A new battle against DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring practices — is under attack in the U.S. and LGBTQ+ people are in the crosshairs of the conservative-driven battle against it. High-profile women from Vice President Kamala Harris to L.A. Fire Chief and out lesbian Kristin Crowley have been targeted by claims from conservatives that they are mere DEI hires instead of the career civil servants rising through the ranks that they actually are.
The impact is far-reaching, from social media giants to state bills to judicial decisions. In only a week’s time, a crescendo of attacks on LGBTQ+ rights have sounded nationally and the long-term impact will be definitive.
The courts
On Jan. 9, U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves rejected President Joe Biden’s carefully constructed legal package expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students, claiming it was “fatally tainted by legal shortcomings.” Reeves found the Biden administration’s Title IX rules — 1,500 pages — overstepped the president’s authority.
The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called it a rejection of the Biden administration’s “relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology.”
Skrmetti said in a statement, “Because the Biden rule is vacated altogether, President Trump will be free to take a fresh look at our Title IX regulations when he returns to office.”
Skrmetti has also debated gender-affirming care for minors before the U.S. Supreme Court. That ruling is expected in a few months.
The Department of Education did not immediately comment on the decision by Reeves.
The Biden regulation expanded Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education, to also prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. It also widened the definition of harassment to include a broader range of misconduct.
Reeves wrote, “There’s nothing in the 1972 law suggesting that it should cover any more than it has since Congress created it.” The judge called it an “attempt to bypass the legislative process and completely transform Title IX.”
He also found that the rule violated the free speech rights of teachers by requiring them to use the pronouns of a student’s gender identity.
Reeves wrote, “The First Amendment does not permit the government to chill speech or compel affirmance of a belief with which the speaker disagrees in this manner.”
Betsy DeVos, former education secretary during Trump’s first term, wrote on Twitter/X that the “radical, unfair, illegal, and absurd Biden Title IX re-write is GONE.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that Biden’s rule “betrayed the original intent of Title IX by removing longstanding protections that ensured fairness for women and girls.”
Cassidy said, “With President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress, we will ensure women and girls have every opportunity to succeed on the field and in the classroom.”
Social media
Billionaire social media mogul Mark Zuckerberg has addressed DEI in a different way at his company, Meta, which oversees his three social media sites: Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Taking a page from Twitter/X owner Elon Musk, Zuckerberg has decided to roll back historical protections for vulnerable groups on his sites. It will no longer be against Meta’s terms of service to call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill.
Zuckerberg announced last week that “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.’”
This means it is now acceptable to call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill on Facebook, Threads and Instagram. Other slurs and what Meta calls “harmful stereotypes historically linked to intimidation” — such as Blackface and Holocaust denial — are still prohibited.
Meta also excised another point from its “policy rationale” on why the company bans certain hateful conduct. The now-deleted portion of the policy said that hate speech “creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion, and in some cases may promote offline violence.”
This is no longer applicable to gay and trans people.
Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at Meta known for his expertise on curbing online harassment, told AP News, “Meta knows that by the time a report is submitted and reviewed the content will have done most of its harm.”
He added, “I shudder to think what these changes will mean for our youth, Meta is abdicating their responsibility to safety, and we won’t know the impact of these changes because Meta refuses to be transparent about the harms teenagers experience, and they go to extraordinary lengths to dilute or stop legislation that could help.”
Meta also confirmed that it would dismantle its employee DEI programs. Meta’s move comes three days after the technology company said it would stop third-party fact-checking of content on Facebook, Instagram and other social-media platforms.
In explaining the policy shift, Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources at Meta told CBS News the “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing.”
The companies
The Washington Post reports that “As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, Amazon has cut commitments to protecting the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people from a public listing of its corporate policies.”
The Post notes that “Statements that said Amazon supported the rights of transgender people and would protect the safety of Black employees and customers disappeared from a webpage stating the company’s positions late in December, archived versions show.”
Sections titled “Equity for Black people” and “LGBTQ+ rights” were removed from the page, along with all mentions of the term transgender. The “diversity, equity, and inclusion” section was updated to say that “inequitable treatment of anyone — including Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Asians, women, and others — is unacceptable.”
The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns and founded Amazon. Before the November election, Bezos announced that the paper would no longer be endorsing presidential candidates, a decision that prompted editorial employees to resign as the endorsement of Kamala Harris had already been written.
These subtle and not-so-subtle policy changes from one of the world’s largest companies has real-world impact. McDonald’s has also revamped its DEI program as have many Fortune 500 companies including Walmart, Ford, Meta, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and John Deere.
Apple, Costco and Target will continue to maintain their DEI policies. Costco’s board has urged shareholders to vote against a proposal to dismantle its DEI program ahead of a Jan. 23 investor meeting. That comes as conservative activists like Robby Starbuck have demanded boycotts and membership cancellations of the warehouse club.
Costco said, “Among other things, a diverse group of employees helps bring originality and creativity to our merchandise offerings, promoting the ‘treasure hunt’ that our customers value.”
Jeff Raikes, a Costco board member and proponent of DEI, said there are economic benefits of diverse workplaces, posting on Twitter/X in November that “attacks on DEI aren’t just bad for business — they hurt our economy. A diverse workforce drives innovation, expands markets and fuels growth.”
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined 13 national attorneys general objecting to these decisions, saying in a statement, “Diversity, equity, and inclusion policies are critical tools for preventing discrimination and addressing historic injustices against minorities and other marginalized groups. When major companies roll back their commitments to these efforts, they signal to smaller businesses that it is acceptable to do the same, creating a ripple effect that inflicts lasting harm across our State and nation.”
The Trump effect
Daniel Snell, co-founder of Arrival, a UK-based consulting firm focused on corporate leadership and culture, told CBS MoneyWatch in an email, “Many global businesses will be using the second Trump presidency to finally kill off the DEI agenda, if they haven’t done so already.”
Snell said, “Those attempting to curry favor with Trump are doing it publicly, while other organizations, not wishing to suffer any potential public backlash or fallout, will do so quietly and over time.”