DEI Diversion: Corporate America Rebrands Without Fully Retreating

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A recent report from The Conference Board shows Corporate America is in retreat from leftwing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies — but the truth may be more complicated.

The report relied on corporate disclosure documents “to examine how US public companies are recalibrating public reporting” when it comes to DEI. Researchers found use of the acronym “DEI” fell by 68% from 2024 to 2025 in the major filings from S&P 500 companies.

While that sounds like good news, ESG Dive says the figures reveal that corporations may simply be renaming their DEI initiatives or talking about them less instead of abandoning DEI altogether. The outlet writes:

While firms scaled back DEI language and commitments, 79% percent of S&P 500 firms disclosed board committee oversight of DEI, up from 72%, according to the report. For Russell 3000 companies, this figure jumped from 48.4% to 86.8%. Rather than simply abandoning DEI, this suggests that companies are being more cautious about external messaging while integrating DEI into governance to make it more legally defensible, according to the report.

The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance put it this way:

Corporate public DEI messaging and communications are undergoing a legal- and risk-driven reframing in 2025, with companies reducing the visibility of DEI language while selectively preserving or embedding related goals in ways that are more cautious, controlled, and defensible.

In other words, instead of retreating from DEI and pro-LGBT initiatives, corporations may simply be renaming them.

Many companies established DEI policies to create an equal playing field for racial and ethnic minorities. However, it did not take long for LGBT groups and others to hijack those policies to promote gender-identity politics and other radical ideologies in the workplace.

We have written repeatedly about how DEI initiatives have been used to promote critical race theory and other leftwing ideologies — however, Americans have pushed back against these initiatives.

Following boycotts and backlash, companies like Walmart, Target, Toyota, John Deere, Lowe’s, Tractor Supply, Harley Davidson, and others rolled back their pro-LGBT diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

More generally, in 2023 Bud Light managed to singlehandedly overthrow itself as the number-one beer in America after sending transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney a novelty can of Bud Light with Mulvaney’s picture on it. Since then, Target quietly has replaced its LGBT pride merchandise, and entertainment giants like Pixar and Disney have removed pro-LGBT elements from their storylines.

It’s obvious that corporate DEI initiatives and pro-LGBT pandering are deeply out-of-step with everyday Americans. These are flawed ideologies that do not ensure individuals are valued, heard, or included. Employees who hold biblical views of marriage or gender risk losing their jobs in workplaces that have adopted DEI policies. None of that is good for our economy or our country.

Instead of renaming these programs, Corporate America should continue to retreat from DEI altogether, plain and simple.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Family Council Joins Brief Urging Supreme Court to Address School Gender Transition Case

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Last Friday, Family Council joined an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Lee v. Poudre School District R-1 — a case challenging a Colorado school’s efforts to socially “gender transition” two middle school girls without their parents’ knowledge or consent. The amicus brief was led by Advancing American Freedom, and 42 pro-family organizations took part in it. This case is one of several that could protect children and parents from dangerous transgender ideologies.

Over the past five years, it has become clear that the “consensus” regarding social and medical gender transitions for children has been largely manufactured by pro-LGBT activists. Fortunately, Arkansas’ legislators have pushed back.

In 2021, lawmakers passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act generally prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. That law was recently upheld in federal court.

In 2023, Arkansas passed Act 542 protecting teachers or faculty members who decline to use someone’s preferred pronouns at school.

That same year, legislators passed Act 317 to protect privacy in public school locker rooms, showers, restrooms, changing areas, and similar facilities by requiring public schools to designate these facilities for “male” or “female” use.

The Arkansas Legislature also passed the LEARNS Act overhauling public education in Arkansas, prohibiting critical race theory in public schools, and protecting young elementary school children from inappropriate pro-LGBT material in the classroom.

Taken together, these good laws — and others like them — protect children from social and physical gender transition.

Public school students should not be taught to question their sexual-orientation or their gender, and schools should not lie to parents about what their children are learning at school.

Family Council is pleased to stand up for parents and children. We hope the U.S. Supreme Court will take up this case.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Family Council Joins Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Address School Gender Transition Case

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On Thursday, Family Council joined an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case over a Massachusetts school that helped an eleven-year old girl “socially transition” genders without her parents’ knowledge.

Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have discuss this case repeatedly, writing,

During the 2020-21 school year, a 6th-grade girl in Ludlow, Massachusetts, shared with a teacher that she had told a friend she ‘likes girls,’ was experiencing low self-esteem and depression, and needed help. The teacher shared these concerns with the girl’s mother, and both agreed to work together to help her. The student’s parents promptly got their daughter a therapist, informed the school she was getting professional help, and expressly directed school staff to have no further private conversations with their daughter about her mental health issues. But when the student sent an email to teachers and counselors informing them that she now identified as “genderqueer” and wanted to be addressed by a new name and a new list of pronouns, they began doing so without informing the student’s parents or asking for their consent. The parents found out and asked the district to stop, but it refused. The parents filed a lawsuit challenging the school district’s clear violation of their parental rights, and Alliance Defending Freedom filed an amicus brief in their support at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. Unfortunately, the 1st Circuit failed to protect parental rights.

Family Council joined a coalition of 50 organizations in an amicus brief by Advancing American Freedom on Thursday. The brief urges the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the parents’ lawsuit against the school.

The brief also argues that parental rights are essential and that schools should respect them.

Over the years, we have seen pro-LGBT activists use public schools to promote transgender ideology to kids in many different ways — but policymakers have pushed back.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 to prevent male athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

That same year, lawmakers passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act generally prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. That law has since been upheld in federal court.

In 2023, Arkansas lawmakers passed Act 317 to protect privacy in public school locker rooms, showers, restrooms, changing areas, and similar facilities by requiring public schools to designate these facilities for “male” or “female” use.

Legislators also passed Act 274 of 2023 letting a child who undergoes a sex-change procedure sue the healthcare provider who performed the procedure if the child suffers any injury as a result.

In 2023, the Arkansas Legislature passed the LEARNS Act overhauling public education in Arkansas, prohibiting critical race theory in public schools, and protecting young elementary school children from inappropriate sexual material in the classroom.

This year legislators passed Act 955 by Sen. Blake Johnson (R — Corning) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R — Perryville) protecting physical privacy and safety of Arkansans in showers, locker rooms, changing rooms, restrooms, and sleeping quarters in government buildings, jails, and in shelters for victims of domestic violence.

Taken together, all of these good laws protect children at school and elsewhere around the state. Public school students should not be taught to question their sexual-orientation or their gender, and schools should not lie to parents about what their children are learning at school.

Family Council is pleased to take a stand for parental rights in federal court. We hope the U.S. Supreme Court will take up this case.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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