Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Toyota Motor Corp. announced plans to refocus its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and halt sponsorship of LGBTQ events, attributing the move to “a highly politicized discussion” surrounding corporate DEI commitments.
In a memo sent Thursday to its 50,000 U.S. employees and 1,500 dealers, The Japanese carmaker will end participation in notable rankings by LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign and other corporate culture surveys. Toyota plans to narrow its community engagement efforts to focus on STEM education and workforce readiness initiatives.
The announcement comes on the heels of a social media campaign launched by anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck, who called for customer boycotts of Toyota due to its support for LGBTQ events and other diversity initiatives. Toyota clarified that the LGBTQ programs in question were led by employee groups, not the company itself.
A Toyota spokesperson said the backlash, spurred by Starbuck’s campaign, led to a few hundred inquiries from employees, questions from a “small population” of dealers, and roughly 30 calls to its customer service center. The company described the overall impact as “negligible.”
Toyota joins a growing list of corporations under fire for their DEI programs policies. In recent months, companies like Harley-Davidson Inc., Lowe’s Cos., and Ford Motor Co. have scaled back their DEI efforts, particularly those supporting LGBTQ groups. Both Ford and farm goods retailer Tractor Supply Co. have withdrawn from the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, a prominent ranking of companies’ support for LGBTQ equality.
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The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has recently warned companies about the potential consequences of rolling back support for LGBTQ initiatives. In response to Toyota’s decision, Eric Bloem, a vice president at HRC, emphasized the long-term risks. “Short-sighted decisions to abandon DEI initiatives will have a lasting, negative impact on business success in a future where more people than ever are identifying as LGBTQ+,” Bloem said in an email.
Robby Starbuck’s efforts to target corporate DEI programs reflect a broader conservative-led backlash against such initiatives. This movement gained momentum following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year, which banned affirmative action in college admissions. The decision has since fueled a wave of lawsuits and complaints alleging discrimination against White workers within corporate DEI policies.
(Raidi/Agung)
