Courtesy of Rhonda Payne

There was a time when diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was top of mind for event organizers, destination marketing organizations and major convention centers.

Inclusive programming, supplier diversity and equitable hiring practices were a focus. Commitments were made to ensure that events were more accessible and representative. But today, the energy behind these efforts feels more subdued. The conversation around DEI — once seen as priority — now seems quieter, which begs the question: Has DEI lost its momentum in the industry?

A Political Crosswind

A significant setback came in January, when President Donald Trump declared DEI initiatives illegal and issued two executive orders aimed at eliminating them. His “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” order effectively revoked many DEI-related programs, while another order sought to halt federal agencies’ DEI efforts.

Conservative critics have long argued that such programs violate the U.S. Constitution by being based on race, gender and sexual orientation. Trump’s inaugural speech echoed this sentiment: “We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.”

The industry’s embrace of DEI gained traction in the wake of 2020’s racial justice movement, when DEI initiatives flourished. Industry associations launched task forces, corporations hired chief diversity officers and RFPs increasingly required diverse suppliers. Yet, despite this initial surge, DEI efforts seem to have shifted from a central focus to a secondary consideration.

One of the clearest signs of this shift is the decline in dedicated DEI funding. Some organizations that once created DEI-specific roles have quietly integrated those responsibilities into broader HR or marketing functions. Others have scaled back inclusive programming at events, citing budget constraints. Even supplier diversity programs — once seen as essential for fostering equity — are facing challenges.

Beyond financial issues, the broader political and cultural climate is influencing DEI’s trajectory. Companies in regions where diversity programs have become politicized are treading carefully to avoid controversy. In states with heightened legislative scrutiny, some convention centers and event planners have chosen not to publicly promote their DEI initiatives, to avoid backlash.

The latest State of the Meetings & Convention Industry report by Future Partners, Miles Partnership and Digital Edge highlights a stark reality: While 60.3% of planners still prioritize DEI in their events, external factors are making it more difficult to implement these initiatives effectively.

Rhonda Payne, CEO of Flock Theory, explains that DEI is about more than race and gender. “That narrative is part of the intentionally misleading rhetoric,” she says.

DEI encompasses different races, genders, abilities, accessibility, ages, religions or veteran statuses. “DEI serves and benefits everyone in society and is focused on fairness for all, such that identity doesn’t determine outcomes, whether that means being overvalued and overserved or undervalued and underserved. Merit is the aspiration, and DEI exists because merit doesn’t,” Payne says. “When supporters of the current administration tout the virtues of merit, I often note how similar their language sounds to mine. The aspirational values of America’s founders — equality, representation, liberty, justice — are, at their core, DEI values. This is why words matter. But the meaning we give our words through action matters even more.”

The Impact on the LGBTQ+ Community

Cameron Curtis, CEO of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association (LGBT MPA), expresses deep concern over the retreat from DEI initiatives, particularly those affecting the LGBTQIA2+ community.

“As CEO of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, I am deeply concerned about the growing withdrawal of DEIB efforts, stemming from the Trump administration’s executive actions, specifically as it relates to support for the LGBTQIA2+ community at meetings and events. These withdrawals send a clear message that the physical and mental safety and visibility of the LGBTQIA2+ community are no longer safe investments in today’s political climate,” Curtis says.

LGBT MPA’s vision is “a global events community where all are accepted, equal and belong.”

“We have an obligation to respond when our ability to achieve that vision is threatened,” Curtis says. “The dismantling of DEIB programs and removal of protections for the LGTBQIA2+ community are already negatively impacting meetings, events and economic growth in U.S. destinations as organizations make decisions on where to hold meetings based on their ability to deliver safe and inclusive experiences, and as attendees decide whether they feel safe attending those meetings. As the voice of the LGBTQ+ global events community, we have the opportunity and responsibility to ensure that every person — whether attending or organizing events — can do so with the knowledge that they are safe, valued, heard and free from discrimination.”

“As an industry, we can promote and adopt policies that ensure safety for everyone — organizers and attendees — and stand with organizations that support the LGBTQ+ community,” Curtis says. “We can make tangible differences by creating inclusive event spaces, ensuring representation across all identities, being proactive in addressing bias and discrimination at every level of event planning and execution, modeling inclusivity by promoting diverse voices in the planning stages, ensuring program content and panels are inclusive and representative of the diversity in our industry, offering training on inclusive practices and implementing a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination.”

As for the future? “I’m not sure what the future holds for DEIB efforts, but our response must be clear: We will not allow fear or politics to erase the LGBTQ+ community. Representation is not negotiable and we will continue to gather, plan and show up — because our presence is our power,” Curtis says.

Rachel Covello, inclusive marketing strategist and event host for OutCoast, echoes Curtis’ sentiments. “My concerns strongly revolve around tourism and the negative impact these decisions have on travel to the U.S. and to states and cities where diverse travelers thrive,” Covello says. “We have seen the impact on states like Florida, where LGBTQ+ businesses are sometimes failing to thrive, and we’ll continue to see this across the country as these DEI-erasure initiatives continue. Many destination marketing organizations (DMOs) rely on government funding, keeping destinations thriving, but we may see a cut to marketing campaigns tailored to these diverse demographics and threats to funding if these teams don’t fall in line with government initiatives. We’re already seeing it with LGBTQ+ marketing.”

DEI: A Question of Commitment

Jason Dunn, Sr., CEO of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP), believes that for too long, DEI has been reduced to optics.

“DEI for a long time has been a performative hot-air word salad without much substance by many in our corporate community,” Dunn says. “The false impression of DEI was that only Black people benefited from it. As we unpack the acronym and educate the masses on who it really empowers, people are beginning to rethink their positions.”

