Christian investor challenges Nike over support for transgender surgeries on minors 

Nike shareholders rejected a proposal from Christian shareholders asking the company to study the risks tied to its support for outside advocacy groups that support gender ideology, including sex-change surgeries for children and men in women’s sports.

Shareholders voted Tuesday at Nike’s annual meeting. Reuters reported that the proposal failed.

The measure didn’t tell Nike to change its health plan or stop donating to any group. Instead, it asked the company to review its charitable support and report on possible legal, business and public-image risks.

Bowyer Research filed the proposal on behalf of shareholder William C. Cunningham. Inspire Investing, a Christian firm managing $5.4 billion, backed it.

Sophia Lorey, a former college soccer player who works for the California Family Council, spoke in favor of the proposal.

“Nike, we stand at a cultural crossroads … Will you keep on supporting policies that sideline girls like me in our own sports? … Or will you take the truly courageous step to follow through on your promises to women and girls?” Lorey said.

The proposal partly focused on Nike’s relationship with the Human Rights Campaign. HRC gave Nike a verified score of 100 on its 2026 Corporate Equality Index.

To earn a perfect score, companies must offer a health care plan that covers transgender procedures. HRC’s rules include hormones, puberty blockers for children and chest and genital surgeries.

Nike urged shareholders to vote no. Its board said the company already reviews the groups it supports.

“Charitable partnerships are approved by the Company only after a robust due diligence review of the proposed recipient organization,” the board said.

The board said another report would cost time and money without giving shareholders useful new information. Nike didn’t say whether its health plan covers transgender surgeries for children.

The Nike vote comes as Christian and conservative investors pressure many big companies over the issue.

Inspire and its allies sent letters in late August to 242 public companies with high HRC scores, Bloomberg reported. The coalition includes Southern Baptist investors and the state of Nebraska and manages over $100 billion combined.

The letters ask companies whether their health plans cover transgender surgeries for children and what legal and financial risks this coverage could create.

“We feel that this is an important topic, there’s regulatory, legal and financial risks,” Tim Schwarzenberger, Inspire’s director of corporate engagement, told Bloomberg. “We think shareholders have a right to know, have a right to transparency.”

Inspire says Walmart told the group its plan doesn’t cover transgender surgeries for children. Walmart’s 2026 benefits book says gender reassignment surgery “is not considered medically necessary for individuals under the age of 18.”

Inspire also says Charles Schwab told the group that it no longer covers such surgeries for children.

Another conservative group, 1792 Exchange, wrote to 568 companies in June asking them to exclude transgender drugs and surgeries for children from employee health plans.

Some companies have also decoupled from HRC.

In 2024, Heartlander News reported Lowe’s, Ford and Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman stopped participating in HRC’s index.

HRC says leaving the index doesn’t mean a company changed its benefits.

“There is no question that extraordinary political and legal pressure has made some companies less willing to publicly document their LGBTQ+ workplace practices,” HRC senior vice president Jonathan Lovitz told Bloomberg. “But less disclosure doesn’t mean … that they have actually changed practices internally.”

While Nike shareholders rejected the proposal, some online comments blamed the company’s “woke” policies for bringing down its stock price.

“On Nov. 5, 2021, Nike’s stock was sky high at $177.51 per share,” wrote Nick Adams, founder of Foundation for Liberty & American Greatness. “Today it is down 77% at $38.40 per share and they’re planning an exit from the S&P 100. This is what happens when you go woke and make Colin Kaepernick the face of your company.”

(Image credit: Screenshot / sec.gov)