Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and pro-LGBTQ+ initiatives, the company announced Monday.
In the wake of a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 ending affirmative action in college admissions, and a drumbeat of anti-“woke” messaging culminating in the election of President-elect Donald Trump to second term earlier this month, Fortune 500 companies have been under intense pressure by right-wing activists to publicly ditch progressive and inclusive policies.
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Among the policy changes announced by Walmart, the company said it will no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies based on their LGBTQ+-inclusive policies.
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The Arkansas-based retailer confirmed to the Associated Press that it will also be reviewing grants to Pride events for “sexualized content” they deem unsuitable for children, and monitor the company’s third-party marketplace for sexual and transgender products aimed at minors.
As well, the company won’t renew a five-year commitment for an equity racial center established in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd, and will no longer consider race or gender when signing on suppliers.
“This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America,” Robbie Starbuck, a key figure in corporate “anti-woke” campaigns, posted to X, claiming credit for the decision after alleged consultations with the company.
Starbuck claims to have had a hand in decisions by a raft of companies to step back from DEI and LGBTQ+-inclusive policies. Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman, Ford Motor Co., Lowe’s, Tractor Supply Co., John Deere, and most recently large-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc have all curtailed or eliminated inclusive initiatives with public declarations. Starbuck called them “a massive win for sanity.”
“Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting some of the biggest corporations on earth to change their policies without me even posting a video first just from the fear they have of being the next company we expose,” Starbuck posted after Caterpillar’s preemptory announcement. “The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are the trend now, not the anomaly.”
Following Ford’s announcement of a DEI rollback, HRC president Kelley Robinson said the decision signaled “that inclusion and other core values are no longer a priority in the workplace” at the carmaker, and characterized Starbuck as a “MAGA bully and Republican-reject.”
A Walmart spokesperson said policy changes at the company have been in the works for some time. Walmart recently dropped use of the term DEI in favor of “Belonging.”
“We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone,” Walmart said in a statement.
Marc Morial, CEO and president of the National Urban League, told CBS Mornings that he was “dismayed by this decision.”
“I think what they did is succumb to a smear campaign, to threats, to bullying and to blackmail by a handful of extremists,” Morial said.
“They went from worst to first class when it comes to diversity,” Morial said. “The idea that they would throw all of that away without any careful consultation with their partners, without any real serious evaluation of the success of these programs, is what dismays me.”
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