Everybody’s Business

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Lawsuit accusing Amazon of anti-transgender workplace discrimination may proceed, federal judge rules

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Amazon is set to answer explosive claims of severe harassment and discrimination after a judge ruled that an amended lawsuit from a transgenderformer employee could proceed. The case, brought by Ximena Navarrete, a Mexican transgender woman, alleges that she endured relentless abuse while working as a Prime Now shopper in Whole Foods stores across Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

Navarrete’s lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, accuses Amazon of allowing an unchecked workplace culture of transphobia, racism, and sexual harassment. The amended complaint, which the court recently accepted in part, refines the legal claims and expands on the alleged violations, citing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the D.C. Human Rights Act.

Navarrete initially represented herself in the legal proceedings, but after securing attorneys from Alan Lescht and Associates, the complaint was significantly restructured. “Ximena filed her original complaint pro se. She had some legal help, but she was largely doing this without representation,” her attorney, Ari Wilkenfeld, told The Advocate in an interview. “Her original complaint had some fairly significant flaws that had legal effect. What we did was ask the court for permission to amend the complaint to assert all the laws that we believe have been violated.”

The updated complaint details a harrowing workplace environment where Navarrete was allegedly subjected to daily death threats, physical and sexual assault, and repeated refusals to acknowledge her gender identity. Supervisors and coworkers allegedly called her by her former name, physically dragged her from stores, and engaged in persistent verbal abuse. The lawsuit claims Amazon managers ignored her repeated pleas for help and ultimately fired her after she reported the discrimination.

Despite Amazon’s objections, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that several of Navarrete’s claims could proceed, including allegations of a hostile work environment and retaliatory termination. The ruling also means Amazon must now formally respond to the allegations, marking a significant step forward in the case, Wilkenfeld said.

He also said that the case underscores a broader issue of workplace discrimination against transgender people, particularly in blue-collar and retail environments. “This kind of discrimination is particularly obscene,” Wilkenfeld said. “People feel empowered to discriminate against trans people in ways they wouldn’t dream of doing to a racial minority or any other kind of minority. They feel empowered to do whatever strikes them as appropriate.”

Since leaving Amazon, Navarrete has continued to struggle with workplace discrimination, her attorneys say, including a harrowing attack by a former employer who allegedly threw acid in her face after learning she was transgender.

While the case still has a long road ahead, her legal team sees it as an opportunity to send a message to other transgender people in distress. “We want to litigate these cases,” Wilkenfeld said. “The laws are here to protect you.”

Amazon has not yet publicly responded to the amended complaint. The Advocate contacted an attorney representing Amazon but did not immediately hear back.

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A disabled college student was bullied for posting about his transition. Meta removed his account

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A disabled college student is speaking out after conservative figures online bullied and mass reported him when he posted about his gender transition. 

Micah Leroy, who ran the account known as “Disabled Trans Boy” on Instagram, became the subject of a right-wing hate campaign after he posted a video celebrating his double mastectomy, also know as top surgery. The 19-year-old has cerebral palsy, a group of neurological disorders that affect body movement and muscle coordination, which is the most common lifelong physical disability according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 

“It is important to note that nowhere in this definition does it imply that cerebral palsy negatively impacts an individual’s ability to comprehend the world, make autonomous decisions or understand the concepts of gender and sex,” Leroy told MPR News. 

Leroy is a student at the University of Minnesota focusing on disability studies, LGBTQ+ studies and political science. He said that he hopes to one day hold public office, whether in the state legislature or in Congress.

Leroy uses a wheelchair as well as an Eyegaze communication device, though he prefers to communicate with his voice, with the help of his personal care assistants. Leroy, who came out as transgender at the age of 14, emphasized to the outlet that he was the one who sought out and scheduled his medical appointments and took all the steps to legally change his name and gender. 

Leroy’s video about his transition went viral, resulting in negative attention from conservative figures such as failed college athlete Riley Gaines, who lied and said Leroy is “non-verbal” while implying doctors performed the surgery without his consent. Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the life-saving procedure performed on a legal adult “criminal.”

