After the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020, something shifted in the world — at least for a little bit. Conversations surrounding race and LGBTQ+ equality infiltrated family dinner tables and corporate boardrooms across the United States. Four years later, the once touted DEI initiatives are being cut.

Big bourbon and auto bow out

Last month, bourbon powerhouse Brown-Forman, the parent brand of Jack Daniels, quietly deleted its DEI page on its website and, according to a leaked email, informed employees that the company was going to stop linking executive compensation to progress on DEI initiatives and remove its supplier diversity program. Bloomberg reports that 10% of executive compensation is directly linked to those DEI goals.

As a big blow to the LGBTQ+ community, Brown-Forman also said it would end its participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index survey, where they have scored 100 percent for several years.

The HRC’s Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees. Companies are scored via categories, including nondiscrimination policies, spousal and partner benefits, transgender-inclusive benefits, and engagement with the LGBTQ+ community.

In the 2023-24 index, more than 1,380 companies provided enough information to receive a score, including 378 of the Fortune 500.

Nearly 600 got a perfect score, including Apple, Amazon, AT&T, Bank of America, CVS, Disney, Ford, General Motors, Google, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Toyota and Walmart.

Brown-Forman hasn’t released an official statement to the press, but they have confirmed the authenticity of the leaked email. 

We launched our diversity and inclusion strategy in 2019. Since then, the world has evolved, our business has changed, and the legal and external landscape has shifted dramatically, particularly within the United States. 

With these new dynamics at play, Brown-Forman adjusted its work to ensure it continues to drive our business results while appropriately recognizing the current environment in which we find ourselves.

Last week, automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company, who employs close to 200,000 employees, announced they are abandoning their longtime values, policies, and commitments to employee inclusion. 

The HRC echoed its statement surrounding Brown-Forman saying, “by failing to support women leaders, employees of color, and LGBTQ+ employees, Ford Motor Company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool. In making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities.”

The man behind anti-DEI campaigns

The HRC is attributing the DEI backtracking of several companies across the United States to right-wing commentator, Robby Starbuck.

Starbuck was once a music video director for artists like Snoop Dogg. He also ran in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee as a write-in candidate, but the state Republican party removed Starbuck from the party's 5th Congressional District primary for not meeting its "bonafide Republican requirements."

Eric Bloem, HRC Foundation's VP of Programs and Corporate Advocacy said in a statement that companies should not be cowering to a random guy with zero business experience who is a political bully and election denier.

“Hastily abandoning efforts that ensure fair, safe, and inclusive work environments for LGBTQ+ people based on manufactured outrage from MAGA bullies is bad business and leaves their employees and millions of LGBTQ+ allied customers behind,” Bloem said. 

Starbuck claims responsibility for several companies disbanding their DEI programs, including Ford, Tractor Supply, John Deere, and Harley-Davidson. Tractor Supply said it would also stop submitting data to the HRC, halt Pride sponsorships, and eliminate DEI jobs.

"We're now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose," Starbuck said on X.

But is Starbuck the only person to blame? Many believe that the Supreme Court ruling last year to end affirmative action in college admissions was the catalyst. Since then, more than 30 states have introduced laws banning or limiting DEI initiatives.

So what does this all mean?

Well, we don’t really know yet, but what we know is that nearly 30% of Gen Z identify as LGBTQ+ and wield $1.4 trillion in spending power. 

RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, HRC Foundation’s Sr. Director of Workplace Equality, told Queerency that for over 20 years, HRC has heard from companies large and small constantly reaching out to see what more they can do to support LGBTQ+ employees and their families in the workplace. 

“While we are deeply disappointed that a handful of companies are abandoning their thousands of employees who benefit from DEI initiatives and inclusive workplaces in favor of internet troll and grifter Robby Starbuck, our Corporate Equality Index has more companies participating than ever before – more than 1,300,” Hawkins said. 

Approximately 7.1 percent of Americans identify as LGBTQ+, and LGBTQT+ individuals make up 5.9 percent of the U.S. workforce — however these numbers may be skewed U.S. Census Bureau only began collecting gender identity and sexual orientation data in 2021.

The HRC believes that most companies recognize that their future employees and customer base are more out and allied than ever before, and retreating from their values and principles of inclusion only undermines talent recruitment, employee success and customer trust.

“We’re talking about real life impacts for LGBTQ+ people at work, from nondiscrimination policies to transgender-inclusive benefits,” Hawkins said.