Conservative assault on LGBTQ+ rights rattles corporate America – The Mercury News

By Simone Foxman, Jeff Green, Sridhar Natarajan, Bloomberg News (TNS)

Marty Chavez used to think things were only getting better for LGBTQ people.

His own story certainly pointed that way. Chavez spent a quarter-century scaling the pinnacles of Wall Street. When he was promoted to chief financial officer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., he emerged as the most senior openly gay executive in the bank’s history.

Now, after so many LGBTQ milestones – from the legalization of same-sex marriage to efforts to foster workplace diversity – Chavez is having doubts about the future. He and other advocates worry hard-won gains are slipping away. The idea that this fight is over, the mission accomplished, suddenly seems woefully misguided.

“I no longer feel that way at all,” says Chavez, now vice chairman at investment firm Sixth Street Partners. “It’s my sense — and it is the sense of other LGBT people — that not only has progression stalled out, that it’s going backwards. And in some places, it’s going backwards fast.”

For many, the feeling is difficult to shake: From living rooms to board rooms, support for LGBTQ rights in the U.S. appears to have peaked. An overwhelming majority of Americans – seven in 10, according to Gallup – remain squarely behind same-sex marriage. From there, the picture begins to blur.

As a polarized nation hurtles toward Election Day, cultural conservatives have staked out aggressive positions on multiple issues, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Amid the backlash from the right over diversity, equity and inclusion, pockets of corporate America are edging away from public commitments to help level the playing field.

A growing number of companies are abandoning DEI metrics for executive pay, deleting from their corporate filings references to specific groups like women and LGBTQ workers that their DEI initiatives were meant to help, and revising internships and mentorship efforts. Some 94% of employees said workplace equality worsened last year, according to a report from advocacy group Out and Equal.

Chavez, a board member at Alphabet Inc., corporate parent of Google, is so concerned he’s been reaching out to prominent business figures on the issue. He recalls his 20s as a vocal presence at Queer Nation protests to combat the escalation of anti-gay violence. Now, according to Chavez, he’s ready to wear his activist boots again.

“It is concerning enough that we have to wake up and do something about it,” the 60-year-old said. “We don’t want special treatment, and neither will we settle for mere tolerance. It’s about full acceptance.”

The sense of anxiety is heightened as Donald Trump and his allies pour millions into anti-trans ads in swing states ahead of November 5. The conservative policy book Project 2025 has urged the next Republican administration to redefine what constitutes discrimination based on sex, so that sexual orientation and gender identity are no longer included. Even if Kamala Harris wins, the pressure from the right is unlikely to let up: The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking roughly 530 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. (not all of them will become law).