Conservatives mass-reported the video, causing it to be removed by Meta, which suspended Leroy’s Facebook and permanently removed his Instagram account for supposedly breaking the platforms’ “Community Standards on child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity.” 

Leroy, who repeated that “I am the one who is posting and I’m over 18,” said that Meta still rejected his appeals, while allowing the abusive comments and messages he received to remain. Still, he said that he hasn’t been deterred from speaking out. 

“Even with all the hate this has stirred up, I do believe that any publicity is good publicity in furthering my goals,” Leroy continued. “This experience has only made me want to speak out more about disabled and trans issues as the negative responses I got have shown a side of the world that is intolerant and discriminatory based on what they perceive others can and cannot do.”

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GOOD ON THEM: Apple, Costco stand behind DEI programs

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At a time when many businesses are abandoning their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, Apple and Costco are standing behind theirs.

Both are encouraging shareholders to vote against resolutions asking them to reevaluate their commitment to DEI. A shareholder resolution is a means by which those who hold stock in a company can seek to influence the company’s policies. Most are nonbinding and most do not receive a majority vote, as the bulk of shareholders usually vote among company lines. But if a resolution receives even 10 percent support, it’s hard for the company to ignore.

The Apple and Costco resolutions were both submitted by National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank. Both cite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, holding that race-based affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional. The Apple resolution also cites the high court’s 2024 ruling in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, which found that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating in transfer decisions even if the transfer didn’t cause great disadvantage.

The resolutions say that DEI programs pose financial and reputational risks to companies, noting that a white employee sued Starbucks for racial discrimination and won $25 million. DEI programs vary from company to company, but their generally promote inclusive practices for groups that have historically suffered discrimination, including people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and women.

“With 310,000 employees, Costco likely has at least 200,000 employees who are potentially victims of this type of illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight,” the resolution to the retailing giant states. “Accordingly, even if only a fraction of those employees were to file suit, and only some of those prove successful, the cost to Costco could be tens of billions of dollars.” The Apple resolution doesn’t mention those groups, but it does go into the potential cost of lawsuits.

Apple, in its proxy statement (a document sent to shareholders ahead of the annual meeting), recommends a vote against the resolution because “the proposal is unnecessary as Apple already has a well-established compliance program and the proposal inappropriately attempts to restrict Apple’s ability to manage its own ordinary business operations, people and teams, and business strategies; and our Board and management maintain active oversight of legal and regulatory risks and compliance for our global business.”

“Apple is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in recruiting, hiring, training, or promoting on any basis protected by law,” the statement continues. “Apple seeks to operate in compliance with applicable non-discrimination laws, both in the United States and in the many other jurisdictions in which we operate, and in that regard monitors and evolves its practices, policies, and goals as appropriate to address compliance risks. The proposal inappropriately seeks to micromanage the Company’s programs and policies by suggesting a specific means of legal compliance.”

Apple has a supplier diversity program, set up in 1993, which works with groups such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council and National Veterans Business Development Council, CNN reports. It also has a vice president of inclusion and diversity, a position established in 2017, and 67 employee groups called diversity network associations. The first of these dates from 1986. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, is gay (although he did donate personal funds, not company ones, to anti-LGBTQ+ President-elect Donald Trump’sinauguration).

“We are simply asking for a consideration,” Stefan Padfield, executive director of the NCPPR’s Free Enterprise Project, told CNN. “The proposal, if approved, would not automatically result in the abolishment of DEI.”

Costco’s directors, however, say this is the ultimate goal of such resolutions. “The proponent professes concern about legal and financial risks to the Company and its shareholders associated with the diversity initiatives,” the proxy statement reads. “The supporting statement demonstrates that it is the proponent and others that are responsible for inflicting burdens on companies with their challenges to longstanding diversity programs. The proponent’s broader agenda is not reducing risk for the Company but abolition of diversity initiatives.”

