Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) is the latest company to roll back its diversity, equity and inclusion programs and buckle under online criticism of its policies. Conservative activist Robby Starbuck is taking responsibility for the move.
The hardware store will no longer participate in LGBTQ advocacy group in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, according to an internal memo released by Bloomberg.
Lowe’s (LOW) will consolidate its Business Resource Groups, which represent diverse employees, into one organization and will only sponsor community events related to affordable housing, disaster relief and skilled trades training.
According to the 2022 Diversity Report, the company had eight business resource groups representing employees from the black, Latino and LGBTQ communities, among others.
“I sent a message to Lowe’s (LOW) executives last week to let them know that I plan to expose their ‘woke’ policies,” Starbuck posted on social media platform X on Monday, adding that “they have made major changes preemptively.”
“We are winning and we WILL gradually bring sanity back to American business,” he said.
However, a Lowe’s spokesperson clarified that Starbuck only contacted them after the company had already begun revising its DEI program.
Starbucks’ online campaign against the DEI policies of Tractor Supply (TSCO), Deere (DE), and Harley-Davidson (HOG) has led these companies to scale back or abandon their diversity programs altogether.
Brown-Forman (BF.B), the maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, ended its DEI programs last week, shortly before Starbuck released a video criticizing its policies.
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