Late Barbara Gittings, an LGBTQIA+ activist once said, “Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.” We are amidst the celebration of Pride Month, where, unfortunately, companies taint the celebrations with “pink-washing.” However, this is not the case with Tesla, unfortunately. Elon Musk’s carmaker company has fired the head of its LGBTQIA+ diversity and inclusion wing.
People are not happy with the decision, many are stating that it is important to provide actual employment instead of wavering rainbow flags on the company logos. In 2020, the electric car company released its first DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) report. However, the report did not serve much more than statistical information. And now the recent termination of LGBTQIA+ wing head has infuriated the community.
It Is Alleged That The Cut-Off May Come Amidst The Tesla Owner’s “Woke Mind Virus” Comments
Unless it is stopped, the woke mind virus will destroy civilization and humanity will never reached Mars
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2022
At the start of the month, Elon Musk sent out an email to all the employees cautioning them about the 10% lay-off. The reason that he mentioned in the email was that “we have become overstaffed in many areas.” Now, in the middle of Pride Month, Tesla decided to ax the head of the LGBTQIA+ wing and the leader at the D&I wing.
The Tesla owner also cited the reason for having a “super bad feeling” about the economy. Now that the process is gathering momentum, the company is also sacking its waged laborers. The country experienced 8.60% inflation in May 2022.
The company sacked Bobby Beretta-Paris last week. He was the volunteer president of the LGBTQIA+ wing at Tesla. In their DE&I report for 2020, it said, “we take pride in having leaders from the LGBTQ community as leaders at all levels and roles at Tesla.” In May, Elon tweeted that the “woke mind virus” will destroy civilization.
Not The First Time Tesla Was Anti LGBTQIA+
The Tesla owner’s tweet does not come as a surprise. Elon leaned towards the GOP ideologically calling Democrats “the party of division & hate.” GOP supporters have time and again used the word woke for referring to the “elite activism” and “cultural threat.” It detracted and refuted the long-lived discrimination that the black community who coined the word in the ’60s. Tesla, before accepting their “wokism” and after drawing away from it, had a record of discrimination and harassment.
A supervisor harassed an employee named Jorge Ferro in 2017 for his “gay tight” clothing. He filed a complaint to the manager twice, but instead of a resolution, he was fired. It was not just LGBTQIA+ individuals, but black people and women too faced discrimination from the “59% of the white” population. It is a matter of contention whether the lay-offs of the important wings were for the “super bad feeling” about the economy or super bad feeling about growing “wokism.”
Read More: Elon Musk Reveals He Never Wanted To Be CEO, Says “Running Companies Hurts My Heart”
Read More: Why Is Elon Musk Getting Sued For $258 Billion? Know The Details
