Fortune 500 DEI participation falls by 65% on the HRC Corporate Equality Index
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The country’s biggest companies are increasingly pulling back from publicly sharing their diversity, equality and inclusion policies, marking a sharp break in recent years.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2026 Corporate Equality Index, released in February, found a 65% drop in the participation of the Fortune 500, with 131 companies submitting data for evaluation this year, down from 377 in 2025.
Dustin DeVito, head of research at conservative watchdog 1792 Exchange, called the decline “shocking,” in an interview with Fox News Digital.
He said this year was the first time that Fortune 500 CEI participation “dropped” by double digits, after it said it would increase in 2025.
The Human Rights Campaign’s 2026 Corporate Equality Index report showed a 65% drop in the number of Fortune 500 companies that chose to voluntarily submit their DEI policies for audit. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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“But this year, it’s completely different,” DeVito said.
HRC says the drop in submissions doesn’t mean companies are abandoning workplace policies altogether.
“Instead, the decline in submissions reflects a change in the way employers are approaching transparency in the current situation,” the report said. The HRC also said that the implementation of the policy among participating companies was “supported or increased” in all measures measured from 2025 to 2026.
The report states that 534 companies received perfect scores for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion policies in this year’s index.
Hundreds protest outside President Donald Trump’s rally at Macomb County Community College in Warren, MI, on April 29, 2025. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)
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DeVito questioned the transparency of this group, noting that HRC did not identify companies that received perfect scores in the body of this year’s report or in the list of people serving on the HRC Business Advisory Council, as it has done in previous reports.
He also said that the report no longer shows the same information in the profiles of the companies regarding the policies submitted by the companies for review, which he said protects the companies from being scrutinized.
“It makes them sad that the companies are not doing it openly, yet they also contribute to the lack of transparency,” said DeVito.
He pointed to the Cracker Barrel rebranding controversy last August as an example of how consumer backlash to DEI policies has hurt big companies in recent years. He mentioned that at that time, the company faced wide scrutiny after news emerged that a former Cracker Barrel executive is now a member of the HRC Business Advisory Council.
A general view of the Cracker Barrel Country Store in Fishkill, NY, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (Richard Beetham of Fox News Digital)
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The 1792 Exchange, which tracks corporate activism and advocates for politically neutral business practices, says that despite the decline in participation, some basic DEI workplace policies still apply.
The group noted that this year’s index shows 72% of Fortune 500 companies offer gender-inclusive health benefits. DeVito said this year’s CEI also expanded specific requirements for transgender care for companies seeking a perfect score.
However, many companies have moved away from the DEI language in public relations in recent years. The study of gravity reported in November that “the word ‘DEI’ has dropped 98% across all Fortune 100 social media channels.” The report analyzed more than 1,000 business documents from January 2023 to May 2025.
That change came as the Trump administration cracked down on DEI’s plans for the private sector. In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “end the discrimination and illegal preferences of DEI” while ordering federal agencies to take steps to encourage private companies to end illegal DEI policies through regulatory actions, investigations, lawsuits or other means.
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A number of companies, including Starbucks, Nike and JPMorgan Chase, have also faced lawsuits alleging that their DEI hiring practices are discriminatory.
According to 1792, at least 26 companies have publicly withdrawn from participation in the Corporate Equality Index, including Tractor Supply Company, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, Nissan, Walmart, McDonald’s and Target.
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HRC President Kelley Robinson said in the report that while it is still legal to discriminate against LGBTQ+ employees, she noted in the group’s report that “pressure from the federal government has been unprecedented, rolling back protections, issuing executive orders and threatening investigations into diversity and inclusion work.”
“It is in this situation that other companies have withdrawn from this project,” he added.
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The Human Rights Campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox Business’ Eric Revell, Elizabeth Heckman and Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.
