Walmart Walks Back DEI Efforts

Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) confirmed it’s ending some diversity initiatives, removing some LGBTQ-related merchandise from its website and winding down a nonprofit that funded programs for minorities, report a variety of news sources, including CNBC.

The big-box retailer joins a growing list of companies taking action after feeling heat from conservative activists, including Tractor Supply, Ford and Molson Coors. Some have also attributed changes to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to strike down affirmative-action programs at colleges.

In a statement, Walmart said “We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone.”

Among the changes, Walmart will no longer allow third-party sellers to sell some LGBTQ-themed items on Walmart’s website, including items marketed to transgender youth like chest binders, company spokeswoman Molly Blakeman told CNBC.

She said it also recently stopped sharing data with the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit that tracks companies’ LGBTQ policies, or with other similar organizations and is winding down the Center for Racial Equity, a nonprofit that Walmart started in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder sparked protests across the country.

It’s also moved away from using the term “diversity, equity and inclusion” or DEI in company documents, employee titles and employee resource groups. For example, its former Chief Diversity Officer role is now called the Chief Belonging Officer.

Walmart said it will continue to award grants, disaster relief and funding to events like Pride parades, but with more guidelines of how funding can be used, Blakeman told CNBC.

Some recent changes came on the heels of pressure from conservative activist Robby Starbuck, CNBC noted, who threatened a consumer boycott of Walmart. Starbuck, a vocal DEI-opponent who had also put heat on Tractor Supply, touted Walmart’s changes in a post on X, describing them as “the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America.”

Walmart’s DEI changes were first reported by Bloomberg News, CNBC noted.