their CEO, Mark Zuckerberg attended Trump's inauguration in person. Meta also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund and announced this week they are settling a case with Trump.


Even though they had every legal right to ban Trump, Facebook announced they are giving him $25 million more as an apology for banning him.


Immediately after the inauguration of Convicted Felon, Donald Trump, Facebook and Instagram users started noticing they were involuntarily subscribed to Donald Trump's, JD Vance's, and the White House's Facebook and Instagram pages.


But users have also noticed democrat, LGBTQ, and other social movements have been silenced on Meta platforms while republican movements and words are still searchable.


Meta also announced the same week they are firing their DEI team, ending equality programs, and ending their sunset supplier diversity efforts.

NISSAN

A few weeks ago, a terrorist on Twitter threatened to go public with what he called evidence of Nissan being 'bombarded with wokeness.' After this threat, the international company agreed to sit down with the terrorist for "productive conversations".


During these conversations, the Japan-based company agreed that their American unit will stop funding Pride events, cancel hiring and promotion of applicants that are women, disabled, gay, trans, or people of color. They also agreed they will no longer have any DEI trainings and no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality index survey.

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER

Over the years, Stanley Black & Decker has spent millions lobbying for human rights including $280,000 on lobbying lawmakers to pass the Equality Act and $10.5 million to help racial justice efforts.


Recently, Will Hild, III who is a member of the far-right hate group, The Federalist Society, went to social media accusing the company of deleting all of their web pages boasting about the donations. Stanley Black & Decker did delete all pages relating to DEI or any donations to LGBTQ groups and seem to be backing away from any future DEI programs.


But to extremists like Will who say "Until they own up to their mistakes and publicly apologize for their failures, consumers should assume that Stanley Black and Decker has every intention to continue putting woke policies ahead of their consumers."


So, even when a company stops all DEI programs and support for LGBTQ people, it's still not good enough to these extremists who now want a public apology too.

TARGET

Operating nearly 2,000 stores and employing more than 400,000 people, Target is a company that has been in the news many times for their support of LGBTQ programs. They've proudly displayed Pride merchandise every June through heavy scrutiny and even bomb threats.


But they announced recently that they are ending all DEI programs including ending their support of black-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, and LGBTQ-owned businesses. They also announced they are ending their programs to encourage hiring and promoting of women, people of color, and LGBTQ workers. Target has also declined to participate in this year's Corporate Equality Index survey by the Human Rights Campaign.

TRACTOR SUPPLY CO.

The farm supply store released a statement this week saying it would be "eliminating all of its diversity, equity and inclusion roles while retiring current DEI goals."


Tractor Supply also said they will "stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities" such as Pride festivals and voting campaigns. They have also announced they are not participating in future Corporate Equality Index surveys from the Human Rights Campaign.


Finally, they announced they will no longer be working towards its carbon emission goals.

TOYOTA

In October 2024, Toyota released an internal memo saying they would stop all external DEI programs and stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index survey.


The memo cited the reason for its decision, saying "When we find something that does not align with our values and strategies, we will address it directly."

ULINE

Uline was the third-largest mega sponsor of Donald Trump's election campaign and publicly have a DEI policy available on their website. However, just before the election in November 2024, Uline owners reportedly sent a mass survey to all of their employees asking them who they were voting for.


They claimed it was because they were "...curious - how does Uline compare to the current national polls?" They also claimed it was anonymous but employees were reportedly asked to "...sign in...solely to verify you are a Uline employee and to ensure one submission per person. Your name is not tracked, and your answers remain anonymous."


When asked to comment, Uline owner Liz Uihlein said But you should also know in Wisconsin where this survey took place, it is a criminal act to solicit a person to show how their vote is cast.

AMERICAN AIRLINES

After being sued by an extremist organization, American Airlines agreed to end DEI hiring and employment practices. They agreed to "abandon discriminatory employment practices" by ending their support of programs meant to stop them from discriminating against employees.


The extremist group named "America First Legal" which sounds awfully close to a phrase Trump uses all the time of "America First" are still suing American Airlines, alledging they discriminate against straight, cisgender, white men by hiring LGBTQ, people of color, women, or disabled people.


Shockingly, the case has not been thrown out of court by the judge and is now going to trial. Because that's where we are nowadays.

STARBUCKS

As you might recall, during the Republican National Convention in 2024 to nominate Convicted Felon, Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee, Starbucks was a major sponsor. For years prior, Starbucks was a big donor to LGBTQ causes and charities but this sponsorship to the RNC was an alarming shift in their policies considering many of their customers are democrats.


But in an annual shareholder meeting, they voted to end their DEI hiring goals and all support of DEI efforts. The vote was 90% in favor and 10% opposed.


They also voted against a report being conducted to see if they discriminate against employees.


Second, let's discuss companies which stand by their DEI and LGBTQ programs.


COSTCO

Shareholders at a recent meeting voted to reject anti-DEI proposals from the National Center for Public Policy Research. Costo also said in a recent statement that the claims of DEI being bad for business are "misleading, at best."

DISCOVER

Discover credit cards have promised to keep their DEI programs.

DELTA

Delta's Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Pete Carter said in a recent earnings call to investors that they remain committed to DEI and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies because "they are critical to our business."

JPMORGAN CHASE

JPMorgan Chase bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon said they would not back down from their DEI policies in a recent interview but added, "Now if you point to something we're doing that's wrong, I'd change it." But the company never clarified what Jamie meant by "wrong" and to whom gets to decide if something is wrong.

MICROSOFT

In October 2024, Microsoft released an annual DEI report with a press release saying they are standing firm on their DEI policies as they claim those values are at the core of their company's mission.

POWERED BY RAINBOWS

As the Founder and CEO of Matt Haslam Productions, the broadcaster of our show, I assure you that our commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion are still at the core of our organization.


With a staff of 36 people working behind the scenes at our production company and Pride store at ProfessorPride.com, we are continuing our commitment to support not only the LGBTQ community, women, disabled persons, and people of color, but we will continue to give to fantastic LGBTQ causes to put our money where our rainbow mouths are.


I assure you, we will never invite terrorists to the table to debate the human rights of our staff, our customers, or our viewers. And I can guarantee you, our executive team are not going to change any of our core beliefs because a Nazi became the commander Seig Heil of the United States.

With all of these companies, please remember we will be adding to our list on our website as more companies take one side or another. Remember, these companies only learn from the bottom line so for companies that stabbed us in the back and caved to terrorist demands on Twitter, maybe take your business elsewhere.


They will soon learn the true power of the pink dollar.


OUTRO



 
 
 

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