While opponents of gender-affirming care for trans youth often act as if such care is common and undertaken thoughtlessly, it’s actually quite rare, according to a new study.
The study, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, found that “fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance received gender-affirming medications — puberty blockers or hormones — during a recent five-year period,” the Associated Press reports.
Other studies have looked at gender-affirming surgery for transgender minors and concluded it is rare, but the use of medications for gender confirmation is not well-documented, the study’s authors note.
“Because age and experience of puberty onset varies by sex assigned at birth and dictates the course of care, it is important to analyze these rates by age and sex assigned at birth,” says an abstract of the study (the full research paper is behind a paywall). “This study filled this gap by using private insurance data across all 50 states.”
“We are not seeing inappropriate use of this sort of care,” lead author Landon Hughes, a researcher at Harvard University,” told the AP. “And it’s certainly not happening at the rate at which people often think it is.”
The authors examined insurance data for more 5 million patients aged 8 to 17, covering the years 2018 to 2022, so it as before many of the state bans were enacted. Only 926 of these patients received puberty blockers and 1,927 received hormones, coming out to 0.1 percent. Puberty blockers were not administered to anyone under age 12.
“I hope that our paper cools heads on this issue and ensures that the public is getting a true sense of the number of people who are accessing this care,” Hughes said.
The new study “adds to the growing evidence base about best practices when serving transgender and gender-diverse youth,” Dr. Scott Leibowitz, who has helped develop the adolescent standards of care for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, told the AP.
Twenty-six states have passed laws banning some or all gender-affirming procedures for trans youth. The U.S. Supreme Court heard a case in Decemberseeking to overturn Tennessee’s ban, and a decision is expected in the spring or summer. Donald Trump has vowed to ban such care nationwide through an executive order when he becomes president again, something that would undoubtedly lead to more court cases, and during his campaign he falsely claimed that young people are receiving gender-affirming medical care at school. He has promised to enact other anti-trans policies as well.
The Pentagon has reached a historic legal settlement with more than 35,000 gay and lesbian military veterans who were dismissed because of their sexual orientation, and in many cases denied an honorable discharge and the array of services they had earned, CBS News has learned.
Under the terms of the agreement, veterans whose discharge papers reference their sexual orientation as a reason for their separation from the military can now avoid a cumbersome legal process and be re-issued paperwork that eliminates any reference to their sexuality. If they were denied an honorable discharge, they will also be eligible for an immediate upgrade review, the agreement says.
The veterans filed a federal civil rights suit in August 2023 over the Defense Department’s failure to grant them honorable discharges or remove biased language specifying their sexuality from their service records following the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2011.
As his administration ends in just over two weeks, President Joe Bidenrecognized two pivotal figures in the fight for marriage equality, awarding them the Presidential Citizens Medal during a ceremony at the White House on January 2, 2025. Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry, and Mary L. Bonauto, senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), were among 20 honorees receiving the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.
The ceremony in the East Room celebrated Americans who have made transformative contributions to the nation and their communities. “Together, you embody the central truth: We’re a great nation because we’re a good people,” Biden said during his remarks. “Our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship. That’s our work for the ages, and it’s what all of you embody.”
Wolfson and Bonauto’s inclusion highlights their roles in advancing marriage equality in the United States, a cause culminating in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which established same-sex marriages as a constitutional right.
The White House praised Wolfson for his strategic vision and tireless advocacy. “By leading the marriage equality movement, Evan Wolfson helped millions of people in all 50 states win the fundamental right to love, marry, and be themselves,” a statement read. It credited him with not only changing the law but transforming societal attitudes and creating a blueprint for political change.
Bonauto, who argued the landmark Obergefell case, was lauded for her groundbreaking work securing marriage rights in multiple states before her Supreme Court victory. “Her efforts made millions of families whole and forged a more perfect Union,” the White House statement said.
Wolfson expressed gratitude for the collective efforts of the marriage equality movement. “This medal is a tribute to the transformative, democratic work we all did together, and to the power of hope, strategy, determination, and love,” he said in a statement. Reflecting on the upcoming 10th anniversary of the Obergefell decision, he noted the profound impact the ruling has had on families, the LGBTQ+ community, and the nation. “I’m honored to see the profoundly positive impact that the freedom to marry has had for so many families across the country, and for the LGBTQ community and American people as a whole,” Wolfson said.
Bonauto echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the broader significance of the recognition. “It is an astonishing honor to receive this recognition, and to be in the company of other incredible individuals who have had such a significant impact on the lives of Americans,” she said in a statement. “The Presidential Citizens Medal represents something fundamental: that we each have a role to play in fulfilling our country’s promises of equality, dignity, and freedom. I stand alongside so many courageous individuals who fought for the right to marry, and others across our nation who share a deep desire that all of our community members be treated with fairness and dignity. This recognition today is a testament to the profoundly positive impact marriage equality has had on individuals, families, and communities across our country.”
The Presidential Citizens Medal was established in 1969 to honor individuals who perform exemplary deeds of service to their country or fellow citizens. This year’s recipients reflect diverse contributions, from civil rights advocacy to public service.
Wolfson and Bonauto’s achievements were recognized alongside those of other honorees, including advocates for racial justice, women’s rights, and military service. Biden also honored figures from across the political spectrum. Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman, and Bennie Thompson, a Democratic representative from Mississippi, were recognized for their leadership on the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney and Thompson received standing ovations from the audience.
Biden personally handed the medal to Cheney, praising her for putting “the American people over party.” Thompson was commended for his “lifelong dedication to safeguarding our Constitution.”
Guests in attendance included Biden’s son, Hunter Biden; former Secretary of State John Kerry; South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn; Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro; and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey.
Since Donald Trump’s reelection in November, nontraditional gun groups across the city and country have seen a flood of interest. The national Liberal Gun Club said it has received thousands of training requests since the election, more than in all of 2023. A spokesperson for the group estimated that roughly a quarter were from LGBTQ people.
In Philadelphia, in the waning weeks of the year, residents peppered local queer Facebook groups with questions about guns and training. The local chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association, a leftist analogue to the National Rifle Association, said it saw a surge in paid memberships; its regular classes about gun safety filled up immediately, so they added more.
The head of the Delaware Valley chapter of the Pink Pistols, a longtime gay gun group with the slogan “Armed Gays Don’t Get Bashed,” said he received a sudden flurry of emails inquiring about gun training.
The United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking (USACHT) has released its highly anticipated 2024 annual report. This year’s report focuses on centering survivor expertise, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience in the sex trades, and emphasizing the urgent need to address forced criminality within anti-trafficking efforts. The report highlights key recommendations to improve federal anti-trafficking work, based on insights gathered during regional trips and consultations with survivor-led organizations.
Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP), a survivor-led organization advocating for the rights and safety of people in the sex trades in Alaska, played a pivotal role in shaping the report. CUSP representatives discussed the impact of state laws on people in the sex trades, the need for law enforcement accountability, and recommendations for improving federal agency implementation efforts to better support individual sex workers and trafficking survivors.
Key Recommendations:
● Standardizing Definitions: The report calls for the Biden administration to address the confusing array of definitions used for sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children. These inconsistencies lead to misleading statistics, ineffective policies, and obstacles to evidence-based decision-making.
● Funding for Survivor-Led Organizations: The report recommends that the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) direct a portion of its service-oriented grants in each state to organizations that do not participate in trafficking task forces or collaborate with police departments. This recommendation aims to empower survivor-led organizations and ensure that funding reaches those who may be hesitant to engage with law enforcement due to past negative experiences.
● Recognizing Forced Criminality: The report underscores the need for all Presidential Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF) agencies to better recognize and support survivors of forced criminality. This includes strengthening training for government employees to identify signs of forced criminality, reviewing policies and protocols to ensure they acknowledge forced criminality, and incorporating representation of forced criminality in public awareness and education campaigns.
● Addressing Substance Use and Mental Health Coercion: The report acknowledges the interconnectedness of gender-based violence, human trafficking, complex trauma, substance use, and mental health. It emphasizes the need for trauma-informed care, accessible services, and proactive prevention efforts that address the root causes of these issues.
Survivor Testimonial
“When I was ‘exited’ from a domestic violence shelter at 3 a.m. in the morning, it was a drug dealer who answered the phone; a flop house that gave me shelter, drugs to get me high, and more drugs used to coerce, force, and manipulate me into being trafficked. None of these people who harmed me went to jail, but I did go to jail for drug related issues.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, revealing an 18% increase in homelessness compared to the previous year. Conducted in January 2024, the report states that the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded.
A total of 771,480 people—or about 23 of every 10,000 people in the United States—experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing program, or unsheltered location across the country. The report notes that the data is a year old and does not fully reflect the impact of recent policy changes and interventions.
As for the cause, HUD’s report says, “Several factors likely contributed to this historically high number. Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits. Additional public health crises, natural disasters that displaced people from their homes, rising numbers of people immigrating to the U.S., and the end to homelessness prevention programs put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the end of the expanded child tax credit, have exacerbated this already stressed system.”
This is the second year in a row that the HUD report mentions the national affordable housing crisis as the main cause of homelessness. The 2023 report also listed it as the first and largest contributor to homelessness.
Despite the overall rise, the report highlighted a nearly 8% decrease in veteran homelessness, marking the lowest number recorded. The number of unsheltered veterans fell nearly 11%, with 32,882 veterans experiencing homelessness in 2024 compared to 35,574 in 2023.
HUD credited programs such as HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH), which connected nearly 90,000 veteran households to stable housing in 2024. The Department of Veterans Affairs also announced that it permanently housed 47,925 veterans during fiscal year 2024, the highest annual figure since 2019.
“Veteran homelessness has declined by 55.2% since 2010, demonstrating the effectiveness of evidence-based strategies,” said HUD Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman.
Several cities reported progress in reducing homelessness:
Dallas: A $30 million public-private partnership decreased homelessness by 16% from 2022 to 2024.
Los Angeles: Increased funding led to the first decline in homelessness in seven years, with a 5% drop in unsheltered homelessness across the county.
Chester County, Pennsylvania: Eviction prevention, affordable housing initiatives, and fair housing education have reduced homelessness by nearly 60% since 2019.
HUD announced multiple funding initiatives to address homelessness in 2024, including:
$3.16 billion through the Continuum of Care program.
$290 million in Emergency Solutions Grants.
$85 million through the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing program.
$72 million for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration expanded the Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator to improve coordination between housing and service providers. HUD also announced plans to repurpose federal properties for affordable housing and homeless assistance. “We know what works,” Todman said. “With sustained efforts and targeted resources, we can make meaningful progress in preventing and ending homelessness nationwide.”
As you get ready to move from one year to another, learn more about doxxing, how it can impact you, how to prevent it from happening, and how to react if it does happen to you.
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With the new year comes an array of new laws slated to take effect across the country throughout 2025 on issues like artificial intelligence, legacy college admissions and surgical care for transgender youth.
More than half a dozen states will have new data privacy and consumer protections, while federal regulations will require air travelers to present compliant licenses or identification cards to fly domestically.
After a busy election cycle, state legislatures are ready to tackle yet another year of hot-button political issues, soon under a Trump administration. Here are some of the laws that will ring in 2025:
Guardrails against AI
Two states will begin to regulate uses of AI with the aim of mitigating the potential harms of the rapidly growing technology.
In Illinois, it will become illegal to knowingly distribute audio- or visual-based digital replicas of individuals created through generative AI without their consent. The act also applies a 50-year prohibition on the use of a digital replica of an individual after their death if they did not previously consent to such use.
There are still certain instances to which the act does not apply, such as parody, or when there is a political, public interest, educational or newsworthy value to the digital replica — as long as it is not falsely presented as authentic.
The Recording Academy was a vocal proponent of the law since its introduction in February, championing its passage as a victory in protecting artists and creators against AI. Illinois state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, who introduced the bill, said the motivation for the legislation came from cases of the unauthorized use of artists’ identities in AI-generated music.
“I have seen increasing concern from lawmakers, really spurred by concern by our constituents, about the dangers posed by AI, the availability of AI as a tool, both in positive ways, but also in ways that can infringe on somebody’s right to privacy, or in fact, to really steal their identity,” Gong-Gershowitz said.
Another law in Illinois addresses AI-generated child pornography, prohibiting the use of the technology to create obscene material of a real or purported child. The law also separately forbids the nonconsensual dissemination of sexually explicit digitized depictions, which is a Class 4 felony.
“What we wanted to do was to ensure that law enforcement could prosecute cases of child pornography without the necessity of proving that the image is of an actual child,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “The goal here is to ensure that we don’t normalize violence against children.”
Meanwhile, California is tackling the use of AI in Hollywood. One law will require informed consent by performers in the entertainment industry to replicate their voice or likeness with AI, while a second law will extend the protection to digital replicas produced within 70 years of a personality’s death, with a few exceptions.
States are taking the lead in filling gaps from the lack of federal legislation on AI, Gong-Gershowitz said. She emphasized the need for balance between supporting innovation in the United States and ensuring “new technologies like next-generation AI continue to serve humanity’s interest.”
Data privacy and consumer protections
Eight states will have privacy laws take effect this year: Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee.
The laws impose stricter obligations on businesses handling personal data and grant consumers the right to more transparency on how their data is collected, used and shared, according to Michelle Hon Donovan, a partner at the law firm Duane Morris LLP. Not all companies will be required to comply, as each state has its own requirements and thresholds, such as Nebraska, which exempts small businesses.
Maryland’s is the most restrictive of the new laws, including a clause that limits businesses to collecting personal data only when it is “reasonably necessary” to perform a service or provide a good. The law also outright prohibits the sale of sensitive data.
Donovan — who specializes in privacy and data security — said that before 2020, there were few laws across the country addressing privacy except for online privacy laws in a handful of states. Federal laws mostly focus on certain industries, she added, like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
But now, the eight states with laws taking effect in 2025 join a growing list of 19 total states that have passed comprehensive privacy laws.
“We expect more laws to be passed next year, so this is probably only the beginning,” Donovan said.
California to bar legacy admissions
Legacy applicants in California will no longer get a leg up in the college admissions process after September 2025.
A law in the state will ban legacy and donor preferences at private, nonprofit institutions, eliminating favoritism given to applicants with familial or monetary connections to the schools. The University of California system eliminated legacy admissions in 1998.
Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, the law requires all private colleges and universities in California to submit an annual report to disclose compliance. Its passage came after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative actionadmissions policies in 2023 and an FBI investigation uncovered a college entrance exam cheating scheme in 2019 involving dozens of wealthy parents, including Hollywood actors.
“It’s all about fairness,” then-Assembly member Phil Ting previously told NBC News. “You want people to work hard and achieve access to education because they’ve worked hard and they’re really the most qualified students, not because they have wealthy parents or wealthy families who are donors. This is about making sure we’re leveling the playing field.”
The law will not be reflected in incoming classes until fall 2026.
New Hampshire’s ban ongender-transition surgeries for minors
A new law in New Hampshire will prevent transgender minors from receiving transition-related surgery and prohibit physicians from referring patients for out-of-state procedures.
The law does not affect other forms of gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed the health care measure in July alongside a separate bill barring some transgender students from competing on school sports teams, although a federal judge partially blocked its enforcement.
Sununu said in a statement that the law will protect the health and safety of children in the state by ensuring they do not undergo “life altering, irreversible surgeries.” Chris Erchull, a senior staff attorney at the New England-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, said decisions surrounding medical treatments are “very heavy and serious” but belong between doctors, patients and, in the case of minors, parents.
“The legislature is opening a door into regulating medical care for transgender people, singling them out for a different standard than for other people to target a procedure that doesn’t even happen in New Hampshire that, of course, is very, very rare,” Erchull said.
Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has suggestedthat gender-affirming surgeries are rarely performed on transgender youth. Erchull raised particular concern about the law forbidding referrals, which he said “deprives families of the opportunities to even consult with other people to get information that they need to make the appropriate decisions for their families.”
New Hampshire is one of 26 states limiting or banning surgical care for transgender youth, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. Erchull said New Hampshire, a state in which Republicans control the governorship and both houses of the legislature, in the past five years had mostly resisted legislative efforts targeting LGBTQ+ people until now.
“It does mark a significant shift in what’s happening on the ground in New Hampshire,” Erchull said. “I’m hearing from families who are talking about leaving the state. I’m hearing from families who are scared about sending their kids to school because a lot of people are questioning whether transgender people are safe any longer in the state of New Hampshire.”
The Supreme Court is currently considering a challenge to a Tennessee law that restricts gender transition treatments for minors, although the surgical ban is not an issue before the justices. The conservative-majority court seems poised to uphold the law, which will have sweeping implications for youth access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy across the country.
National ID regulations
Beginning May 7, 2025, anyone age 18 or older will need to carry a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or identification card to fly domestically and access certain federal facilities.
Air travelers will be turned away at airport security checkpoints if they fail to present either identification that meets the Real ID Act’s enhanced standards or another acceptable alternative, such as a passport.
The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the deadline for Real ID enforcement multiple times due to a lack of full state compliance and the Covid-19 pandemic, which made it more difficult for people to get the new IDs at their state motor vehicle departments.
Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005 based on a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission. Under the act, state-issued licenses or identification cards must also feature anti-counterfeiting technology and require record checks for issuance.
All Real ID-compliant cards will have a star marking on the upper portion of the ID.
Like the residents of Munchkinland celebrating Elphaba’s watery demise in Wicked‘s opening number, anti-‘woke’ pundits are delightedly banging the drum that diversity, equality and inclusion policies (DEI) – aimed at reducing discrimination in the workplace – are dead, dunzo and pushing up daises.
“The death of DEI is finally here,” Michael Deacon proclaimed, “the DEI cult is now imploding,” Sam Ashworth-Hayes declared – citing car manufacturer Jaguaras the first fatality – “the DEI game is up,” Matthew Lynn insisted.
You get the picture.
Whilst you could argue these statements are just the overzealous sells of attention grabbing headlines, it is undeniable the right’s self-imposed ‘War on Woke’ – which this year turned its Eye of Sauron-esque gaze on DEI – has forced US multi-billion dollar businesses to abandon commitments to fostering fair and equitable workplaces.
Robby Starbuck is leading campaigns against companies he deems ‘woke’. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Leading the charge throughout 2024 has been former music video director turned MAGA pundit and anti-woke campaigner Robby Starbuck, whose mission to bring “sanity back to corporate America” via public pressure campaigns and boycotts has seen big name US brands like Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s, Ford, Stanley Black & Decker and John Deere – just to name a few – all roll back DEI policies.
Starbuck’s ire is with American firms supporting minority causes and communities, such as sponsoring LGBTQ+ Pride events, running inclusivity training for staff and taking part in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. That being said, business participation in the HRC’s Index reached record levels in 2024, despite Starbuck’s best efforts.
Further to this, corporations abandoning their DEI commitments has certainly not happened without criticism, with disdainful LGBTQ+ folks voting with their feet and making it clear that they’re more than willing to take their cash elsewhere.
The 2024 LGBTQ+ Climate Survey found that 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ adults in the US would boycott a company that rolled back equality programmes, whilst more than 75 per cent said that they would have a less-favourable opinion of a company that cut its DEI policies. The survey found 52 per cent of people said they would urge others to boycott the company, including by posting negative reviews on social media.
As the year draws to a close, here are some of the biggest and most well-known businesses that have backed down on supporting diversity this year.
Walmart
(Getty Images/Bob Riha, Jr.)
Not the most recent company to fold on its DEI commitments, but no doubt the biggest.
Walmart is the America’s largest private employer and has 1.6 million associates working across nearly 5,000 locations in the US, with a total of 2.1 million staff on the books worldwide.
According to revenue data published by Forbes for its Fortune 500 list, Walmart generated revenue worth $645.15 billion in 2023.
Walmart’s decision to step back on its DEI policies came as Starbuck threatened to galvanise a boycott in conjunction with the Black Friday sales, a post-Thanksgiving shopping event which generated a total of $9.8 billion across the US economy in 2023.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Starbuck said he warned Walmart executives he was “doing a story on wokeness there” and had “productive conversations to find solutions.”
The business will now no longer take part in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index – it earned a perfect score of 100 in 2023 – stop selling “inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products” marketed at children, review Pride funding and no longer provide staff with racial-equity training.
Walmart will also stop using the term Latinx, discontinue the use of DEI as a term and “will evaluate supplier diversity programmes and ensure they do not provide preferential treatment and benefits to suppliers based on diversity.”
Starbuck said the decision would “send shockwaves throughout corporate America.”
Ford
(Carl Court/Getty Images)
Iconic car manufacturer Ford is known not only for producing vehicles but for entirely revolutionising the means of mass production through assembly lines. But despite its industry-leading history, it seems it flinches at the risk of conservative upset.
According to the Fortune 500 list, the brand generated revenue of $176,191,000,000 ($171.19 billion) in 2023 and employs around 130,000 staff members in the United States.
In August, the company announced it would be ending its participation in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, with CEO Jim Farley saying in a memo: “We are mindful that our employees and customers hold a wide range of beliefs, and the external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve.”
Farley added Ford would focus on taking care of employees and customers “versus publicly commenting on the polarising issues of the day.”
The HRC slammed the decision, writing on a social media post that Ford was “cowering to MAGA weirdo Robby Starbuck.”
Starbuck, unsurprisingly, celebrated the move: “This isn’t everything we want but it’s a great start. We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organisations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose.”
Lowe’s
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Another large retail chain, Lowe’s might be smaller than Walmart but still has more than 2,000 stores and employs 300,000 people. It generated $86 billion in 2023.
The home improvement chain announced its DEI rollback via an internal memo where the firm announced it would stop taking part in surveys for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), combine employee groups into one umbrella organisation and end support for “festivals, parades and fairs” – arguably meaning Pride events.
Starbuck claimed he contacted executives at the chain last week “to let them know I planned to expose their woke policies” and subsequently “woke up to an email where they pre-emptively made big changes”.
However, a spokesman for Lowe’s told CNN they had heard from Starbuck after the company “already announced changes that had long been in process.”
Toyota
Toyota. ( Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)
After coming under fire from Starbuck, car-manufacturer Toyota announced their “refocus” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes means they won’t sponsor cultural events and parades such as LGBTQ+ Pride in the US.
In a memo sent to 50,000 US employees and more than 1,500 dealerships, the company said the decision follows a “highly politicised discussion” around business commitments to DEI.
“We will no longer sponsor cultural events such as festivals and parades that are not related to Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] education and workforce readiness,” the memo read.
According to Bloomberg, Toyota will also no longer participate in cultural surveys, and will end their participation in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) annual Corporate Equality Index, which once gave them a perfect score for their DEI efforts.
The car-makers will refocus employee resource groups for professional development, networking and mentoring with a “clear alignment to driving the company’s business”.
John Deere
Tractor manufacturing John Deere was targeted by the ‘anti-woke’ brigade. (Getty)
In a post on social media in July following a Starbuck campaign, agricultural manufacturer John Deere confirmed it was rolling back its corporate inclusion efforts.
The statement read: “We will no longer participate or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals or events. Business resource groups will exclusively be focused on professional development, networking, mentoring and supporting talent recruitment efforts.”
All company-mandated training materials and policies would be audited to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages while being in compliance with federal, state and local laws, the company promised while reaffirming that “the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy”.
However, the statement also noted that the company “fundamentally believe a diverse workforce enables us to best meet our customers’ needs, and because of that, we will continue to track the advancement of the diversity of our organisations”, adding: “Your trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere, and we fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can.”
Stanley Black & Decker
Stanley Black & Decker became the focus of another right-wing campaign group. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Toolmakers Stanley Black & Decker have been accused of “scrubbing” all mentions of DEI from its corporate website.
This time though, the backlash came from Consumers’ Research, a right-wing campaign group that prides itself on targeting “wokeness” in business.
The pressure group’s executive director, Will Hild, believed Stanley Black & Decker might continue to undertake DEI activities “albeit more surreptitiously than before they were caught”.
Molson Coors
Despite a history of supporting LGBTQ+ causes, Molson Coors scrapped progressive policies. (Getty Images)
Molson Coors Brewing Company reportedly began restructuring its corporate training programmes in March, according to an internal memo.
