Detransitioner asks IBM shareholders to stop funding trans surgeries for minors

One of America’s largest corporations and most iconic brands is facing pressure to stop supporting transgender surgeries for minors as conservatives urge it to end woke policies.

On Tuesday, detransitioner Camille Kiefel asked shareholders of International Business Machines, better known as IBM, to review the company’s charitable giving, which she said likely supports transgender surgeries for minors – procedures she said lack safety guardrails and cause physical and psychological harm.

“When I turned to medical providers and asked about transitioning, the focus was not on understanding me but affirming me to surgery. How can someone make an informed decision if they are not given all the information? They can’t. Yet this is the standard way in which providers under IBM’s current health care plans appear to treat their young patients,” Kiefel said at the company’s shareholder meeting, which was considering a proposal brought by the Heritage Foundation.

IBM, nicknamed Big Blue, is one of the world’s largest computing, software and AI companies, generating $67.5 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2025, according to its annual report. The Armonk, New York, firm has 289,977 registered stockholders, with an additional 3.2 million holding shares through brokerage firms, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, according to its website. Shareholders who hold a certain quantity of stock for a specific time can submit proposals for the company’s review.

Heritage proposes review of charitable giving

The Heritage Foundation, an IBM shareholder, requested the company report on its charitable giving, citing IBM’s previous perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index, which it says pressures businesses to adopt certain ideological policies. The CEI, a survey and report by the left-wing Human Rights Campaign, requires companies to cover transgender procedures for minors, according to 1792 Exchange, a nonprofit that encourages businesses to remain neutral on ideological issues.

“When a company scores a so-called perfect score on the CEI, that means there’s a large group that has been disfavored, disenfranchised and often discriminated against, and that’s often Christians and conservatives,” 1792 Exchange Executive Chairman and CEO Douglas Napier told The Lion in an interview.

Last spring, IBM said it would withdraw from the CEI index, which 1792 confirms in its “Back to Business” database. The Human Rights Campaign, however, still lists IBM with a “perfect” unverified score, indicating the company may still follow related policies.

“It’s one thing to stop doing the survey. It’s another thing to stop actually engaging in the practices that HRC is insisting upon,” Napier said.

The Heritage Foundation’s Proposal 8 asks IBM to report on its charitable giving and offers the company an opportunity to demonstrate it has followed through on its commitments, Napier said.

“From a shareholder perspective, we view this as a potential misallocation of resources away from the company’s core business purpose and fiduciary obligations and an endangerment to vulnerable minors,” Allen Mendenhall, a senior adviser to Heritage’s Free Enterprise Initiative, told The Lion in a statement. “We are seeking a formal risk assessment so the company can better evaluate the financial and operational impact of these policies, as well as the extent to which they may unnecessarily politicize the business.”

IBM’s response

IBM advised shareholders to vote against the proposal in its 2026 proxy statement. The company said its website provides public information about its “charitable efforts and the specific initiatives” it supports and how “these initiatives align with the interests of IBM,” according to the statement.

The company currently uses Benevity, a charitable platform that references the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate group” list, which critics say includes some Christian organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom, Focus on the Family and Turning Point USA, Napier said. In its 2026 proxy statement, IBM also cited former CEO Thomas Watson Jr., who said in 1968 that a company “should not try to function as a political organization in any way.”

“They’re taking sides in these ideological battles, which are often political battles, and so they’re breaking their own rules,” Napier said.

The company also said the requested report would create an unnecessary financial burden. Earlier this month, however, IBM agreed to pay more than $17 million to the Department of Justice to resolve allegations involving racial and sexual discrimination in hiring, review and promotion policies.

Agreeing to such a settlement indicates IBM would have likely been found guilty in the DOJ’s investigation, Napier explained, adding that “when there’s smoke there’s often a fire.”

“If they’re discriminating in employment practices, then they may be discriminating in their other practices, either in their charitable support or – in this particular case – the harms that they’re inflicting on those covered by their plans, particularly minors,” he said.

Mendenhall said Heritage’s request for research and a report would not impose a comparable financial burden.

Shareholder vote draws attention

Consideration of Proposal 8 at IBM’s shareholder meeting is notable because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had to approve it for inclusion on the ballot, Napier said.

Heritage was given limited time to present its case, during which Kiefel described the physical, psychological and emotional harms that resulted from her gender transition. Her testimony challenges claims that detransitioners are rare, Stefan Padfield, a senior legal fellow at Heritage’s Free Enterprise Initiative, told The Lion in an email.

Kiefel warned IBM of potential “legal, reputational, and professional risks associated with offering gender-affirming care in its employee health care coverage,” Mendenhall said.

“Has IBM adequately evaluated the legal, ethical and reputational exposure associated with this coverage?” she asked. “IBM, I ask that you reconsider policies regarding medical transition for children. This is not about politics. This is about ensuring that decisions with permanent consequences are made with full information, proper safeguards and appropriate caution.”

While shareholders are expected to reject the proposal, Padfield said its inclusion highlights concerns among some investors.

“If we are to win the battle to get corporations back to neutral, then we must have conservatives willing to hold shares in these corporations and engage with them,” he said. “While it may be in retreat, woke ideology remains alive and well in corporate America, and that’s why conservatives must continue their own long march to restore these institutions to creating the prosperity they were designed for.”