The news: Companies including Amazon, Chick-fil-A, Home Depot, Target, and Walmart have lost LGBTQ+ customers after pulling back on diversity, equity, and inclusion, per the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Pride in the Marketplace 2026 report.

• 71.5% of LGBTQ+ consumers are buying fewer products from companies they think have weakened inclusion commitments.
• 69.4% have refused to purchase from those businesses at least some of the time.
• And 65% have intentionally shopped at brands that support inclusion.

Zooming out: LGBTQ+ consumers aren’t the only ones reconsidering where they spend. Black and Latino advocates have urged their communities to stop spending at companies that retreated from DEI policies.

A March 2026 Numerator report found that 20% of Black consumers cited DEI as a topic they are most concerned about generally, compared with 8% of all US consumers. The NAACP in 2025 urged Black consumers to “spend your money where you’re respected.” Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, led calls for a “Latino Freeze,” urging shoppers to avoid retailers that had scaled back diversity programs.

Target shows how lasting that backlash can be. Although a yearlong boycott led by Black faith groups ended in March after the retailer renewed some commitments to Black-owned businesses and colleges, many Black consumers continue to avoid the chain, theGrio reported this month. Three activist investors wrote in a May letter to shareholders that the company’s DEI rollback and reduction in Pride-themed merchandise in recent years alienated LGBTQ+, Black, and Latino communities, per ESG Dive.

Why it matters: Despite retailers’ DEI pullbacks following the Trump administration’s dismantling of diversity programs across the federal government, research shows many consumers expect companies to speak out on social issues.

• Support for businesses taking public stances rose in 2025, with backing for positions on racism rising to 49% in 2025 from 43% in 2024 and support for LGBTQ+ issues up to 39% from 33%, per Bentley University and Gallup.
• A 2026 Sogolytics survey found that 48% of US adults had reduced or stopped spending with a brand in the past year because of its values or public behavior, while 51% said they would stop buying from a brand if they strongly disagreed with what it stands for.
• 74% of employees and business leaders said they were more likely to apply for jobs at companies that support inclusion, per an early 2026 survey by Catalyst and NYU Law’s Meltzer Center.

Implications for retailers: Retreating on social issues creates headwinds for retailers as consumers become more selective about where they shop.

The risk goes beyond LGBTQ+, Black, and Hispanic groups: Shoppers across demographics are becoming more willing to penalize retailers whose values don’t line up with their own. Companies need to understand their core customers and avoid abrupt policy reversals that make their values look negotiable.