BlackRock Cuts Back on Board Diversity Push in Proxy-Vote Guidelines
Originally published December 30, 2024
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550+ Companies Covering Sex-Denying Procedures for Minor Dependents
List
July 28, 2026
According to February 2026 data from the Human Rights Campaign, 550+ companies provide health insurance coverage for transgender medical interventions, including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgical procedures, to covered minor dependents through their employee health plans. These companies range from major financial institutions and law firms to retailers, insurers, and tech giants. Shareholders, customers, parents, and employees deserve to know where their companies stand. 1792 Exchange calls on every company on this list to adopt clear protections for minor dependents in their healthcare plans and get back to business. A&O Shearman Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation Billtrust Box Inc. Griffith Foods Group Hanover Insurance Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey HSBC Holdings Linklaters Mayer Brown MERGE Moderna Neuberger Berman Group NTT DATA Services NTT Global Data Centers Americas PGA TOUR Publicis Health Publicis Media Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Music Sony Pictures Steptoe Sutherland Global Services
DOJ Sides With Insurer That Won’t Cover “Transition” Surgery for Minor
July 27, 2026
On July 13, 2026, the Department of Justice urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse a ruling that had ordered Premera Blue Cross to cover chest surgery for a young girl. The Justice Department’s brief argues the exclusion is not sex discrimination but a “sensible policy … rooted in biological reality, developmental psychology, and medical diagnosis.” Premera covers a mastectomy for a boy with gynecomastia and for a girl with breast cancer, but declines the same surgery when it is performed on a healthy adolescent, boys and girls alike. The line, the brief says, is the diagnosis, not the patient’s sex, and it reads the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Skrmetti to say exactly that. Every federal appeals court to weigh the question since, the brief notes, has rejected the lower court’s reasoning. The whole dispute turns on one phrase, “medically necessary.” That label rests heavily on the standards of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the same WPATH the FTC and multiple states are now suing for stripping surgical age limits without evidentiary basis and calling virtually every pediatric “transition” service “medically necessary.” The brief itself cites England’s Cass Review and a 2025 HHS review that found the evidence …
MassBio’s Open Letter: A Massive Constraint on Biopharmaceutical Businesses
July 23, 2026
Approximately 219 companies have signed a vague and contradictory open letter urging biopharmaceutical firms to abandon their core mission. MassBio, the Massachusetts-based DEI resource center, created an open letter calling on companies and their leadership to abide by unnecessary DEI measures. These measures implement diverse BIPOC policy practices into biopharmaceutical businesses. By joining, these signatory companies don’t receive any advancements within the medical sphere but subject themselves to vague social commitments that constrain biopharma principles and objectives. The open letter holds back biopharmaceutical businesses through explicit actions: DEI requirements in recruitment, hiring, executive compensation, external partnerships, and company programming. At 1792 Exchange, we recognize these practices are bad for business because they take away from the merit expectation found within leadership. No longer is simple experience being looked at for genuine business benefit; instead, diversity becomes standard. Meaning, a new business partnership looks for diversity over merit. Furthermore, the open letter also constrains these businesses through vague commitments: using corporate influence to promote internal DEI initiatives, encouraging employees to “self-educate on racism and contribute to the race dialogue,” and establishing leadership accountability for reporting microaggressions. Biopharmaceutical companies exist to advance medicine and improve patient outcomes—not to shape social or racial …
Microsoft Directs Benevity to Drop SPLC Filter
Referenced
July 22, 2026
Microsoft has directed Benevity to stop using the SPLC’s “hate map” to filter nonprofits from its employee gift-matching program. The Daily Signal credits 1792 Exchange, alongside Bowyer Research and The Heritage Foundation, for the shareholder activism that is moving companies away from discriminating against conservatives. Thanks to shareholder activism from 1792 Exchange, Bowyer Research, The Heritage Foundation, and others, a growing list of companies has directed Benevity to stop using the SPLC. The list includes American Express, AT&T, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Nvidia, and Salesforce. The full article can be found in Daily Caller.
Bowyer Research Cites 1792 Exchange Data in SPLC Shareholder Engagement Campaign
Referenced
July 22, 2026
Bowyer Research used 1792 Exchange’s research to identify and engage 150+ companies connected to the SPLC, who donated directly through associated corporate foundations or probable indirect support through Benevity. Companies that donate to the SPLC, or have in recent years, need to give an account for how they plan on avoiding support to politicized organizations in the future. Companies that outsource their charitable policies to third-party providers like Benevity need to make clear whether they’re relying on SPLC diagnostics that Benevity offers as a screen. Our friends and co-laborers at 1792 Exchange identified a list of more than 150 companies connected to the SPLC, either via Benevity usage or direct donations to the SPLC. In the wake of the DOJ’s indictment of the SPLC, we sent a version of the following to those companies. The full article and letter can be found HERE.