As June’s Pride Month festivities came to a close, Tractor Supply released a statement that sent shockwaves through the LGBTQ+ community. The farm-focused retailer announced it would stop sponsoring Pride celebrations and eliminate roles tied to diversity initiatives. Additionally, Tractor Supply would no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for its annual Corporate Equality Index.
This move marked the first domino to fall as companies began pulling out of the Corporate Equality Index, a benchmark widely considered a gold standard for evaluating companies’ policies and benefits for LGBTQ+ employees. In the following months, businesses ranging from Ford to Lowe’s announced they would stop submitting data for the index.
The latest company to join this trend was Walmart, the largest retailer and private employer in the US, which announced on November 25 that it would stop sharing data with the HRC. The decision was made after conversations with Robby Starbuck, a director-turned-conservative activist who has been advocating for companies to pull out of the index.
Starbuck has been targeting companies with diversity initiatives, claiming they have run afoul of corporate diversity work. He has launched campaigns centered on companies he believes have gone too far with their diversity efforts and has been ramping up his actions, targeting retailers for the holiday season.
The shift has pushed some allied groups and LGBTQ+-identifying consumers to speak out. Tractor Supply and some other companies have marked a staunch turn in policy, with some having publicly boasted about their perfect scores on the index just two years ago.
Experts say the rising concern around how the federal judiciary could rule on cases tied to diversity work has pushed companies to rethink related internal policies. Continued pressure from right-wing activists to do away with initiatives such as supplier quotas and carbon goals has also turned up the heat.
The HRC’s index, which launched in 2002, rates companies on factors such as the equitability of their benefits and their corporate social responsibility efforts. The organization has pointed repeatedly to data showing consumers are more likely to support businesses that affirm the LGBTQ+ community.
The trend of companies backtracking on diversity promises made after George Floyd’s murder by a police officer has galvanized racial equity efforts in 2020 has also been noted. Many corporations were only trying to win goodwill in a moment when diversity was considered a favorable topic in corporate America, and have since snapped back into their previous state.
The HRC and other groups are fighting back against what they see as a public disregard for LGBTQ+ issues. The organization has pointed out that corporations can be rated regardless of whether they submit data and has been quick to point out that overall participation in the index is rising.
Several dozen Democrats in Congress have also written a letter to Fortune 1,000 businesses asking them to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Starbuck, on the other hand, believes his work has made companies “acutely aware that the HRC is not the powerful influencer that they believed they were.”
