Arizona town outlaws DEI in favor of meritocracy

An Arizona town has prohibited affirmative action in its policies after one councilman compared Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) ideology to “cancer.”

Queen Creek, a suburb of Phoenix, revised its city policies to emphasize meritocracy over the progressive ideology.

“I personally feel like avoiding divisive actions that prevent people from reaching their potential, such as DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – and affirmative action,” said Councilman Travis Padilla. “This is a road that we’ve seen America go down in both corporate America and in municipalities and governments and I personally believe it’s been a cancer. It’s been destructive.”  

The new policies, which were unanimously approved on Sept. 4, outline the city’s “merit-based” philosophy.  

Queen Creek will now: 

• “Recruit, hire and promote for all job classifications without regard to membership in any protected class (i.e., race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected categories)”; 

• “Not compel an applicant or employee to endorse any statement that provides preferential treatment to or discriminating against any individual as a condition of hire, promotion or transfer”; 

• “Not require nor support any affirmative action policies or practices.” 

“In Queen Creek, we want to focus on the things that unite us like individual success and achievement, not things that divide us like political ideology,” Padilla added. 

The Goldwater Institute, which opposes DEI as a form of discrimination, praised the leadership of the town. 

“It’s welcome news that Queen Creek has decided to stand apart among Arizona municipalities in promoting merit-based hiring practices, while keeping divisive and corrosive DEI policies and trainings out of the town,” said Austin VanDerHeyden, director of municipal affairs at Goldwater. 

“This is a huge win for the residents of the town, who can now be confident that their elected officials and town staff are focusing on actual town business, not obsessing about identity politics like so many of their neighboring communities have been doing for far too long.” 

Earlier this year, an Oregon county also disbanded its Equity and Inclusion Office in favor of merit and a diversity of ideas. 

Numerous universities and corporations have likewise denounced the progressive philosophy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently quipped that DEI should stand for “division, exclusion and indoctrination.” 

Photo: Queen Creek Facebook page