The NCPPR published a document called “Balancing the Boardroom” in 2022, Costco notes. It said CEOs and other corporate executives who are “woke” and “hard-left” are “inimical to the Republic and its blessings of liberty” and “committed to critical race theory and the socialist foundations of woke” or “shameless monsters who are willing to sacrifice our future for their comforts.”

“Our efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion remind and reinforce with everyone at our Company the importance of creating opportunities for all,” Costco’s statement says. “We believe that these efforts enhance our capacity to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed. This capacity is critical because we owe our success to our now over 300,000 employees around the globe. … We believe that our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are legally appropriate, and nothing in the proposal demonstrates otherwise.”

Costco’s annual shareholder meeting will be held January 23. Apple’s will be held February 25.

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Google erases Pride Month from Calendar app

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The Google Calendar app has stopped mentioning various cultural observances, like LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Indigenous Peoples Month. 

The company said that it wasn’t “sustainable” to keep mentioning these observances, but commenters accused Google of removing them in response to the recent right-wing pressure campaign against “diversity” efforts.

“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world,” Google spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld wrote in a statement to The Verge. “We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable.”

Veld said that, in mid-2024, Google returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important observances to their own personal calendars.

Commenters on a Google support forum accused the tech giant of “kissing [President Donald Trump’s] butt,” and another called the removals an “embarrassing … example of the fast descent into fascism.” 

“They are trying to erase anyone who isn’t a cis white male,” another commenter added.

The commenters were likely referring to Trump’s recent crusade against all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Attorney General Pam Bondi recently issued a memo instructing the Department of Justice to investigate companies with DEI initiatives “to end illegal discrimination and preferences.”

Labor law attorney Mark S. Spring noted that Bondi stated that “educational, cultural, or historical observances such as Black History Month … or similar events that celebrate diversity, recognize historical contributions, and promote awareness without engaging in exclusion or discrimination are permissible” under Bondi’s order.

Google recently removed mentions of its past DEI commitments from its annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission and will end its goal of hiring applicants from historically underrepresented backgrounds, MSNBC reported. 

Google is just one of numerous companies that have recently ended their DEI efforts, though data shows that consumers increasingly support companies that keep their DEI commitments.

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Target dropped DEI, so Minnesota’s largest Pride festival dropped Target’s sponsorship — and raised even more

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After Target made the decision to drop diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Minnesota’s largest Pride festival decided to drop them as a sponsor. Now, Twin Cities Pride has more funding than they started with.

Target issued a memo on Friday announcing the end of its three-year DEI goals, including its Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) program and “all external diversity-focused survey’s including HRC’s Corporate Equality index.” The Human Rights Campaign effort, which provides benchmarks on corporate policies relevant to LGBTQ+ employees, previously gave Target a score of 100 percent, dubbing the company a “Leader in LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion.”

In response, the largest Pride organization in Minnesota and the largest free Pride celebration in the United States, Twin Cities Pride, announced this week that it would be dropping Target as a sponsor for its 2025 events. The company had initially pledged $50,000, and had been involved in Pride celebrations for around two decades. 

TCP executive director Andi Otto tells The Advocate that Target executives called him before their announcement, as they “wanted me to hear it from them before it had hit mainstream media.” The company insisted that “they were still very much committed to being at Pride and very much committed to sponsoring and continuing to support our year-round programming.” 

Target was not backing down on its $50,000 pledge, but Otto says that TCP and their allies still saw the move as a betrayal, as the company is “taking away safety for the community not only in their employees, but in their suppliers.” As the community was “looking to us to hold them accountable,” TCP’s board made the decision to remove Target as a sponsor.

“This isn’t about the money,” Otto says. “Because if the money wasn’t there, would we even be questioning this decision? The answer is no. The reality of it is, is that it’s the right thing to do for our community.”

The end of DEI programs and LGBTQ+ inclusivity initiatives marks a significant shift for the Minnesota-based company, which once withstood protests from hate groups over its inclusive bathroom policies and Pride displays. However, the change was not sudden, as Target pulled some of its Pride Month merchandisein 2023 amid threats and violent protests in stores.

