Overwhelming majority of Disney shareholders vote to reject right-wing anti-diversity proposal

Disney shareholders have rejected an anti-DEI proposal put forward by a conservative think tank during the company’s annual meeting.

Disney shareholders rejected the proposal, which would remove the company from participating in the Corporate Equality Index; a national benchmarking tool on corporate policies involving diversity, equity and inclusion, pertinent to LGBTQ+ employees, set up by the Human Rights Campaign.

At Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, held Thursday (20 March), the conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research urged them to stop using the HRC’s CEI as a benchmark.

According to Yahoo! Finance, just 1% of Disney shareholders voted to approve the motion.

The think tank wrote in a proxy statement on the proposal, “When corporations take extreme positions, they destroy shareholder value by alienating large portions of their customers and investors. This proposal provides Disney with an opportunity to move back to neutral.”

Disney, whose board reportedly recommended that its shareholders vote against the motion prior to Thursday’s meeting, wrote in response that it didn’t believe the think tank’s request “would provide additional value to shareholders.”

The global brand has had a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index every year since 2007. 

Eric Bloem, the vice president of corporate citizenship at the HRC Foundation, said in a statement, that the “vote gives us a clear statement of values from Disney’s shareholders.”

“Despite the growing politicization [sic] of DEI and workplace inclusion, leading global businesses remain committed to the belief that a welcoming, inclusive environment drives innovation, boosts productivity, and strengthens the bottom line,” he said.

Despite Disney shareholders’ apparent committal to maintaining DEI in the company, it has not been without controversy in recent projects; new Disney Pixar show Win or Lose axed a minor trans storyline before release and, more trivially, fans of Lilo & Stitch were annoyed that character Pleakley’s ‘drag disguises’ have been seemingly removed from the live-action film after its first trailer.

Under the administration of President Trump, DEI programs have already been gutted from the American military and companies such as Paramount and Google have followed suit, following several executive orders.

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