Conservative assault on LGBTQ+ rights rattles corporate America

By Simone Foxman, Jeff Green, Sridhar Natarajan, Bloomberg News (TNS)

Marty Chavez used to think things were only getting better for LGBTQ people.

His own story certainly pointed that way. Chavez spent a quarter-century scaling the pinnacles of Wall Street. When he was promoted to chief financial officer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., he emerged as the most senior openly gay executive in the bank’s history.

Now, after so many LGBTQ milestones – from the legalization of same-sex marriage to efforts to foster workplace diversity – Chavez is having doubts about the future. He and other advocates worry hard-won gains are slipping away. The idea that this fight is over, the mission accomplished, suddenly seems woefully misguided.

“I no longer feel that way at all,” says Chavez, now vice chairman at investment firm Sixth Street Partners. “It’s my sense — and it is the sense of other LGBT people — that not only has progression stalled out, that it’s going backwards. And in some places, it’s going backwards fast.”

For many, the feeling is difficult to shake: From living rooms to board rooms, support for LGBTQ rights in the U.S. appears to have peaked. An overwhelming majority of Americans – seven in 10, according to Gallup – remain squarely behind same-sex marriage. From there, the picture begins to blur.

As a polarized nation hurtles toward Election Day, cultural conservatives have staked out aggressive positions on multiple issues, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Amid the backlash from the right over diversity, equity and inclusion, pockets of corporate America are edging away from public commitments to help level the playing field.

A growing number of companies are abandoning DEI metrics for executive pay, deleting from their corporate filings references to specific groups like women and LGBTQ workers that their DEI initiatives were meant to help, and revising internships and mentorship efforts. Some 94% of employees said workplace equality worsened last year, according to a report from advocacy group Out and Equal.

Chavez, a board member at Alphabet Inc., corporate parent of Google, is so concerned he’s been reaching out to prominent business figures on the issue. He recalls his 20s as a vocal presence at Queer Nation protests to combat the escalation of anti-gay violence. Now, according to Chavez, he’s ready to wear his activist boots again.

“It is concerning enough that we have to wake up and do something about it,” the 60-year-old said. “We don’t want special treatment, and neither will we settle for mere tolerance. It’s about full acceptance.”

The sense of anxiety is heightened as Donald Trump and his allies pour millions into anti-trans ads in swing states ahead of November 5. The conservative policy book Project 2025 has urged the next Republican administration to redefine what constitutes discrimination based on sex, so that sexual orientation and gender identity are no longer included. Even if Kamala Harris wins, the pressure from the right is unlikely to let up: The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking roughly 530 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. (not all of them will become law).

For years, corporate America has been seen as a key ally for the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. Now, a small but growing number of marquee-name corporations have stepped back. Some have reduced internal initiatives designed to support LGBTQ employees. Others have backed away from more public displays of involvement. “It only means one thing: Our clout is dwindling,’’ says Fabrice Houdart, executive director of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors, a New York-based nonprofit founded in 2022 with the goal of diversifying corporate boards. By the group’s count, only 47 of the more than 5,000 board seats in Fortune 500 companies are occupied by LGBTQ people. Among Fortune 500 companies, the CEOs of Apple Inc., Dow Inc. and Land O’ Lakes are the few recognized as being openly gay.

Given the political climate, raising those percentages isn’t about to get any easier. Ford Motor Co., Lowe’s Cos Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp., among others, recently have reconsidered their public support of the 44-year-old Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.

The retreat is raising new questions about the future of HRC’s influential yardstick of company behavior, the Corporate Equality Index. Founded in 1980, the Washington, DC-based HRC has wielded money and influence to back initiatives like same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination rules and gender-affirming care benefits.

The organization has often leaned on the C-suite, persuading executives to back such policies well before they were required by law. For years its index has been embraced almost universally by U.S. companies hoping to demonstrate their commitment to diversity.

Achieving a perfect score became the ultimate symbol of an LGBTQ-friendly workplace, and the group wielded it aggressively — so much so that some corporate advisers likened it to an activist hedge fund.