Payne agrees. “DEI the acronym has been appropriated by those who advance racialized supremacy, sexism and other prejudices,” she says. “It is being intentionally misused to gaslight and confuse the public while serving as a dog whistle. DEI typically refers to work that combats illegal discrimination, not the other way around.”

“Traditionally, DEI initiatives were framed through a lens primarily focused on race, especially Black Americans, which led to a somewhat narrow view of who would benefit from these efforts,” Dunn says. “DEI is much broader than that. It encompasses race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and more. This broader understanding is starting to gain traction.”

Successful companies are not retreating from DEI. “Leaders or corporations that understand business and desire to broaden their consumer base have chosen to forge ahead. DEI are key pillars in any sound strategic plan,” Dunn adds.

He does admit the possibility that the visible momentum around DEI has slowed in some places due to political or cultural pushback, or because of the perception that companies have “checked the box” on DEI initiatives. “However, the reality is that successful organizations have moved beyond surface-level efforts to integrate DEI deeply into their corporate DNA. The best companies are not just talking about diversity, they’re embedding it into decision-making, operations and everyday behaviors,” Dunn says.

Embracing DEI practices will help companies thrive in the future, he adds. “As we move forward, DEI will likely continue to grow in importance, evolving in both scope and implementation. However, there is no secret that there are voices and groups that resist this progress, often favoring a return to the status quo or a more traditional, less inclusive environment,” Dunn says. “However, it is my belief that hospitality empowers communities, and if we leverage human interest to lead in this conversation with logic, data and a moral conscience, we all will be better for it.”

DEI Is Alive and Well

Payne rejects the idea that DEI is dead, calling it false and misleading. “The performative DEI that was more about intent and public relations than strategy-driven interventions to interrupt exclusion — sure, that peaked in 2020 and has steadily declined since, right along with its PR value,” she says. “Surface-level announcements and diversity theatre made for lots of media buzz but were never going to lead to lasting impact — they were a distraction from the work.”

“The Trump administration has used government power to pressure and intimidate,” Payne says. “An unprecedented number of executive orders — more than 100 of which were reclassified as presidential actions, meaning they are not printed in the Federal Register and intentionally make federal oversight, tracking and public review much more difficult — have been used in predatory ways. While most are specific to the federal government, this strategy and its enforcement have a coercive and chilling effect on companies.”

Language related to DEI is being suppressed, Payne adds. “As the New York Times reported, the White House is conducting a purge of dozens of words deemed too ‘woke,’ and it’s a lot more than just the term DEI, which is often a coded term used for Black and Brown people by this administration and its supporters,” she says. “I’m talking about words of identity, like women and pregnancy, words of practice, like accessible, ally, belonging and words of values, like justice or representation.”

Payne is afraid the purge of such words will become widespread. “I’ve watched as some risk-averse leaders, event organizers and their companies engage in this linguistic erasure, which is disappointing and short-sighted,” she says.

The Long-term Outlook for DEI

Author and corporate social responsibility (CSR) adviser Bea Boccalandro is more optimistic. “Reports of DEI’s demise are greatly exaggerated,” she says, adding that political leaders are as likely to stop history’s centuries-old movement toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion as “ship captains are to change the direction of an ocean current.”

Boccalandro says that the DEI losses dominating the news are only one sliver of the story. She points to surveys showing that a majority of Americans continue to favor greater equity, hiring fairness and pretty much every pillar of DEI. Furthermore, despite all the rhetoric on the unfairness of DEI, only 16% of Americans — and only 21% of Republicans — believe that it has had an adverse impact on them. Boccalandro says that another neglected part of the DEI story is the full corporate response. Despite some large corporations publicly reining in their ESG, most have quietly decided it’s vital to keep moving it forward, but they’re doing so more covertly.

Instead of responding to the heightened risks of DEI by abandoning it, Boccalandro says, most executives she knows are renaming and restructuring it. She has also witnessed what she calls “redwashing,” or companies feigning capitulation to the anti-ESG movement. Although she admits that there are exceptions, Boccalandro sees no evidence that corporate America, on the whole, is ditching DEI.

The final neglected part of the story, she says, is demographics. “We aren’t seeing widespread rejection of DEI,” Boccalandro insists. “We’re seeing resistance from a shrinking minority, which is a typical response to young practices.”

Boccalandro points out that every year, 4 million 18-years-olds replace the 2.5 million adults aged 65 and older who die. Most indicators show that incoming adults are more pro-DEI than their predecessors, by 15 or more percentage points. “The long-term numbers don’t add up to a reduction in DEI,” Boccalandro says. In other words, this CSR expert, at least, believes that DEI’s retreat will be short-lived. “DEI will survive its tumultuous adolescence and settle into the dull maturity of a standard organizational practice with an inoffensive name.”

Ensuring That Events Appeal to All

Payne offers suggestions:

• Start with safety. Build trust by making it clear (and visible) that people’s dignity and humanity come before profit
• Build coalition power. That includes vendors, venues, speakers and sponsors. Are their values aligned? If not, find others whose are.
• Be brave. “These times require it, and so do the people who show up at your events hoping they’ll belong,” Payne says.

Small DEI Steps, Big Impact

DEI experts agree that small steps can have a big impact. One accessible and actionable resource is the “5 Ally Actions” weekly e-newsletter. It offers five practical steps people can take each week to help build a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture.Designed to be simple yet powerful, these actions range from more effectively listening to underrepresented voices to challenging bias in everyday conversations.

In a climate where DEI is often misunderstood or even politicized, choosing to take small, intentional actions toward inclusion is not only a professional responsibility — it’s a powerful way to lead with empathy and purpose.

As companies and communities evolve, DEI is poised to transition from a standalone initiative to an embedded best practice — one that, despite current headwinds, is not only enduring but essential to long-term success. C&IT