Disney (DIS) stockholders stood by the company’s participation in a controversial rating system that evaluates how it treats LGBTQ employees, consumers, and investors — doing so even as the company backs away from some diversity programs.

Disney becoming the fourth such case this year where investors pushed back against anti-DEI proposals at prominent companies. Other anti-DEI proposals were voted down at Apple (APPL), Costco (COST), and John Deere (DE).

Investors on Thursday rejected a proposal from the conservative group, Free Enterprise Project, that would have required Disney to reconsider its participation in the Corporate Equality Index (CEI).

The index, published each year by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, became a popular tool over the past two decades for companies to assess their inclusion of people who identify as LGBTQ.

The system, which grew from 319 corporate participants in 2002 to 1,449 in 2025, evaluates companies on a scale of 0% to 100%, taking into account their workforce LGBTQ protections, benefits, culture and social responsibility, and behavior towards the community. 

Disney has received a perfect score on the CEI since 2007.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

The vote rejecting a reexamination of Disney's CEI participation comes after Disney backed away from other diversity policies as political heat around the issue intensifies across corporate America.

The company last month joined a growing list of businesses that have removed or altered diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives after President Trump issued two executive orders aimed at undoing federal DEI programs within the US government.

According to the company's latest 10-K filing for the full year ending Sept. 30, 2024, it did away with two DEI programs previously listed under its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion section of its report.

The issue of DEI is a popular one thus far during shareholder meeting season as investors vote on a variety of measures that could change how their companies operate. Both champions and critics of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies have been sponsoring proposals to either bolster or diminish those policies.

So far, in addition to the latest vote at Disney, none of these proposals have garnered support from investors at Apple (APPL), Costco (COST), and John Deere (DE).

That's not expected to change as more votes are tabulated at more company shareholder meetings, according to experts who follow these votes.

"I don't expect this year that we will see many, if any, get majority support," Elizabeth Bieber, head counsel for shareholder engagement and activism defense at Freshfields, told Yahoo Finance earlier this Month.

This year’s early surge in anti-DEI measures could be a signal that opposition proposals are on the rise, Bieber said.

It could also lead to a rise in dueling DEI proposals going to a vote within the same company, as happened in February at John Deere (DE). Deere shareholders voted down both pro-DEI and anti-DEI measures.

"DEI, as of last year, is certainly one issue where companies were receiving [proposals] on both ends of the ideological spectrum," Bieber said

So far, neither pro- nor anti-oriented measures have gained much majority support. In fact, Bieber said, support levels among S&P 500 companies dropped for both pro- and anti-DEI proposals over the last couple of proxy seasons.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed.

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