Ford Motor Company will no longer participate in major annual LGBTQ+ equality survey

Ford Motor Company will no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index.

The company has reportedly told employees it plans to halt its part in an initiative designed to uphold equality standards for LGBTQ+ and marginalised employees.

“We are mindful that our employees and customers hold a wide range of beliefs,” chief executive Jim Farley wrote in an email. “The external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve.”

Farley is also a board member at motorbike manufacturers Harley-Davidson, another firm that has recently distanced itself from DEI initiatives amid conservative hostility.

Right-wing pundit Robby Starbuck has recently been spearheading online campaigns to pressure businesses into scrapping DEI initiatives, which help promote equity and inclusion for marginalised groups.

Anti-LGBTQ+ and right-wing activists often use the term ‘DEI’ as a dog-whistle to indicate anything they see as vaguely progressive or left-leaning.

After being approached for comment, Ford told USA Today: “The communication to our global employees speaks for itself. We have nothing further to add.”

HRC president Kelley Robinson said she “could not be more disappointed” to see Ford giving in to pressure from those she termed ‘internet trolls’.

“Today, Ford Motor Company abandoned its commitment to hundreds of thousands of employees,” she said. “By failing to support women leaders, employees of colour and LGBTQ+ employees, [the] company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool.

“In making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities.”

Ford’s decision follows similar actions by home-improvement retail chain Lowe’s and whiskey-makers Jack Daniel’s, as well as Harley-Davidson.

In its own announcement, the Brown-Forman Corporation, which owns Jack Daniel’s, said it believed “the world has evolved” since the company’s DEI campaign was launched in 2019.

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