Target is among over a dozen major companies that have ended their DEI initiatives in the past year. Meta announced the end of its DEI programs by citing the shifting “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States.” McDonald’s also cited the Supreme Court decision against affirmative action, as well as changes among “other companies.”

Target executives said in their public statement and in private statements to Otto that the decision to end DEI programs was “due to changes in the landscape” — a nod to the Trump Administration, which has taken a hard stance against DEI in its first weeks by signing executive orders firing government employees and rescinding 1960s civil rights protections. 

As Target had long stood by DEI and LGBTQ+ initiatives when it was politically beneficial, Otto says that the company’s reason for ending them “just didn’t sit right with us.”

“A lot of companies that are overturning [DEI] are doing it out of fear,” Otto says. “They look ahead and say, ‘This is what the next four years is going to be like.’ If we’re standing up for the diversity and inclusion, then we’re going to be, ironically, in the minority.”

“It’s crazy when you truly think about it — standing up for a minority group of folks, but when the other shoe drops, you don’t actually want to be part of that group,” he adds.

Companies’ willingness to abandon the LGBTQ+ community contributes to the long-standing debate among activists over “Rainbow Capitalism,” which refers to the trend of companies marketing to or profiting off the queer community without meaningfully supporting them. Examples include Disney using a rainbow logo while cancelling or censoring LGBTQ+ projects, Netflix claiming to support LGBTQ+ people while hosting Dave Chapelle’s harmful jokes about transgenderpeople, or Target scaling back Pride displays after pressure from extremists despite decades of precedent. 

“I get a lot of push back about why we have sponsors at Pride. Pride was a protest, et cetera. But those sponsors allow me to do things,” Otto says, adding, “I get to pay every performer on the stage. I get to have a rainbow wardrobe, free personal care items, free clothing. We fed 300 people a holiday meal for free. … It allows us to have smaller costs for small businesses and LGBTQ and BIPOC businesses at our festival.”

While Otto did not believe it would be too challenging to find a replacement for Target, he “did not expect to be paid forward by the community.” TCP made the money back in less than 24 hours, raising nearly $78,000 just from individual donors as of Wednesday morning. Other organizations offering grants or sponsorships have brought that total to well over $100,000 — more than twice what Target promised. 

“Everybody’s talking about eggs at this point. I know people are watching their money very closely, and I don’t blame them. Me as an individual, I’m doing the same thing,” Otto says. “So, I didn’t expect this outcome. It’s inspiring.”

Otto, who has heard from many community members that have decided to no longer shop at companies ditching DEI, emphasizes that “I’m not asking you to boycott Target — I’m asking you to make the best decision for your family.” Still, he hopes “companies see this and realize that this is going to cause people to really start selecting where they’re gonna shop.”

“I won’t close the door on Target. I want them to show their true colors, whatever that looks like in their world,” Otto says. “And my hope is that in 2026, they can come back. They can be loud, they can be proud of what they’ve done with their company, and we can move forward. But I need to see that beforehand.”

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Elon Musk and other billionaires exploit LGBTQ+ hate for profit, GLAAD CEO tells Davos audience

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GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis took aim at Elon Musk during a panel discussion of business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, warning that his consolidation of power and influence is fueling attacks on LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups. 

Speaking at the “Open Forum: Protecting LGBTQI+ Lives” on Thursday, Ellis tied Musk’s actions to a broader pattern of billionaires targeting vulnerable communities while enriching themselves.

“We know that algorithms are where the money is made, and the hate algorithms are the better ones,” Ellis said. “What we’ve enacted is free speech for algorithms, not free speech for citizens. Because we do know that more people are accepting and believe in equality for LGBTQ+ people, but you would never believe that if you go onto X or nowFacebook—that’s not where it’s happening.”

