> Making the talk proposal process blind seems more like meritocracy than DEI. The people opposing DEI [claim to] want qualifications to matter and race/gender/whatever issues not to.

Making a process blind to the person applying is a common DEI tool. Orchestra auditions are the famous one that I know about off the top of my head. Some links I googled and skimmed for rough quality, not vetted for serious study and may only be a starting point:

2013: https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/...

https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/orchestrating-impartiality-impac...