In 2011, for instance, the number of Fortune 500 companies offering transgender-inclusive health care more than doubled after HRC added such care as one of its index metrics. In 2017, Walmart Inc. made headlines when HRC suspended its perfect index score of 100. In 2019, Google pulled a controversial app that LGBTQ groups said promoted “conversion therapy’’ hours after HRC threatened its 100 rating.

However, since June, when conservative activist Robby Starbuck began online campaigns targeting consumer brands for their “woke” policies and support of the LGBTQ community, at least eight companies including Harley-Davidson Inc. and Tractor Supply Co have announced they’ll no longer participate the index. Toyota’s Lexus brand pulled its high-level corporate sponsorship. Representatives for most of the defectors have said they’re refocusing DEI programs on internal efforts closer to their business lines, but said they remained committed to diversity, including LGBTQ employees and their corporate benefits.

Kelley Robinson, president of HRC, characterizes the recent developments as a “blip.” HRC and its allies have accused companies of cowering to internet trolls and bowing to conservative fear-mongering.

“This is purely a political attack that is leaning into people’s lack of familiarity to sow fear and chaos,” Robinson says. “We’ve seen this playbook before.”

She says that despite the defections, more companies than ever are providing data for next year’s index.

“If we ignore this and think it’s just a blip, it may be irresponsible,” says Rob Smith, board director at shoe company Steve Madden Ltd. and former executive at Macy’s Inc. and Victoria’s Secret & Co. “The concern is real,” adds Smith, who is openly gay, saying that LGBTQ supporters need to unite to challenge what seems like a coordinated conservative backlash.

Others say timeworn strategies of issuing public demands and lobbying aggressively have become less effective given the protections and benefits LGBTQ people have already won in the workplace, and given today’s deeply partisan landscape. Among Republicans, support for LGBTQ rights has fallen markedly in recent years, according to Gallup, as Trump and others have adopted anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Only 46% of Republicans support legalized same-sex marriage, down from 55% in 2022. Some 51% of Americans, including 85% of Republicans, believe changing one’s gender is morally wrong, Gallup found earlier this year.

HRC, however, has kept raising its bar for big business. To earn a perfect score, companies must now offer gender-transition plans for their employees, including supportive restrooms, dress codes and documentation guidance. Businesses also must participate in five LGBTQ community outreach initiatives, up from three in 2022.

Executives at some of the companies that pulled out of the rankings had grown uncomfortable with HRC’s approach, as well as its high-profile, openly partisan political posture, according to people familiar with their thinking. Robinson, the CEO, for instance, spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August.

All of this has put executives on the defensive. Since the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in college admission, conservatives have aggressively targeted corporate DEI efforts. To head off the kind of criticism that has roiled the nation’s elite universities, companies have conducted sweeping reviews of their diversity programs. Recent controversies involving Bud Light beer and Target stores have only added to the angst.

Some LGBTQ advocates are suggesting a new playbook for engaging with corporate America.

“It’s being tone deaf to expect companies to do the same things in the same way that they’ve done for 20 years,’’ says Todd Sears, the founder of consultancy Out Leadership. “The conversation we need to have is: How do we help companies move forward in this way so that they can continue to do it, versus naming and shaming?’’

Charles Moran, president of conservative gay rights group Log Cabin Republicans, says refusing to engage with Trump has been a mistake.

“HRC is running around to all of these corporations saying, ‘We’re here for LGBT Americans and we’re here for gay rights and all this stuff’,” says Moran. “I’m like, ‘No, you’re here for gay Democrats and to advance the Democratic party’s narrative around gay rights’.”

Like Chavez, Maeve DuVally navigated a career at Goldman Sachs. She recalls that when she transitioned, Lloyd Blankfein, the bank’s long-time CEO, popped into her office.

“Nice hair,’’ Blankfein told her.

It was a powerful expression of support, says DuVally, who has since retired from the lender.

But Goldman Sachs is based in New York. Nowadays, many Wall Street players are expanding in places that aren’t as friendly to LGBTQ people. Goldman Sachs, for instance, is building a big new campus in Texas, where state lawmakers have proposed scores of anti-LGBTQ laws.

“Maybe it’s easier now than five years ago if you are in New York or West Hollywood,’’ DuVally says of being an LGBTQ person. But that’s not the case across red America. “It’s definitely much harder for trans staff to find support in those places.’’

©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.