After Musk acquired Twitter, he rolled back content moderation policies that made the app dangerous for LGBTQ+ users. Recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced a sharp turn in the company’s content moderation and fact-checking approach, loosening restrictions on hate speech and stopping independent fact-checking partnerships.

Ellis highlighted the growing threats to LGBTQ+ safety in the United States, drawing a direct connection between online hate and real-world violence. “What’s happening online is happening in real life. It models one to the other,” she said. She cited attacks on drag shows and the murders of transgenderwomen, adding that GLAAD had to establish an alert desk last year to monitor these incidents as violence “gotten so heinous and out of control.”

Musk’s role in targeting LGBTQ+ people

Ellis also spotlighted Musk’s financial support for President Donald Trump’sreelection campaign and his actions since rebranding X in 2023. Federal Election Commission records show that Musk donated $293 million to Trump’s campaign, making him the largest donor of the 2024 election.

“Trump’s first administration hit about 280 acts against our community,” Ellis said. “In his second [run] for this election, he spent over $280 million on ads, specifically targeting the transgender community. That’s a lot of money that could go to a good cause. At the center of that money was Elon Musk.”

Trump later appointed Musk to lead an advisory committee on “government efficiency,” granting him potential access to federal agencies, deliberations, and budgets—resources Musk could use to benefit his companies, many of which hold U.S. government contracts.

Meanwhile, GLAAD has documented how X under Musk refused to enforce—and later wholly removed—policies protecting LGBTQ+ users and allies from hate speech and harassment. The platform has since become a breeding ground for anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, which Ellis warned has dangerous real-world implications.

“The billionaires are targeting the most marginalized people in the world,” she added. “To me, it’s a distraction. Don’t watch what they’re doing to us; watch what they’re really doing. Because as long as we are fighting or they’re putting us on guard and politicizing us, they’re making money and grabbing more power.”

LGBTQ+ advocacy at Davos

Ellis’s comments were part of GLAAD’s broader advocacy efforts during the forum. On Wednesday, she participated in “The Economic and Business Case for LGBTQI Inclusion,” a session that highlighted the $4.7 trillion global purchasing power of LGBTQ+ consumers and explored how businesses can harness this potential while addressing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and legislation.

GLAAD also partnered with Open for Business and the Partnership for Global LGBTQI+ Equality to organize the third annual rainbow light-up of the Davos Promenade, supported by companies like Amazon, Google, Deloitte, and SAP.

Ellis’s high-profile presence at Davos follows scrutiny from a New York Timesexposé last August, which examined her compensation and travel expenses, including trips to the conference frequented by some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful CEOs. GLAAD dismissed the article as “grossly misleading,” arguing that Ellis needs to be in places where influential people meet and that it was retaliation for Ellis’s criticism of the Times’s coverage of transgender issues.

In Davos, Ellis addressed the mounting threats to LGBTQ+ communities, doubling down on GLAAD’s mission. “We have always existed. We will always exist,” she said. “You can legislate against us. You can politicize us. We’re not political. We’re everybody. We’re in every family.”

Ellis called for greater accountability from businesses, governments, and civil society in protecting LGBTQ+ lives. 

“When you know someone, it’s impossible to hate them. Storytelling is an empathy machine, and we need that more than ever in our society,” she said.

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Meta Deletes Trans Themes From Messenger App

404 Media reports:

Meta deleted nonbinary and trans themes for its Messenger app this week, around the same time that the company announced it would change its rules to allow users to declare that LGBTQ+ people are “mentally ill,” 404 Media has learned.

Meta’s Messenger app allows users to change the color scheme and design of their chat windows with different themes. For example, there is currently a “Squid Game” theme, a “Minecraft” theme, a “Basketball” theme, and a “Love” theme, among many others.

These themes regularly change, but for the last few years they have featured a “trans” theme and a “nonbinary” theme, which had color schemes that matched the trans pride flag and the non-binary pride flag.

Read the full article.

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LGBTQ rights group reports progress at U.S. companies despite conservative backlash

A national rights group said Tuesday that more U.S. companies are providing strong benefits and protections to LGBTQ employees despite an ongoing effort by conservative activists to get high-profile brands to stop participating in the organization’s annual workplace report card.

