The Human Rights Campaign Foundation announced that seven companies – Ford, Molson Coors, Tractor Supply Co., John Deere, Lowe’s, Harley-Davidson and Brown-Forman – will face significant deductions on their current Corporate Equality Index scores in response to their reflexive, anti-consumer and anti-employee decision to abandon previously-stated commitments to the values of inclusion and responsible corporate citizenship. These handful of rollbacks come as the HRC Foundation is seeing record participation of more than 1,400 companies in the 2025 Corporate Equality Index, due to be released in early 2025. HRC President Kelley Robinson announced this news on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning.
The 25 point Responsible Citizenship Criteria deductions to the current 2023-2024 CEI scores are as follows:
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Brown-Forman, Lowe’s, Ford, and Molson Coors: Score will fall to 75 from 100, losing their designation as an Equality 100 Awardee
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Tractor Supply Co. and John Deere: Score will fall to 70 from 95
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Harley-Davidson: Score will fall to 20 from 45
In addition, the HRC Foundation has set up an inbox – workers@hrc.org – for employees at companies who have stepped back from inclusion efforts to anonymously share experiences of discrimination and what internal inclusive workplace policies still exist at companies who are backing away from HRC’s benchmarking tool. The CEI will continue to rank every Fortune 500 company, whether or not that company “actively participates” by sharing additional information to increase their score.
“We need to tell the full story. There are a handful of companies that are making these poor, short-sighted decisions and it’s our responsibility to hold them accountable. Meanwhile, in the 2025 CEI that will come out early next year, we are working with more than 1,400 companies, representing over 21 million employees. That is the highest participation in our Corporate Equality Index that we have ever had.
What I want to make clear is this is not where the majority of the companies are. It’s not just out of the kindness of their heart, it is because they know that this is what their workforce and consumers demand. Bottom line, this is the best thing to do for businesses. That’s why we’re seeing so much energy from employees, consumers, and shareholders starting to push back on the decisions these few companies have made.
Business leaders retreating from the values of inclusion and equity are making a hasty decision that abandons their LGBTQ+ employees and customers, in addition to people of color , women, people with disabilities, and more, in response to an extreme, vocal minority. The LGBTQ+ community brings $1.4 trillion in buying power and nearly 30% of Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ+.
This news comes as shareholder groups are considering options from proxy proposals, to litigation, to targeting board members to reinstate diversity and inclusion programs at Lowe’s, John Deere, and other companies. August 2024 data from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation makes clear that 80% of LGBTQ+ consumers are not only opting to boycott companies that are rolling back diversity and inclusion initiatives, but more than half will urge others to do so also, taking their concerns to social media or sharing negative company reviews. Additionally, for employees at companies walking back their commitments to inclusion, nearly 20% of LGBTQ+ employees said that they would quit working for that company or start looking for a new job and one-third of LGBTQ+ employees said their productivity would suffer. HRC supporters have already sent nearly 140,000 letters to the seven companies who have backed away from workplace inclusion, a sign of how strongly the community is reacting to these walkbacks.
About the Corporate Equality Index (CEI):
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The Corporate Equality Index is the foremost national benchmarking tool measuring policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) employees. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index is a primary driving force for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion. Data from the CEI tells the story of over two decades of year-over-year growth in the adoption of these critical policies and practices indicative of employers’ commitment to equality.
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In 2023-2024, a record-breaking 1,384 companies – 128 more than in 2022 – actively participated in the CEI, showing real growth in the number of companies who are committed to implementing LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices.
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97% of CEI rated employers explicitly include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as a part of their nondiscrimination policy.
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70% of CEI participants documented that they provide inclusive benefits for same- and different-sex spouses and partners.
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94% of CEI-rated businesses (a record 1,298 of 1,384 respondents) offer at least one transgender-inclusive plan option with current market standard coverage.
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The full Corporate Equality Index for 2023-2024 can be found here.
