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Ford Motor Company to scale back DEI policies amid right-wing pressure

HRC president slams company’s decision

Published

3 weeks ago

on

Human Rights Campaign headquarters (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Months after withdrawing from external corporate culture surveys such as those administered by the Human Rights Campaign, Ford Motor Company will scale back internal policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to a memo from the company’s CEO Jim Farley.

The move, which follows similar decisions by other publicly traded corporations like JPMorgan Chase, home improvement retailer Lowe’s, and motorcycle maker Harley Davidson, marks a decisive shift in the automaker’s approach to workplace culture.

Ford has long earned top marks in external ranking systems that measure firms’ commitments to inclusion by evaluating their corporate policies, practices, and benefits with respect to gender equity, LGBTQ equality, disability, and other metrics.

The contents of Farley’s memo were first reported on Wednesday when the document was leaked to Reuters by conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who has campaigned against DEI programs as well as corporate participation in LGBTQ events and the issuance of public statements concerning — or the deployment of business strategies to address — matters from climate change to systemic racism.

The Hollywood music video director-turned-anti-woke crusader claimed credit, at least to some extent, for Ford’s decision, writing that the company “fears” him. “We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies,” he said in a post on X.

HRC on Wednesday slammed the automaker’s announcement in a press release arguing that the company’s profits and employee retention numbers will be ultimately harmed by the rescission of its DEI policies.

“Today, Ford Motor Company abandoned its commitment to hundreds of thousands of employees by cowering to internet troll Robby Starbuck, and signaling that inclusion and other core values are no longer a priority in the workplace,” the group’s president Kelley Robinson said.

Noting the company’s reputation for prioritizing inclusion, she said HRC “could not be more disappointed to see Ford Motor Company shirking its responsibility to its employees, consumers, and shareholders.”

“By failing to support women leaders, employees of color, and LGBTQ+ employees, Ford Motor Company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool,” Robinson said, adding, “in making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities.”

Her statement again took aim at Starbuck, calling him a “MAGA bully and Republican-reject” whose “only business experience is hawking vitamins marketed by people profiting off of COVID disinformation.”

The activist, Robinson said, “is so extreme that the Tennessee Republican Party sought to distance itself from him,” an apparent reference to his failed 2022 bid to represent the state as a write-in candidate.

“Hastily abandoning efforts that ensure fair, safe, and inclusive work environments is bad for business and leaves Ford’s employees and millions of LGBTQ+-allied consumers behind,” she said. “With nearly 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+ and the community wielding $1.4 trillion in spending power, retreating from these principles undermines both consumer trust and employee success.”

HRC’s press release also notes that Starbuck has urged companies to “remove themselves” from the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, even though every Fortune 500 company is ranked in the survey regardless of whether they participate (by sharing the information and data on which the ranking is based).

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Politics

Biden-Harris administration sets record for number of confirmed LGBTQ judges

Mary Kay Costello Senate confirmation took place Tuesday

Published

14 hours ago

on

September 18, 2024

By

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Senate voted 52-41 on Tuesday to confirm Mary Kay Costello as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, thereby setting a record for the number of LGBTQ federal judicial appointments made under the Biden-Harris administration, 12.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights says less than three percent of the country’s nearly 900 federal judges are LGBTQ. Until this week, the Obama-Biden administration had appointed the most, 11, over two terms.

Costello is a prosecutor who has served as assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia since 2008.

In a post on X, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democratic majority wrote that she “exhibits a breadth of experience and a strong dedication to public service” and is “ready to serve as a federal judge.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the Democratic majority whip and chair of the committee, shared another post on X celebrating the administration’s record-breaking number of LGBTQ judicial appointments, writing, “We’re diversifying the federal judiciary for generations to come.”

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Politics

PREVIEW: Biden grants exclusive interview to the Blade, congratulates Sarah McBride

The sit-down took place in the Oval Office on Thursday

Published

6 days ago

on

September 13, 2024

By

President Joe Biden and Christopher Kane in the Oval Office on Sept. 12, 2024 (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride, who is favored to become the first transgender member of Congress after winning the Democratic primary this week, received a congratulatory call on Wednesday from a powerful friend and ally: President Joe Biden.

The president shared details about their conversation with the Washington Blade during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office on Thursday, which will be available to read online early next week.

“I called her and I said, ‘Sarah,’ I said, ‘Beau’s looking down from heaven, congratulating you,'” Biden said, referring to his late son, who had served as attorney general of Delaware before his death from cancer in 2015.

McBride had worked on Beau Biden’s campaign in 2006 and on his reelection campaign in 2010. Two years later, when she came out as transgender, the AG called to say, “I’m so proud of you. I love you, and you’re still a part of the Biden family.”

The president told the Blade that McBride welled with emotion — “she started to fill up” — as she responded that the “‘only reason I’m here is because of Beau. He had confidence in me.’”

When the two worked together, “[Beau] was getting the hell kicked out” of him because “he hired her,” Biden said, but “now she’s going to be the next congresswoman, the next congresswoman from Delaware.”

Later, when asked how he will remain involved in the struggle for LGBTQ rights after leaving office, the president again mentioned McBride. “Delaware used to be a pretty conservative state, and now we’re going to have — Sarah is going to be, I pray to God, a congresswoman.”

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Politics

Harris puts Trump on his heels in high-stakes debate

Little mention of LGBTQ issues during 90-minute showdown

Published

1 week ago

on

September 10, 2024

By

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris (Screen capture: CNN/YouTube)

In the presidential debate hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris put Donald Trump on the defensive over issues from foreign policy and the ongoing criminal prosecutions against him to his record and moral character.

The 90-minute exchange featured no discussion of LGBTQ issues, apart from a baseless accusation by Trump that his opponent “wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.”

The remark echoed statements Trump has made recently on the campaign trail, for example in Wisconsin on Monday where he said that children are, however implausibly, returning home from school having underwent sex change operations.

Similarly, during the debate the former president asserted without evidence that Democrats favor abortions up to and following delivery, which would amount to infanticide.

“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” interjected ABC News anchor Linsey Davis, a moderator, who then allowed Harris to respond.

“Well, as I said, you’re gonna hear a bunch of lies, and that’s not actually a surprising fact,” the vice president replied before addressing the question at hand, which concerned abortion.

While Harris did not address the matter of “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison,” viewers on X were quick to mock the comment.

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