The Republican Administration has made a direct attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs in government, universities, and private employers through a series of Executive Orders. As usual, they have shown little regard for existing Civil Rights Legislation or the Bill of Rights. Administration lawyers have rubber stamped the orders, but they have been challenged in court.

The theme of the orders clearly is a racist ploy to appeal to the White Supremacists in the MAGA wing of the party. In effect, however, it has restricted women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and rights of the disabled. The orders require removing any mention of DEI in a website, information materials, plans, and DEI Programs. In addition, staff, grants, and contracts have been ordered to be quickly removed. The impact has been swift and substantial. A less diverse workforce will hurt recruiting, particularly among younger people.

In the private sector, many organizations have capitulated to the political pressure, such as Meta, Verizon, Amazon, and Walmart. Other organizations, such as Apple, Costco, Microsoft, and Ben & Jerry’s have defended their programs. Costco and Ben Jerry’s have had to deal with major protests from the radical right. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has gotten into the process, misreading current legislation. The buzz word is “merit-based” rather than “rights based” employment. The rationale is that current DEI programs discriminate against the majority population. In fact, the majority in the US are now people of color.

A lack of diversity in the work force has shown to lead to a morale problem as well as a decrease in productivity and profits. It also could make US companies less competitive with foreign companies. These urgent actions may again prove the consequences of not thinking through what the results may be.

The first impact on LGBTQ+ rights was the immediate removal of 4,000+ transgender people from the military without cause. States also passed laws as well as policies restricting transgender people. They seem to be the poster people for the MAGA folks.

The question is rather the official policy may return to where LGBTQ+ were removed from the military and fired when serving in government jobs. Legislation would be required to enforce that policy.

So far, that perverse policy about LGBTQ+ issues does not seem to have spread to private employers. Strangely, public opinion polls continue to support same-sex marriage. Demonstrations to raise these issues and gain public support will have a broader impact than multiple legal challenges. We will see what happens with Word Pride in DC.

Today the status of these orders seems to be at a stand-off between political pressure and pending results of the court cases challenging them. The intent clearly is to produce a less diverse workforce. Researchers have speculated about what the impact of that may become.

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