NEW YORK (AP) – Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, joining a list of big companies that have been under pressure from conservative activists.
The company confirmed on Monday to The Associated Press that it will do a better job of checking its third-party market products to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. These include bras designed for young people going through gender transition, the company said.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer will also be scrutinizing grants to Pride events to ensure it is not financially supporting child sex. For example, the company wants to make sure that the family pavilion is not close to the display design at the Pride event, the company said.
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Walmart will no longer consider race and gender as a way to increase diversity when awarding supplier contracts. The company said it has no quotas and will not do so going forward. It will stop collecting demographic data when determining eligibility for those grants.
“We’ve been on a journey and we know we’re not perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to promote the idea of being unique, opening doors of opportunity to all our associates, customers and suppliers and being Walmart. for everyone,” the company said in a statement.
Walmart confirmed the change after political activist and anti-DEI Robby Starbuck posted on X that he was in talks with the retailer about his “recovery” case and said he ended up having “productive discussions” with Walmart.
“This is the biggest win yet for our organization to end the rise in corporate America,” wrote Starbuck, who has overseen companies including Deere & Co., Lowe’s, Tractor Supply and Boeing.