‘Anti-woke’ brigade targets tractor-maker John Deere for supporting LGBTQ+ Pride
Tractor manufacturing John Deere is the latest target of the ‘anti-woke’ brigade. (Getty)
The anti-woke brigade is now raging at tractor company John Deere for supporting a gay Pride event and embracing diversity targets.
John Deere has faced the wrath of conservatives who are hitting out at the company for supporting a Pride event and encouraging staff to be inclusive by using pronouns.
The backlash follows agricultural retail company Tractor Supply facing boycott calls last month for, amongst other things, donating money to diversity and inclusion causes, which included projects that support LGBTQ+ youth.
Right-wing activist Robby Starbuck, who directed the controversial, gender-critical, anti-LGBTQ+ documentary The War on Children, is working to “expose woke companies” and is encouraging supporters to email John May, the CEO of John Deere, in a bid to “end woke programs”.
Bigots call to ‘end wokeness’
Comments under Starbuck’s X post, which promotes the pre-written email, feature countless people reporting that they have hit out at the company through email.
One person wrote: “Thank you Robby. John Deere needs to know that customers like myself cannot support a company that priory woke policies.”
Another commented: “End wokeness”.
Starbuck said, as reported by the Daily Mail: “John Deere seems to have forgotten who their customers are.
“Having a farm myself, I’m disgusted that a once great American brand is now taking this turn to seemingly embrace leftist policies that are diametrically opposed to the values of most farmers.”
Similarly to the Tractor Supply backlash Starbuck has accused John Deere of embracing “woke” policies.
He also called out the company for supporting the Little Rainbow Run – a fun run for kids aged three to six – at the Capital City Pride event in Des Moines, Iowa, last month, which he described as “creepy”.
John Deere has embraced inclusivity by encouraging staff to use people’s chosen pronouns in its work to strengthen diversity in the company and ensure “inclusiveness so every employee can make the greatest impact as their true self”.
The company also introduced staff training which uses a “genderbread person” to explain gender identity, expression, biological sex and people’s preferences for sexual and romantic attractions.
The backlash comes amid the company laying off employees, with more than 1,000 having been let go or pushed into earlier retirement across Iowa and Illinois since October 2023.
PinkNews has contacted John Deere for comment.
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