Conservative activist targets Harley-Davidson over DEI after John Deere, Tractor Supply

(The Center Square) – A week after John Deere announced policy changes related to conservative activist Robby Starbuck publicizing their corporate policies related to diversity, equity and Inclusion and pride event sponsorship, Starbuck began publicizing the actions of another company: Harley-Davidson.

Starbuck wrote that CEO Jochen Zeitz has led the company to go “totally woke” while supporting the equality act to allow transgender individuals access to female locker rooms and forcing 1,800 employees to do virtual LGBTQ+ training.

Starbuck said Harley-Davidson sponsored an LGBTQ+ Entrepreneur Bootcamp and Zeitz signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion Pledge.

The Center Square was unsuccessful obtaining comment for this story from Harley-Davidson before publication.

In the past month, Starbuck has publicized policies at both Brentwood-based Tractor Supply and John Deere that led each company to publish statements on how it would change policies and sponsorships moving forward.

Starbuck was a 2022 Republican write-in candidate in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District after being removed from the ballot by the Tennessee Republican Party.

John Deere said in its statement that it listens to feedback and will “prioritize internal policies that more closely align our business strategy to meet the needs of our customers” with its 80,000 worldwide employees.

The company said it would change sponsorships to support just the business and band and it would now focus on non-profit sponsorships centered on hunger, economic development, poverty alleviation, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, agricultural education initiatives and support for service members and veterans.

“This half measure shows that we’re a powerful force to be reckoned with though,” Starbuck wrote. “While I’m not completely pleased, I don’t want to downplay the fact that this is another massive win. All of you are helping me force corporate America back to sanity. I won’t rest until we eliminate leftism from corporate America.”

Tractor Supply made a similar statement in the past month related to its policies and sponsorships following Starbuck’s publicity of its corporate actions.