Toyota Motor Corp. announced Thursday that it will no longer be participating in the Human Right Council's Corporate Equity Index as more companies abandon the trend of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Toyota has joined the growing list of companies that are abandoning what conservatives call "woke" policies, saying it will "narrow our community activities to align with STEM education and workforce readiness." Notification of the change of policy was delivered in a memo sent to its 50,000 employees and 1,500 dealerships.
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck posted on X: "Huge news: Last week we exposed @Toyota + @Lexus for going woke and now just one week later they're announcing BIG changes! Some highlights:
- "No more involvement in pride parades, pride events or LGBTQ children's summer camps.
- "They will not participate in the @HRC's woke Corporate Equality Index social credit system.
- "All BRG activities must be focused on the core business of Toyota and be open to all."
Perhaps the biggest change is the company stating it will no longer participate in the (HRC) Corporate Equity Index social credit system. The credit system monitors the extent in which companies uphold their view of proper policy regarding “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.”
"Toyota employees and dealers were all notified of the changes via email today. It's worth noting that this is a company with a nearly $300 billion dollar market cap and 381,000 employees. Those employees will no longer be subjected to this divisive stuff. This is a massive win for sanity," Starbuck wrote.
"Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting some of the biggest corporations on earth to change their policies. The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are the trend now, not the anomaly."
Toyota joins Ford, Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel's, and Lowe's in the growing list of companies that are pulling back on DEI initiatives.
HRC initially focused its report card, named the Corporate Equality Index, on ensuring that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees did not face discrimination in hiring and on the job.
Like LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S., the requirements corporations need to meet to receive a high score on the annual index have expanded over the years.
HRC said it is deducting 25 points from the scores of companies that publicly withdrew and that it would continue to rank every Fortune 500 company regardless of whether they chose to participate.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.