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Major retail chain joins growing list of US brands to ditch Pride events, DEI schemes
The home improvement retailer Lowe's has become the latest brand to scrap its support for Pride events and other diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) schemes in the face of consumer boycotts.
Lowe's will stop cooperating with the Human Rights Campaign, a major LGBTQ group, and will no longer separate employees into so-called 'resource groups' based on race, religion or sexual identities, according to an internal memo.
The company will also stop sponsoring parades, festivals, or fairs, and will instead focus on events related to its business, such as affordable housing and skilled trades education, says the memo.
In recent weeks, Jack Daniel's, Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply, and John Deere, have all reversed course on DEI in the face of anger from conservative consumers who eschew the progressive policies.
Lowe's has scrapped much of its DEI work, according to an internal memo from the company with more than 1,700 stores, including this location in Los Angeles
Anti-DEI campaigner Robby Starbuck claims another scalp with Lowe's climbdown on Pride parades
The anti-DEI campaigner Robby Starbuck celebrated the move on X, saying Lowe's had bowed to pressure from consumers who reject 'woke' and 'ridiculous' diversity policies in US corporations.
'We are winning and one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America,' said Starbuck, 35.
'Lowe's says there could be other future changes, and there should be. They should eliminate their DEI team in total.'
According to Starbuck, he approached Lowe's last week, telling the firm he planned to target the home-improvement giant over policies such as their employee resource groups and donations to Pride events.
The company responded Monday with preemptive changes, said the Tennessee-based Cuban-American activist.
Lowe's, a $42 billion company with nearly 300,000 employees across 1,700 locations, which is headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, did not answer The Mail's request for comment.
But in a memo to employees Monday, its executives said that, like other firms, Lowe's started to review its DEI policies in the wake of the June 2023 Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action in college admissions.
'We recently decided to combine our business resource groups, from individual groups representing diverse sections of our associate population, into one umbrella organization, says the memo.
'In addition, we are no longer participating in the Human Rights Campaign survey process.'
Many companies that embraced DEI policies in the wake of the cop killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in May 2020 have stepped back from them for fear of irking conservative customers.
Lowe's $18 million-a-year CEO Marvin Ellison is steering the retailer away from DEI
The $42 billion company has nearly 300,000 employees spread across 1,700 locations
Some businesses have received public shareholder letters since 2021 saying their DEI schemes amount to illegal discrimination and breach directors' duties to investors.
For some, DEI schemes are important and necessary, as they can help to overcome historical racism and sexism and make it easier for people of all backgrounds to get ahead in education and work.
Critics say it's a form of reverse discrimination that unfairly blows back on straight, white men.
Others say DEI schemes may be well-intentioned, but seldom achieve their desired goals and
that mandatory workshops on 'micro-aggressions' and 'white fragility' often make things worse by stirring up divisions in offices and classrooms.
An Ipsos poll in April found that 61 percent of voters called DEI a 'good thing.'
Still, a Gallup survey from around the same time found that only 38 percent of people wanted businesses to be taking a stance on current events — a drop of 10 percentage points from 2022.