Human Rights Campaign Survey Shows Queer Boycott Power

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation released a survey last Tuesday showing that company DEI rollbacks can hurt company profits. The HRC Foundation 2024 LGBTQ+ Climate Survey found that eight in 10 LGBTQ+ adults would boycott a company that rolled back DEI; 52% would encourage others to boycott the company, and over a quarter would attend a protest or sign a petition against the company.

This comes amid announcements from major companies such as Ford, Lowe’s, and Jack Daniel’s that they would roll back DEI initiatives.

“This new data confirms that companies like Molson Coors, Ford, and others that abandon their values and backtrack from commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion risk losing both top employee talent and consumer dollars,” says Orlando Gonzales of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

The HRC survey emphasizes the 1.4 trillion dollars in spending power that the queer community holds, as well as the 69% of Americans who agree with DEI programs. The rollback of DEI initiatives would also cost employers queer workers, 72 percent of which would feel less included or accepted, and 19 percent of which would look for a new job. Notably, the report also includes 9% of LGBTQ+ respondents who would have a more favorable opinion of a company following DEI rollbacks.

DEI rollbacks have been celebrated by right wing influencer Bobby Starbuck. Companies such as Tractor Supply, Ford Motor Company, and Jack Daniels have responded to threats of boycotts by Starbuck and his followers through announcing that they will no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign and eliminating DEI rolls in their company. In response to Ford’s boycott, HRC President Kelly Robinson states, “Ford cowered to MAGA bully and Republican reject Robby Starbuck.

“Starbuck’s only business experience is hawking vitamins marketed by people profiting off of COVID misinformation,” Robinson writes in her statement.

The survey seems to emphasize the willingness and size of a boycott by the queer community. The HRC survey used data from the Household Pulse Survey which estimates around 8%, or 20 million U.S. adults, as identifying as LGBTQ+, to estimate spending power. Starbuck’s recorded influence on social media is around 600,000 followers; however, companies perceive his far-right social weight to be much higher.

One-hundred and seventy-three of the worlds Fortune 500 businesses, including leaders like Toyota, Amazon, and Microsoft, have the Equality 100 award, meaning they scored a 100 on the Corporate Equity Index. The HRC foundation has already announced that companies Brown-Forman, Lowe’s, Ford, and Molson Coors will have their scores dropped from 100 to 75. Regardless of providing information, the Human Rights Campaign gives each public business in the “Fortune 1000” a rating, and it will be interesting to see how corporations refusing to provide information remain competitive against 1,384 companies volunteering information to the HRC.

“What I want to make clear is this is not where the majority of the companies are. It’s not just out of the kindness of their heart; it is because they know that this is what their workforce and consumers demand. Bottom line, this is the best thing to do for businesses,” Robinson writes in a press release.