Lowe’s dials back corporate wokeness, tells HRC to buzz off

Add Lowe’s to the growing list of corporations that have ditched ridiculous woke and DEI policies. As of this week, the home improvement retailer joined Harley Davidson, Jack Daniels, John Deere, and Polaris–all companies that have re-embraced the sane and rational over the woke and ludicrous in the wake of public and consumer pushback

Robby Starbuck, a conservative activist who brings attention to companies with leftist agendas and policies, helped break the news of Lowe’s flipflop via a post on X. Starbuck claims he and his associates already planned to go after the home improvement company and, on August 23, sent the corporate executives emails regarding their coming videos. Lowe’s preempted that reporting by sending Starbuck what appears to be a copy of a company-wide email detailing the roll back of the DEI and woke policies.

In the email referencing a meeting that took place on August 21, the company walks back at least three major policies. First, thanks to the Supreme Court putting a magnifying glass to affirmative action practices, Lowe’s says it will scrap equity hiring in favor of meritorious employment. The company also claims to have ended the segregative practice of employee resource groups—intra-company focus groups in which employees were separated based on sexual orientation or skin color.

“We believe in inclusion, not exclusion. This simply means we ensure that everyone is included and considered fairly based on merit and results and that no one is excluded based on race, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic,” the email stated.

It continued: “Like many other companies, in July 2023 after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Harvard/UNC cases, we began reviewing our diversity and inclusion programs to ensure they are lawful and align with our commitment to include everyone…We made some changes to our programs so they can more effectively further this commitment. For example, we recently decided to combine our business resource groups, from individual groups representing diverse sections of our associate population, into one umbrella organization.”

The other two policies Lowe’s is ending deal more specifically with the LGBT community. The company is severing any official ties to festivals, parades, and fairs that are outside the scope of their business realm. “[O]ver the past few years, we have been narrowing our community and philanthropic areas of focus to strategically align with our business,” the company wrote. The email added: “We will not sponsor or participate in community events that are outside of this scope.”

This new exclusion would obviously include Pride parades. The company made it clear, however, that they encourage their employees to participate in such events if they are inclined to do so. This move is a breath of fresh air from the corporate pandering that rears its ugly head every June. Building a fence, repairing a pipe, or painting a house has nothing to do with gay rights, so it seems highly unnecessary for Lowe’s to emblazon their insignia on a rainbow handkerchief.

Lowe’s is also ending their participation with Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The CEI is basically a social credit score for companies who degrade themselves enough to pander to the Democrat-darling organization. This shakedown involves the HRC looking at a corporation’s policies and procedures to decide if they are woke and trans-friendly enough. The company gets bullied if they don’t have a high enough score.

Like a jilted lover, HRC blasted Lowe’s for cutting ties with the organization. In a statement to Fox Business, Orlando Gonzales, HRC Sr Vice President of Programs, Research and Training, insinuated that Lowe’s will lose out on the best employees because of their decision, as if HRC and their CEI are the arbiters of truth and masters of LGBT Americans looking for work.

“Hasty, shortsighted decisions contrary to safe and inclusive workplaces will create a snowball effect of negative long-term consequences for companies, cutting them off from top talent,  turning off LGBTQ+ and other consumers, and impacting companies’ bottom line,” Gonzales said.

HRC also laid blame of Lowe’s decisions solely on the shoulders of Robby Starbuck and his work in exposing woke company policies. While Starbuck’s popular X account may have played a role in bringing Lowe’s attention to public opinion on DEI, the timeline does not really support this direct blame. Starbuck messaged Lowe’s about his upcoming reporting several days after the company had announced their decisions in a company-wide email. This means that the executives probably made the changes weeks or months prior.

When it comes to making big policy changes, corporations, like Lowe’s, will always operate for the good of their financial well being. Seeing that participation in HRC’s CEI is technically free, the cost-benefit analysis of Lowe’s involvement must have been grim. Of course, that’s only logical; the intersection of blue-haired, nonbinary HRC disciples and DIY homeowners is undoubtedly almost nonexistent.

Lowe’s, along with other companies abandoning wokeness, participated in the DEI experiment and is smartly choosing to change course before it ends up taking a financial hit. While the phrase “Go woke, go broke” is not always on the mark, eventually that exponential curve of wokeness will have an effect on a corporation’s bottom line. There is only so much bull the American public will take. These companies are cutting their losses and defying the church of the left in hopes of surviving. Their decisions to ditch radical leftism will also have a positive effect on the American economy and American workers who rely on them for jobs. This November, the American voters need to follow suit and reject the woke leftist agenda wholesale as well.