The education arm of the Human Rights Campaign released its latest Corporate Equality Index the day after McDonald’s became the latest big company to say it would no longer provide information for the annual evaluation of policies affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Last year, Walmart, Ford, Harley-Davidson and other consumer brands that came under pressure said they would end their voluntary participation in the grading system. The HRC rated them anyway, giving Harley-Davidson a score of 10 out of 100 and Ford a 75, for example.

The index has emerged as a top target of conservative activists as part of a broader campaign to pressure businesses into abandoning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that were designed to reduce discrimination against women, members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and LGBTQ people.

A 2023 Supreme Court decision that declared race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions unconstitutional emboldened critics of DEI programs to target universities, government agencies and corporations on social media, in the courts and in state legislatures. Some companies, including McDonald’s, cited the high court precedent as their reason for curtailing diversity policies.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation said the 2025 equality index nonetheless included 72 employers that were first-time participants, and that 765 of the 1,449 companies graded received a perfect score, 28% more than last year.

“At times, progress meets backlash, but companies continue to dedicate the time and resources to reinforcing workplace inclusion,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “As a result, they are more competitive and more creative while attracting and retaining top talent and widening their consumer base.”

The number of companies given official ratings included ones that have said they would pull out of the process. Some completed the organization’s survey months before their decisions. The HRC said it would continue to monitor companies that drop out and assign them scores.

McDonald’s was among the companies earning the top score of 100. Walmart and Lowe’s both received 90 points.

The scores are based on points companies get for a range of workplace metrics, such as having anti-discrimination policies that encompass sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and offering health benefits that cover same-sex spouses and the needs of transgender individuals.

This is the second index that assigned points for having gender transition guidelines that managers, transitioning employees and their colleagues can consult. More than 1,000 of the companies graded for 2025 reported adopting such guidelines, a 21% increase, the HRC said.

“Obviously, there are plenty of examples of organizations that have made some kind of announcement around retreating from some aspects of how they were doing DEI, including things like participation in this survey,” said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at NYU School of Law. “But the vast majority of companies that were doing DEI before are still doing it. The only difference is that they’re changing some programs mostly for legal risk mitigation purposes and or doing it more quietly so that they don’t attract as much attention and scrutiny.”

The Corporate Equality Index debuted in 2002 and primarily focused on ensuring that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer employees didn’t face discrimination in hiring and on the job. Over the years, the criteria to gain a perfect score grew stricter, and experts say the Index helped improve workplace benefits for LGBTQ people.

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Meta employees speak out against new anti-LGBTQ+ & anti-DEI policies

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New policies from tech giant Meta are enabling bigots to claim that LGBTQ+ people have a “mental illness.” Concurrently, the company announced on Friday that it is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitments, sparking backlash from queer employees.

The first set of policy changes came on Tuesday, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be removing content moderators and fact-checkers and loosening restrictions on their hate speech policies.

Meta’s new guidelines state, “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird’.” 

The guidelines also provide a list of frequently asked questions for these policies. One asks, “Do insults about mental illness and abnormality violate when targeting people on the basis of gender or sexual orientation?” Meta now sides against queer rights pointing to statements like “Trans people aren’t real. They’re mentally ill,” “Gays are not normal,” “Trans people are freaks,” and “Women are crazy,” as being allowed, as per Platformer.

Other authorized statements include, “There’s no such thing as trans children,” “God created two genders, ‘transgender’ people are not a real thing,” and “A trans woman isn’t a woman, it’s a pathetic confused man.”

Meta announces end to its DEI programs

Then, on Friday, Meta announced that it would end DEI practices in hiring, training and picking suppliers, Axios reported.

“The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” wrote Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, in an internal memo to employees. “The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.”

She announced that Meta would be ending its DEI team, its programs, end efforts to source business suppliers from diverse-owned businesses, and end its practices ensures that a diverse pool of candidates is considered for every open position and for representation in the company’s public imaging.

