ABOUT PROJECT FORWARD

“An attack on DEI is an attack on innovation and business growth.”

 

Led by BRIDGE, Project FORWARD is a cross-industry initiative, designed to chart our collective path forward and meet the current moment head-on. In partnership with top experts in academia, law and our board members, we are dedicated to equipping, educating, and empowering leaders in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), marketing, and business to continue to drive inclusive innovation and sustainable growth.

 

Every Friday we intend for Project FORWARD to provide critical updates on executive orders (EO) and legislative developments, featuring legal interpretations from Stacy Hawkins, Esq., Diversity & Employment Practices Consultant and Rutgers Professor of Law and Jessica Golden Cortes, Partner, Labor + Employment Group, Davis+Gilbert LLP. We will also include the BRIDGE POV and tangible actions to consider.*

 

Read on for expert assessments that will help you navigate this evolving landscape.

 

*These Project FORWARD updates should not be construed as legal advice or counsel. They are for educational and instructive purposes only, to aid our understanding about how best to actively continue our mission in response to this moment. 

EXECUTIVE ORDER 14151

On January 20 and 21, 2025, Trump issued a series of Executive Orders that attempt to curtail workplace DEI efforts across the federal workforce. 

 

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

“Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”

 

LEGAL INTERPRETATION

These EOs' directives dismantle the DEI efforts in the federal workforce established under previous administrations by mandating the following actions:

• Eliminate all federal offices, positions, programs, policies, and practices that involve or in any way support DEI
• Terminate all federal contracts for DEI-related services
• Remove any considerations of race, sex, religion, or equity from federal recruitment, hiring, or performance management processes

 

BRIDGE POV

Many confusing headlines insinuate incorrect conclusions that private employers' DEI practices are unlawful and/or have to be dismantled. That is not the case.

 

This moment calls for a thoughtful and pragmatic approach, which should likely include a review of your current DEI practices—in consultation with legal counsel—to ensure your DEI practices are within the confines of longstanding federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws.

 

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins put it best: "DEI is being discussed like it's a single-issue discussion, and you either believe it or you don't. And in reality, it's made up of 150 different things, and maybe seven of them got a little out of hand. I think those six or seven things are going to get solved and then the core reasons that you have a diverse workforce are still there from a business perspective."

EXECUTIVE ORDER 14168

EXECUTIVE ORDER

“Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”

 

LEGAL INTERPRETATION

This EO is directed specifically towards efforts designed to recognize, respect, and protect the rights and dignities of LGBTQ+ persons. It instructs Federal agen

cies to recognize only two sexes, male and female, and to eliminate language, references, and practices across the federal government —both internal to the workforce and in external public services functions that acknowledge or refer to:

 

• Gender identity, gender expression, or the existence of transgender, gender-nonconforming, or non-binary persons, mandating that sex-based accommodations and anti-discrimination laws be interpreted solely according to “the immutable biological reality of sex and in a manner that expressly rejects any “internal, fluid, and subjective sense of self unmoored from biological facts.”

 

Although this Executive Order cannot eliminate the protections for LGBTQ+ persons recognized by the Supreme Court in 2020 as existing under Title VII, and preventing employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression, it may:

 

• Reduce other protections for LGBTQ+ individuals within the federal workforce (such as access to gender-neutral bathrooms, preferred pronouns, or gender-congruent identity markers) and in federal public services like forms requiring gender identification.
   

Although this order will alter how the federal government enforces sex-based anti-discrimination law, by significantly narrowing the accommodation and non-discrimination obligations under these laws for LGBTQ+ persons, the order does not require non-federal entities to abandon any policies or practices that provide accommodation or require non-discrimination for the LGBTQ+ community. 

 

BRIDGE POV

BRIDGE contends that enforcing a narrow, biologically fixed view of gender is not only an attack on nuanced, equitable policy but also a strategy to weaponize women’s and children rights under the guise of “protection.” This approach is an orchestrated effort to rollback inclusion, erasing hard-fought protections for transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people.

 

Critical actions we can take in the workplace:

• Reaffirm commitment to inclusive policies that explicitly protect employees of all gender identities
• Review HR policies to ensure workplace protections for transgender employees remain intact and continue to educate employee population on these policies and practices
• Support Employee Resource Groups focused on LGBTQ+ inclusion and gender equity
   

For more context, see Sheryl Daija’s commentary, “Weaponizing Are Being Used to Advance Discriminatory Practices.”

