Fortune 500 DEI participation drops 65% in HRC Corporate Equality Index

The nation’s largest companies are increasingly stepping back from publicly sharing their diversity, equity and inclusion policies; This indicates a sharp break compared to recent years.

Human Rights Campaign Foundation 2026 Corporate Equality IndexA 65 percent decline in Fortune 500 participation was found in February; The number of companies, which was 377 in 2025, dropped to 131 this year.

Dustin DeVito, head of research at conservative watchdog 1792 Exchange, called the drop “shocking” in an interview with Fox News Digital.

This year marks the first time Fortune 500 CEI corporate participation has occurred, he said.down double digitsAfter saying it plateaus in 2025.

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“But this year it completely fell apart,” DeVito said.

HRC says the decline in applications does not mean companies are abandoning workplace engagement policies altogether.

“Instead, the decline in applications reflects a shift in employers’ approach to transparency in the current environment,” the report said. HRC also said policy implementation among participating companies was “sustained or increased” against benchmarks measured from 2025 to 2026.

The report notes that 534 companies in this year’s index received perfect scores for their LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion policies.

Hundreds of people protest outside President Donald Trump’s rally at Macomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan, on April 29, 2025. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)

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DeVito questioned the group’s transparency, noting that HRC did not identify companies with perfect scores in this year’s report or list individuals who serve on the HRC Business Advisory Council. past reports.

He also argued that the report no longer showed the same level of detail about company profiles on the policies companies submitted for review, which shielded companies from scrutiny.

“They are upset that companies are not transparent, but they are also contributing to the lack of transparency,” DeVito said.

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 noted that during this time, the company faced increased scrutiny after the following news broke: Former manager at Cracker Barrel He continued to serve on the HRC Business Advisory Council.

General view of the Cracker Barrel Country Store in Fishkill, New York, Monday, August 25, 2025. (Richard Beetham for Fox News Digital)

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1792 Exchange, which tracks corporate activism and advocates for more politically neutral business practices, says some of DEI’s core workplace policies remain in place despite the decline in participation.

This year’s index shows that 72% of Fortune 500 companies offer transgender-inclusive healthcare, the group said. This year’s CEI also expanded certain transgender care coverage requirements for companies that want a perfect score, DeVito said.

Despite this, in recent years many companies have moved away from DEI language in public communications. Gravity Research In November, it reported that “the term ‘DEI’ has dropped 98% in Fortune 100 communications.” The report analyzed more than 1,000 corporate documents from January 2023 to May 2025.

This shift comes as the Trump administration cracks down on DEI programs in the private sector. In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “end unlawful DEI discrimination and preferences,” while directing federal agencies to take steps to encourage private sector companies to end illegal DEI policies through regulatory actions, investigations, lawsuits, or other means.

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Numerous companies, including Starbucks, Nike and JPMorgan Chase, have faced lawsuits alleging that DEI’s hiring practices were 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 it remains illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ+ employees, noting in the group’s report that “the pressure from the federal government has been unprecedented, rolling back protections, issuing executive orders, and threatening investigations into diversity and inclusion efforts.”

“Some companies have pulled back from this in this context,” he added.

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The Human Rights Campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox Business’s Eric Revell, Elizabeth Heckman and Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.