Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is dominating our government, universities, and businesses, but one town in Arizona has taken a stand. This week, Queen Creek, Ariz., became the first municipality in the state to ban the town government from implementing the discriminatory ideology.
On Wednesday, Queen Creek’s city council unanimously passed a new ordinance that ensures taxpayer dollars will not be spent on policies that further race- and sex-based discrimination. Queen Creek’s move comes as the Goldwater Institute continues to spearhead the nationwide campaign to challenge taxpayer-funded discrimination.
“In Queen Creek, we want to focus on things that unite us like individual success and achievement, not things that divide us like political ideology,” Queen Creek Councilman Travis Padilla said at a council meeting this week, noting that the ordinance allows the town to focus on equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.
DEI initiatives are supposed to promote fair treatment and full participation for everyone. In reality, the ideology teaches that there are two categories of people, “oppressor” and “oppressed,” and that public institutions must atone for “systemic racism” by treating people differently depending on their skin color.
But under Resolution #1611-24, the town is required to hired based on merit rather than affirmative action. (The town will “not require nor support any affirmative action policies or practices,” the ordinance says.) Moreover, the ordinance prohibits the town from contracting with outside organizations to implement DEI trainings. Finally, the ordinance explains that the town will “not compel an applicant or employee to endorse any statement that provides preferential treatment to or discriminating against any individual as a condition of hire, promotion or transfer.”
This resolution comes just months after the Goldwater Institute exposed neighboring Gilbert for mandating DEI trainings for all new employees, while weaponizing the power of the government to spy on the online speech of town employees and elected officials. These practices cost taxpayer in Gilbert over $1 million just in salaries for the Office of Digital Government employees, and went unnoticed by many in the community, including members of the town council.
Queen Creek stands in stark contrast to the localities like Gilbert who have fully embraced divisive and dangerous ideologies on the taxpayers’ dime.
Prohibiting the government from requiring mandatory “diversity” statements, like the Queen Creek policy does, has been a hallmark of Goldwater’s work to dismantle DEI across the country. These diversity statements are used as a political litmus test for ideological alignment, screening out candidates who do not adhere to specific progressive ideologies. But Goldwater has enacted laws banning public colleges from requiring “diversity” statements in five states just this year alone.
It’s welcome news that Queen Creek has decided to stand apart among Arizona municipalities in promoting merit-based hiring practices, while keeping divisive and corrosive DEI policies and trainings out of the town.
This is a huge win for the residents of the town, who can now be confident that their elected officials and town staff are focusing on actual town business, not obsessing about identity politics like so many of their neighboring communities have been doing for far too long.
Austin VanDerHeyden is the Director of Municipal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute.