Ford becomes latest company to reject DEI initiatives — Human Rights Campaign resorts to name-calling after slew of losses

The Ford Motor Company walked back some DEI initiatives following pushback from conservatives. The Human Rights Campaign — America’s largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization — reacted to Ford's new direction by slinging insults after suffering its latest repudiation by a major company.

On Thursday, filmmaker and conservative consumer activist Robby Starbuck shared an internal memo from Ford CEO Jim Farley to employees regarding a pullback of commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

'What we want to do with this campaign is just make workplaces about work again with no divisive political or social issues.'

"For more than a century, Ford has been a pioneer in providing opportunities to people around the world of all races, genders, and backgrounds," the memo began. "Our people are our greatest strength, and the diverse experiences, perspectives, and talents of our team have enabled Ford to create some of the most iconic vehicles in history and afford millions of people the freedom of mobility."

"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 said in the memo.

The automaker giant noted that the company has evolved in the past year, and Ford has "taken a fresh look at our policies and practices to ensure they support our values, drive business results, and take into account the current landscape."

Included in the new policy changes, Ford proclaimed that employee resource groups must now focus efforts on "networking, mentorship, personal and professional development, and community service."

Ford Motor Co. stressed that it "does not utilize hiring quotas or tie compensation to the achievement of specific diversity goals."

The carmaker also declared that it will not use quotas for minority dealerships or suppliers.

Farley continued, "Ford remains deeply committed to fostering a safe and inclusive workplace and building a team that leverages diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and thinking styles to craft the best products, services, and experiences for our customers."

"As a global company, we will continue to put our effort and resources into taking care of our customers, our team, and our communities versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day," the memo read.

Of the car company's philanthropic endeavors, Ford noted that it would focus on "areas where we can make the biggest positive difference for the most people, including education for the future of work, entrepreneurship, and essential services, such as our support of and volunteer work with Team Rubicon, the veteran-led group dedicated to disaster recovery."

Ford Motor Company announced that it would no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index and various other "best places to work" lists.

The Human Rights Campaign responded by hinting at a boycott targeting Ford and stooped to name-calling against Starbuck.

"Today, Ford ABANDONED its values and commitments to an inclusive workplace, cowering to MAGA weirdo Robby Starbuck," the Human Rights Campaign said. "With the LGBTQ+ community wielding $1.4 TRILLION in spending power and 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+, we won’t forget this shortsighted decision and its impact."

Ford had a perfect 100 score on the HRC's Corporate Equity Index in 2023 and declared the automaker to be a "leader in LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion."

The HRC bills its so-called Corporate Equity Index as "the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees."

The Human Rights Campaign was described as having a "leading role in Democratic Party politics and left-leaning activism" by InfluenceWatch — an organization that provides "accurate descriptions of all of the various influencers of public policy issues."

Regarding the memo, Ford told USA Today, "The communication to our global employees speaks for itself. We have nothing further to add."

Starbuck declared, "We are winning, and one by one we WILL bring sanity back to corporate America."

"What we want to do with this campaign is just make workplaces about work again with no divisive political or social issues," Starbuck added. "Some on the left may see sponsorship of a pride event as supporting a community but others see children being exposed to sexual content and find it wildly inappropriate for a workplace to sponsor. As a consumer, I can’t in good faith support a company that explicitly funds things that I’m morally opposed to."

Ford is the latest major company to rein back DEI commitments.

As Blaze News previously reported, Harley-Davidson rejected DEI commitments and also said it would no longer participate in the HRC's woke index.

Last month, Tractor Supply declared that it would no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign and would remove DEI positions and ditch its carbon emissions goals.

Also in July, farm equipment manufacturer John Deere announced it would no longer sponsor “social or cultural awareness” events and would audit all training materials "to ensure the absence of socially-motivated messages" following a campaign organized by Starbuck.

Starbuck then took aim at exposing DEI commitments at Jack Daniel's and its parent company — Brown-Forman. Last week, Brown-Forman proclaimed that it would no longer participate in the HRC's Corporate Equality Index social credit system and would end "quantitative workforce and supplier diversity ambitions" and ensure company goals are exclusively tied to productivity and not DEI initiatives.

This week, home improvement behemoth Lowe's discontinued some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments and dropped out of surveys for the Human Rights Campaign.

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