(LifeSiteNews) — In possibly the biggest scalp yet for the campaign against woke ideology in the corporate world, retail juggernaut Amazon has removed several affirmations of identity politics from its website.
Numerous statements of a liberal activist bent have been gone from Amazon since December, according to web page archives, including endorsements of “equity for Black people” and “LGBTQ+ rights,” the word “transgender,” endorsement of “legislation to combat misconduct and racial bias in policing, efforts to protect and expand voting rights, and initiatives that provide better health and educational outcomes for Black people”; and support for pro-transgender laws.
Amazon’s website previously boasted that the company was an “early and strong” supporter of homosexual “marriage” and that Amazon advocates for “equal rights” for gender-confused individuals and is “working at the U.S. federal and state level on legislation, including supporting passage of the Equality Act.”
“Amazon provides gender transition benefits based on the Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH),” which supports surgical and chemical transgender interventions for children, it added.
In their place is a far milder statement that “inequitable treatment of anyone, including Black people, [so-called] LGBTQ+ people, Asians, women and others, is unacceptable.” A company spokesperson said that “transgender” health insurance for employees was still covered.
Amazon is no stranger to left-wing activism and virtue signaling, such as subsidizing employee abortion travel and suppressing books deemed “medical misinformation” by the Biden administration. But the move appears to indicate a desire to publicly downplay that side of the company, whose founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos praised President Donald Trump after his reelection and donated $1 million to his inauguration
Regardless of its motives, Amazon joins Target, Walmart, McDonald’s, Jack Daniel’s, John Deere, Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, Toyota, and Coors, all of which have dropped “woke” corporate policies over the past several months in response to public pressure.
In recent years, left-wing activists have used DEI and “environmental, social, & governance” (ESG) standards to encourage major U.S. corporations to take favorable stands on political and cultural issues such as homosexuality, transgenderism, race relations, the environment, and abortion.
Political and customer backlashes to such activism has translated to business woes for companies such as Disney and Bud Light. Trump’s defeat in November of Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House has also been seen by many as further evidence of the general public rejecting woke ideology, further signaling to corporations and activists alike the lack of popular receptiveness to such projects.