EXECUTIVE ORDER 14173

EXECUTIVE ORDER

“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”

 

LEGAL INTERPRETATION

A separate EO directs federal agencies—including the Departments of Justice, Labor, and Education—to use their administrative powers to undermine and attack DEI initiatives by non-federal public and private entities under the authority of the federal government and asserts DEI and DEIA diminishes the importance of individual merit, aptitude and hard work. There are two parts to this order:

 

The first part of the order requires federal contracts and grants to eliminate any DEI requirements—revoking the longstanding Executive Order 11246 that provides the basis for affirmative action data collection and reporting mandates—and compels contractors and grantees to certify they are not operating DEI programs that conflict with federal anti-discrimination laws.
 

• Importantly, while these changes affect federal contracting obligations, non-federal entities are not forced to abandon lawful DEI practices. Additionally, neither the Trump Administration, nor any federal agency operating under the control of the Trump Administration, has the authority to determine what DEI practices are unlawful under existing anti-discrimination law. Only federal courts are empowered to make that determination. Current federal case law is favorable towards a host of DEI practices.  (Reference Stacy Hawkins, “How Diversity Can Redeem the McDonnell Douglas Standard: Mounting An Effective Title VII Defense of the Commitment to Diversity in the Legal Profession”)
   

The second part of the order targets non-federal entities that are subject to the enforcement power of the federal government under existing federal anti-discrimination laws including Titles VI, VII, and IX, which regulate race and sex discrimination in education and employment. This part of the order directs those federal agencies with enforcement power under those laws, namely the Departments of Justice, Labor, and Education, to specifically target for investigation, and possible litigation, those entities who are or may be engaged in DEI efforts that involve race- or sex-based preferences or that are unlawful under anti-discrimination law. As with the first part of this order, the federal courts, not the Trump Administration, are empowered to make the determination of what DEI practices, if any, are unlawful under existing anti-discrimination law.
 

• Before terminating or modifying any DEI efforts in response to this order, non-federal public and private sector entities subject to the order should confer with legal counsel to determine the need to terminate or modify their DEI programs, policies, or practices under applicable federal law.

 

BRIDGE POV

BRIDGE regards this order as a deliberate attempt to dismantle critical DEI initiatives that have been instrumental in advancing equitable outcomes and seeks to undermine progress. The misrepresentation of DEI as lacking in merit is a tactic our founder and CEO, Sheryl Daija, examines in depth in “The Hypocrisy of Meritocracy.”

 

While the legal challenges continue to be sorted out in the courts, DEI practices remain legal as long as they comply, as always, with existing anti-discrimination laws, including:

• Diversity in employment practices, including hiring and promotion
• Diversity of opinion and opportunity in the workplace
• Sustained attempts to reach a diversity of populations in the marketplace
• Working with a multitude of vendors and partners from different backgrounds and experience;
• Promoting respect and inclusion in the workplace and business

 

An audit of current programs, policies and practices is also encouraged to ensure legal compliance and risk in the current environment, so that companies are best positioned to continue this important work without becoming a legal or PR target.

LAWSUITS FILED: PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS

Federal Court Pauses Significant Portion of Trump’s Executive Orders

“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”

 

On February 3, 2025, a coalition of plaintiffs featuring the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, American Association of University Professors, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Maryland (the Plaintiffs Coalition) brought a lawsuit in Maryland federal court challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s EOs.
 

On Friday, February 21, 2025, a Maryland federal judge granted a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of three key provisions of the new administration’s executive orders, which directed: (1) all federal agencies to terminate "equity-related" grants or contracts; (2) federal agencies to require future grant award recipients and federal contractors to certify that they do not "operate any programs promoting DEI;" and (3) the Attorney General to take action to "deter" DEI in the private sector.

A preliminary injunction is temporary relief to preserve the status quo, while the parties continue to litigate the case. The Plaintiffs Coalition ultimately seeks a permanent injunction striking down the challenged provisions of the EOs.

 

The government has already indicated its intent to appeal the preliminary injunction order to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, filing a notice of appeal on February 24, 2025. 

 

This is a rapidly developing situation, which we will continue to monitor closely.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

DEI EXECUTIVE ORDERS - Davis+Gilbert LLP

 

Navigating the New Executive Orders: Impact on DEI and Gender Identity Protections at Work - Davis+Gilbert LLP

 

COMMUNITY EVENTS

BRIDGE invites everyone to join for our monthly Community Calls which take place the last Thursday of every month and gathers DEI marketing, and business leaders committed to driving systemic change within our organizations and the industry at large.

 

Our next call is Thursday, March 27th from 12-1p ET.

BRIDGE25: FORWARD, our annual 2 1/2 day retreat will convene close to 200 of the top DEI, Marketing & Business Leaders at the stunning Seabird Resort overlooking the beach in Oceanside, CA, May 4-6.

Our commitment is to deliver and experience that will be unapologetically indelible, determined and audacious!