Despite once being “refreshingly proud”, the brewer added that it will do away with DEI programmes and diversity quota because of the “complicated” rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Human rights groups struck back, with GLAAD shaming the company for deciding to “walk away” from supporting marginalised groups “when it gets noisy and hard”.
Ford
Ford will focus on employees and customers rather than “polarising issues of the day”. (Getty Images)
The car manufacturer announced in August an intention to leave the HRC’s CEI. Chief executive Jim Farley wrote in a memo that the company would focus on taking care of employees and customers “versus publicly commenting on polarising issues of the day”.
Farley also sits on the corporate board at Harley-Davidson.
While Starbuck publicly celebrated another win, the HRC condemned the move, saying: “Today, Ford abandoned its values and commitments to an inclusive workplace, cowering to MAGA weirdo Robby Starbuck.”
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson was another big name to bow to the anti-woke brigade. (Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)
The motorcycle maker succumbed to the anti-woke brigade after Starbuck accused the company of taking on DEI initiatives. “I don’t think the values at corporate reflect the values of nearly any Harley-Davidson bikers,” he wrote on X.
“Do Harley riders want the money they spend to be used later by corporate to push an ideology that’s diametrically opposed to their own values?”
Despite a long history of supporting LGBTQ+ causes, Harley-Davidson said they hadn’t had a DEI function since April and “no longer have supplier diversity spend goals”.
In addition, all employee training would only be business-related and “absent of socially motivated content.”
Jack Daniel’s
The parent company of Jack Daniel’s axed initiatives because the “world has changed since 2019”. (Getty Images)
Another well-known brand, Jack Daniel’s, announced the scrapping of all DEI initiatives because “the world has evolved” since 2019 when the business, owned by Brown-Forman, first introduced the policies.
Starbuck considered this a big win, writing on X that he received the news before he could expose the company and bragging: “We are winning… one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America”.
Despite the new “strategic framework”, including leaving the HRC’s CEI index, the company will still foster an inclusive culture where “everyone is welcomed, respected and able to bring their best self to work”.
Tractor Supply Co
Rural farm supply store Tractor Supply was one of the first companies to scrape DEI policies. (Getty Images)
The rural America retail chain specialising in agricultural wares was the first domino to fall under Starbucks’ scrutiny. In a lengthy tweet exposing Tractor Supply for having “woke priorities”, including donations to charities that support LGBTQ+ youngsters, the company faced an intense backlash on social media.
The firm quickly relented, promising to eliminate their DEI programmes and climate change goals, saying: “We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”
In addition, the company will no longer provide data to the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a bench-marking tool that rates American businesses on policies and practises that affect their LGBTQ+ employees.
The Ohio Senate and House have now both passed a bill that would forcibly out LGBTQ+ students to their parents and also allow parents to opt their child out of “sexuality content” at school.
House Bill 8 defines sexuality content as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting,” with exceptions granted for STI and abuse discussion, as well as “incidental references” to sexual concepts or “gender ideology.”
There is also a total ban on “sexuality content” in grades three and below, with all other grades facing a requirement for parental review of the content. It additionally requires notification of “any substantial change” in student services, defined as including changes to one’s gender identity in the school system.
The bill was introduced by State Reps. D.J. Swearingen (R) and Sara Carruthers (R).
“If people are out and they don’t have supportive parents — there is an epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness,” Dara Atkinson, an activist with TransOhio, told News 5 Cleveland. “[There are] parents who don’t affirm their children and then decide that they would like them to not be their children.”
“For students that have queer families, it is then not OK in early childhood curriculum to discuss queer families as part of the community,” they added.
Carruthers claims, however, that “there is no hidden agenda” and that this is about advocating for parental rights. She claims it is not “anti-LGBTQ” and that “nothing can be done these days without offending others.”
The bill is now on its way to the desk of Republican Governor Mike DeWine as advocacy groups call for him to veto it.
“We are deeply disappointed that the legislature decided once again to attack LGBTQIA+ youth by passing yet another bill that will make schools less safe and inclusive for queer and transgender people,” said a statement from Kaleidoscope Youth Center, an LGBTQ+ youth center.
Equality Ohio Executive Director Dwayne Steward added, “Overnight when most school-age children are asleep, the legislature rushed through another shameful attack on LGBTQ+ youth.”
