DNC members rally around pro-DEI resolution: ‘These are American values’

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is reaffirming its support for diversity, equity, and inclusion, better known to millions of Americans by its acronym, DEI.

The DNC’s Resolutions Committee, meeting on Tuesday during the second day of the national party’s annual summer meeting, unanimously passed a resolution affirming what it highlighted as the “American Values’ of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The approval of the resolution, which will face a vote by the full 400-plus DNC membership on Wednesday, comes amid relentless conservative backlash against DEI programs in recent years.

DNC CHAIR DEMANDS DEMOCRATS ‘STOP BRINGING A PENCIL TO A KNIFE FIGHT’

During the 2024 election cycle, now-President Donald Trump and Republicans repeatedly criticized Democrats for their longstanding support for DEI efforts and transgender rights, turning the Democrats’ stance into a political liability.

Republicans spent tens of millions on ads last year bashing transgender women in female sports. A commercial targeting then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee last summer and autumn, argued that “Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you.”

DEMOCRATS DIVIDED: TENSIONS FLARE OVER WAR IN GAZA 

Following last year’s election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate and failed to win back the House majority, some in the party have second-guessed their support for DEI and transgender rights.

Trump, in the opening months of his second term in the White House, has signed several executive orders taking aim at transgender and DEI policies implemented by then-President Joe Biden and by major universities and corporations.

But DNC committee member Bill Owen of Tennessee, who spoke in support of the resolution in front of the panel, took aim at Republicans as he praised DEI values.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

“These are American values. This is what America was built on,” Owen said. “And to my Republican friends and fellow citizens…who profess to be active Christians, I remind them that D.E.I.is the very foundation of the Christian church. I get a little emotional on this, but Jesus loves little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white.”

“This week’s DNC meeting has proven once again just how disconnected Democrats are from the values and priorities of everyday Americans,” RNC communications director Zach Parkinson told Fox News Digital. “The DNC reaffirmed their party’s support for radical, racist DEI ideology and insulted Christians across the country by saying DEI is ‘the very foundation’ of Christianity. It’s no wonder Democrats’ approval rating is in the toilet.”

The vote by the Resolutions Committee on the DEI resolution came a day after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate on the Democrats’ 2024 national ticket, said in an address at the DNC summer meeting that “we’re proud to be a diverse party. We are proud of the diversity of this country. We’re not shying away from diversity as a strength and equity as a goal and inclusion being the air we breathe. That’s what we should be doing.”

DEI efforts have been aimed at fostering fair treatment and full participation for all people, particularly those who have faced discrimination or underrepresentation.

But Trump, upon returning to the White House at the beginning of this year, called DEI efforts “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” and “public waste.”