Disney shareholders reject anti-DEI investor proposal

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Disney shareholders overwhelmingly rejected an anti-DEI proposal calling for the entertainment giant to drop participation in an LGBTQ+ survey.

Jessica GuynnUSA TODAYHear this story

Walt Disney shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal calling for the entertainment giant to drop its participation in a benchmark index used to rank companies on how friendly their policies are to LGBTQ+ people.

The investor proposal presented Thursday at Disney's annual meeting by the National Center for Public Policy Research, which describes itself as a non-partisan independent conservative think tank, urged Disney to resume a "neutral" stance in political matters.

Disney's perfect score in the annual Corporate Equality Index survey from LGBTQ+ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign was due to a "partisan, divisive, and increasingly radical" agenda, the proposal said.

In its proxy statement, the company said the shareholder proposal was unnecessary. "We do not believe this proposal would provide additional value to shareholders," the company's board said.

The proposal fetched 1% of the vote, according to a preliminary tally.

Stefan Padfield, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, blamed institutional shareholders and company management. The think tank regularly introduces anti-DEI measures.

"It is not surprising that our proposal received low support, given the concerns we have about bias and conflicts of interest infecting the votes and recommendations of the Big 5 asset managers and proxy advisors, as well as the company's management," he said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Corporate America's embrace of LGBTQ+ rights was the result of decades of protests and boycotts from LGBTQ+ activists that transformed once indifferent, even hostile, companies into powerful allies.

In recent years, big brands stepped up to promote LGBTQ+ equality with more inclusive benefits and policies. The HRC's Corporate Equality Index played a key role in ushering that social change.

"This vote gives us a clear statement of values from Disney's shareholders," said Eric Bloem, vice president of corporate citizenship at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. "We know that 93% of LGBTQ+ workers believe that scoring 100 on the Corporate Equality Index communicates support of the LGBTQ+ community - those are current and future employees and customers. Disney shareholders recognize this."

Following the backlash against Bud Light and Target over Pride-related merchandise, corporations have come under mounting pressure to disassociate themselves from the Human Rights Campaign as gay and trans rights emerges as a flashpoint in the nation's culture wars.

As part of his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion policies in corporate America, conservative influencer Robby Starbuck has targeted participation in the survey. AT&T, Lowe's, Ford, Target and Walmart are among the companies that have dropped participation.

Disney publicly clashed with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, for opposing the state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, which limits classroom discussion of sexual orientation.

It recently rolled back some of its DEI policies, as have other Hollywood studios, as the Trump administration pushes to eradicate DEI in the government and in the private sector. It said it would end "Reimagine Tomorrow," an initiative to promote storylines from underrepresented communities and said it would remove a trans athlete storyline from a Pixar animated series.

Padfield said the DEI rollbacks suggest the company is "slowly distancing itself" from "leftist radicalism."

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