Lowe’s scale back DEI targeted towards LGBTQ inclusion

Home goods retailer Lowe’s is paring back its efforts to promote LGBTQ inclusion — the latest large company to respond to a growing cultural backlash led by conservatives targeting queer representation in public life.

LGBTQ inclusion initiative by Lowe’s

Lowe’s informed staff members in an internal company memo that was widely circulated among media outlets that it would stop taking part in surveys for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the nation, and would also combine company resource groups intended to support minority employees into a single umbrella organization.

The business said that it will no longer support or participate in neighborhood gatherings like fairs, festivals, or parades—a clear allusion to Pride parades. Lowe’s was a sponsor of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Pride march as late as 2019.An inquiry for comments was not answered by a company representative.

Although there have been rumors in the media that Lowe’s was abandoning its broad diversity initiatives, the adjustments seem to be directed primarily at LGBTQ representation. Prior to this, Lowe’s was recognized as a diversity champion by HRC, which gave it a flawless score in its most current corporate equity index, which looks at the company’s LGBTQ worker protection measures. Marvin Ellison, an African American, has been the CEO of Lowe’s since 2018. The largest HR association in the US, the Society for Human Resource Management, recognized Ellison as the Ethical Leader of the Year in June.

The changes followed right after Harley Davidson and Jack Daniel

Lowe’s announcements come soon after those made this year by Tractor Supply, John Deere, and Best Buy, as well as by Harley Davidson and Jack Daniel’s parent company, Brown-Forman. Then, the New York state comptroller, who oversees the $207 billion public pension system of the state and holds assets in Best Buy, questioned the business’s dedication to LGBTQ community support and inclusivity.

The unofficial head of the corporate pressure campaign is right-wing online activist and video broadcaster Robby Starbucks. In a post on X on Monday, Starbucks asserted that he was a contributing factor to the changes at Lowe’s. He claimed to have gotten an email from an executive at Lowe’s in response to a warning he had written to the firm, threatening to “expose” its “woke” practices.

“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,” he stated. “We are winning and one by one we WILL bring sanity back to corporate America.” An email request for comment from Starbucks was not immediately answered. Lowe’s reversal demonstrates the rapid pace at which conservatives are pushing back against gay rights, a movement that started with Target and Bud Light in earlier years. It has also helped to make clear that the battle against “woke” is typically an attempt to silence LGBTQ views.

“Hasty, shortsighted decisions contrary to safe and inclusive workplaces will create a snowball effect of negative long-term consequences for companies, cutting them off from top talent, turning off LGBTQ+ and other consumers, and impacting companies’ bottom line,” said Orlando Gonzales, senior vice president of programs, research, and training at HRC, in an email statement. Gonzales stated, “Being away from these principles damages employee success as well as customer trust.”