Gale said Meta would focus on supporting small- and medium-sized businesses and focus on “fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all, no matter your background.”

“We believe there are other ways to build an industry-leading workforce and leverage teams made up of world-class people from all types of backgrounds,” Gale wrote.

Numerous companies have rolled back their DEI commitments recently, including Walmart, Stanley Black & Decker, Molson Coors, Jack Daniels, Ford Motor Company, John Deere, Lowe’s Hardware, Target and Harley-Davidson.

Meta employees push back against new content, DEI changes

One Meta criticized the new content policies on the company’s internal messaging platform, writing, “I am LGBT and mentally ill. Just to let you know that I’ll be taking time out to look after my mental health,” according to 404 Media. This internal dissent was later deleted.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Board, said to BBC, “We’re very concerned about gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, trans people’s rights on the platforms because we are seeing many instances where hate speech can lead to real-life harm, so we will be watching that space very carefully,” adding that she is “very concerned” by this decision.

“The changes to our Hateful Conduct policy seek to undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over enforcement,” a member of the policy team said to employees in a thread. “Reaffirming our core value of free expression means that we might see content on our platforms that people find offensive … yesterday’s changes not only open up conversation about these subjects, but allow for counterspeech on what matters to users.”

A separate employee told 404 Media, “No one is excited or happy about these changes. And obviously the employees who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community are especially unhappy and feel the most unsupported in this. A small number of people are taking time off and are sharing that they are considering leaving the company due to this change.”

Another one told the same outlet, “I find it very hard to understand how explicitly carving out which groups of marginalized people can have what we otherwise classify hate speech directed at them will be beneficial for the communities we hope to build on our platforms.”

An additional commenter said, “When I first joined this company, people would criticize me for working here all the time. I defended y’all time and time again, always anchoring that in the end we do try our best even if it doesn’t work out sometimes – but this? appalling.”

Responding to the DEI changes, one employee, according to Business Insider, wrote on the internal messaging platform, “This is unfortunate disheartening upsetting to read.” Another wrote, “Wow, we really capitulated on a lot of our supposed values this week.” A third commented, “What happened to the company I joined all those years ago.”

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Amazon removes ‘equity for Black people’ and ‘LGBTQ+ rights’ from company policies

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Amazon has quietly removed several policies from its public websites aimed at protecting workers, including “solidarity” pledges with its Black employees and health care benefits for transgender workers. 

The pages were removed about a month ago, according to The Washington Post. The changes include several to policy, as well as department titles. A section previously called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is now “Inclusive Experiences and Technology,” and the section “advance DEI through technology” is now a pledge to “advance the employee experience.”

One of the removed policies includes an outline of the gender-affirming carebenefits provided to employees under Amazon’s health care plan, which it said were “based on the Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).” Also removed was the company’s pledge that it is “working at the U.S. federal and state level on legislation” that would provide anti-discrimination protections for transgender people.

Though Amazon previously stated that it stood “in solidarity” with its Black employees, the company also removed that section, as well as one claiming to support “legislation to combat misconduct and racial bias in policing, efforts to protect and expand voting rights, and initiatives that provide better health and educational outcomes for Black people.”

Spokesperson Kelly Nantel confirmed to the outlet that the company “update[s] this page from time to time to ensure that it reflects updates we’ve made to various programs and positions.”

Several major U.S. businesses have announced they would be ending their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the past year, including Ford Motor Company, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply among others. The decisions came after pressure from conservative extremists online, including failed filmmaker turned failed congressional candidate Robby Starbuck, who has taken credit for the companies’ decisions. However, experts believe that Starbuck’s pressure alone does not explain the shift.

Meta recently announced the end of its DEI programs almost immediately after announcing new content rules that allow users to abuse LGBTQ+ people, citing the shifting “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States.” McDonald’s also cited Supreme Court decision against affirmative action in its decision to end DEI programs the, as well as changes among “other companies.”

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