Walmart Agrees To Dump Policies Pushing DEI, Gender Ideology
Walmart has a history of racist employee training under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” But when conservative activist Robby Starbuck confronted them about this and other issues, the company agreed to changes that promise to reduce its involvement in pushing racial discrimination and LGBT ideology.
“I have to give their executives major credit because this will send shockwaves throughout corporate America,” Starbuck posted on X on Monday. “This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America.”
Starbuck said he told Walmart executives last week that he was going to expose the company’s “wokeness” but “instead … had productive conversations to find solutions.” He said the company agreed to a laundry list of changes to reduce its involvement in DEI and gender ideology.
To reduce racial discrimination in the form of DEI, Walmart pledged to disband its Center for Racial Equity, established in 2020, stop “racial equity” training from the leftist Racial Equity Institute, and “evaluate supplier diversity programs” to ensure they do not give “preferential treatment and benefits to suppliers based on diversity.” The company will also stop using the terms “LatinX” and “DEI,” saying its focus is on “[b]elonging for ALL associates and customers.”
When it comes to LGBT ideology and sexually explicit materials, the company agreed to “monitor the Walmart marketplace to identify and remove inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products marketed to children.” Walmart will also review its funding of “Pride, and other events, to avoid funding inappropriate sexualized content targeting kids,” and cease its surveys for the so-called “Corporate Equality Index” of the LGBT special interest group Human Rights Campaign.
Walmart is the largest private employer in America, with a net worth of $726.98 billion. Figures like billionaire Elon Musk and conservative activist Christopher Rufo celebrated the move.
The company issued a statement to Fox Business on Monday, saying it made the adjustments to ensure “belonging.”
“We’ve been on a journey and we know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone,” reads the statement.
Starbuck said on X that he hopes this decision will have a ripple effect.
“This won’t just have a massive effect for their employees who will have a neutral workplace without feeling that divisive issues are being injected but it will also extend to their many suppliers,” he wrote. “Companies can clearly see that America wants normalcy back. The era of wokeness is dying right in front of our eyes.”
Rufo exposed Walmart’s trainings with the Racial Equity Institute in 2021, saying that these trainings told employees “they are guilty of ‘internalized racial superiority.’” The company began working with the REI in 2018, and the trainings called America a “white supremacy system.” REI prescribed a solution of “white anti-racist development” to coach whites into admitting their “privilege.”
Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at religious freedom firm Alliance Defending Freedom, called Walmart’s recent adjustments a “game-changer.”
“DEI is pushing censorship and hostility in both the workforce and society at large,” Tedesco posted on X on Tuesday. “Some of the largest companies in our country have dismantled their DEI program for good reason. It’s time all companies look at what these woke programs are actually doing to their companies. DEI’s destination is the trash heap of history.”
Tedesco co-signed a letter today, with The Heritage Foundation’s Chief Advancement Officer Andrew Olivastro, Inspire Investing CEO Robert Netzly, Bowyer Research President Jerry Bowyer, and State Financial Officers Foundation CEO O.J. Oleka. The letter, which ADF first shared with The Federalist, encourages other companies to follow Walmart’s lead.
“The cultural landscape is changing, and that means corporate leaders need to reassess the legal and reputational risks of embracing DEI. Doubling down on DEI is doubling down on failure,” the letter reads. “DEI is counterfeit unity based only on power and differences that are skin deep. Approaches that instead promote freedom of speech, thought, and viewpoint diversity are the new competitive advantages in the marketplace.”
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.