John Hancock scored an 85 out of 100 on the 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. By complying with the HRC’s controversial demands, John Hancock Financial increases the risk of dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders. The company covers transgender-related medical costs for its employees. It also uses sex and gender ideology criteria in employee recruitment, vendor selection, marketing, and philanthropic support. John Hancock forces employees to undergo multiple ideological trainings and uses its reputation, corporate funds, and political influence to support controversial sex and gender ideologies, organizations, and legislation. The company supports the Equality Act. John Hancock was part of the Freedom for All Americans coalition, which advocated for federal legislation that would overrule state laws designed to protect girls' sports and similar laws. The company signed an amicus brief in opposition to the 2016 North Carolina bathroom bill HB2, which required people to use the bathroom of their biological sex. John Hancock opposed various state and local legislation intended to protect parental rights, girls’ sports, bathroom facilities, and gendered spaces. The company’s former CEO, Marianne Harrison, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which includes a commitment to promote DEI through bias education training in the workplace. John Hancock Financial is a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. For these reasons, John Hancock Financial receives a High Risk rating.