The Walt Disney Company has made a strong statement in defense of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, urging shareholders to reject a proposal that would see the company pull out of the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The company’s position on DEI comes amidst growing criticism from prominent figures, including President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders who have ramped up their anti-DEI rhetoric.
During Disney’s Annual Shareholders Meeting on Thursday, shareholders were presented with six proposals. Three of these proposals, which Disney recommended in favor of, passed with little controversy: the election of directors, a proposal on executive compensation, and the appointment of public accountants.
However, the remaining proposals, which Disney recommended rejecting, failed to gain traction. Among these was the proposal to have Disney withdraw from its partnership with the Human Rights Campaign and cease participation in CEI.
The National Center for Public Policy Research proposed removing Disney from the CEI, arguing that by aligning with the Human Rights Campaign, Disney was promoting what they described as “gender ideology.” The proposal, which reflected a broader right-wing agenda against DEI practices, claimed that Disney’s efforts to support LGBTQ+ rights were not only divisive but detrimental to children, families, and religious liberties. The proposal read:
“Though HRC – which Disney has a paid partnership with – claims the CEI is just a ‘benchmarking tool on corporate policies… pertinent to LGBT employees,' in reality, it functions like a social credit score for corporations. The threat of a bad score is wielded against corporations to force them to do the political bidding of HRC and others (like GLSEN, the Trevor Project and GLAAD, which Disney also has paid partnerships with) that seek to sow gender confusion in children, encourage irreversible surgical procedures on confused teens, effectively eliminate girls’ and women’s sports and bathrooms, and roll back longstanding religious liberties.”
The proposal further argued that companies like Disney that receive a perfect score on the CEI are guilty of “espousing and funding” positions that the group finds controversial, especially regarding gender and sexual orientation. Disney’s ongoing involvement with the CEI was presented as evidence of the company’s supposed failure to align with the values promoted by the opposition.
The controversy surrounding Disney’s DEI policies has become more pronounced over the past few years. In particular, the company faced backlash when it publicly opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. This public stance against the legislation, combined with a leaked video from a Disney executive discussing the addition of “queerness” to children’s programming, further fueled the debate.
As the debate over Disney’s DEI policies continues to heat up, the company has faced pressure from political figures and other corporations to reconsider its position. The shareholders opposing Disney’s stance pointed to other companies, like Lowe’s, Ford, and Toyota, that have already decided to withdraw from the CEI, suggesting that Disney’s perceived mistakes “influenced these decisions.”
Disney issued a statement in its 2025 proxy filing explaining its reasoning for rejecting the proposal. The company argued that pulling out of the CEI would not provide “additional value to shareholders.” The statement reiterated Disney’s commitment to DEI, stating that the company is dedicated to representing a broad spectrum of cultures and interests.
“We seek to provide transparency on a wide range of matters that are important to our investors and other stakeholders,” Disney wrote.
“As a global company, our stakeholders care about a range of interests with respect to the Company’s policies, practices and performance. Our Global Public Policy team, together with Human Resources, Investor Relations and other teams with subject matter responsibilities, regularly assesses how to provide effective transparency, including through participation in third-party and collaborative initiatives, and voluntary surveys.”
Despite this defense, Disney did remove several DEI-related pages from its official website last month. This move raised eyebrows amid increased political scrutiny of corporate diversity initiatives and questions about the company’s ongoing DEI practices.
“The Company has established oversight and governance of many matters important to investors and other stakeholders,” Disney continued in its statement.
“The Compensation Committee oversees workforce equity matters and receives reports at least annually from the Human Resources group on such matters. In addition, the Governance and Nominating Committee oversees the Company’s environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) programs and reporting and regularly receives a report from Global Public Policy on ESG matters, including the Company’s voluntary ESG disclosures…
Given the Company’s existing practices to assess participation in transparency efforts and the Board’s oversight of ESG reporting, workforce equity matters and human rights policies, we do not believe this proposal would provide additional value to shareholders.”
The proposal for Disney to withdraw from the CEI was ultimately rejected, along with two other shareholder-submitted proposals.
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