Walmart has announced it will stop selling books about transgenderism marketed towards children in a major overhaul of its diversity policies.
The company confirmed it would phase out terms such as “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) in company materials.
In a major overhaul of its diversity policies, the company, which is valued at $665billion, would prohibit third-party sellers from offering LGBTQ-themed items on its website that were being marketed to transgender children.
This includes items such as chest binders and a number of educational books aimed at children.
It comes after a campaign by anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck who celebrated the announcement on social media.
He wrote on X: “Massive news: Walmart is ending their woke policies. I can now exclusively tell you what’s changing and how it happened…Last week I told execs at Walmart that I was doing a story on wokeness there. Instead we had productive conversations to find solutions.”
Reacting to the news, X owner and controversial billionaire Elon Musk said: “The tide has turned.”
However, a Walmart spokesman said many of the changes were in the works for several years and not a result of the conversation with Starbuck.
It said it was “willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America.”
After the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Walmart’s Chief Executive Doug McMillon announced Walmart would fund the Centre for Racial Equality.
During the announcement of the funding, McMillon said: “Slavery, lynching, the concept of separate but equal and the other realities from our past have morphed into a set of systems today that are all too often, unjust.”
The Wall Street Journal reports the company will now wind-down the non-profit which supports minority-owned suppliers.
There has been backlash towards these DEI policies spearheaded by president-elect Donald Trump and his supporters, something which has only been amplified by his victory in the Presidential election.
A spokesperson from Walmart said: “We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone.”
Starbuck said the company had agreed to “remove inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products marketed to children”, review all funding of Pride marches, and end racial equity training.
He had previously successfully pressured other US companies to back away from its diversity efforts, including the Tractor Supply Company, and manufacturers Ford and Deere.
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