Target Pride Display – Photo: Phillip Pessar, Flickr
Target is removing some Pride-themed merchandise from its stores after outrage from conservatives over items marketed explicitly to the LGBTQ community.
The outrage from conservatives over the Pride line has been ramped up by videos on social media with customers ranting over Pride-themed merchandise, confronting store employees, or destroying displays. They claim the company is seeking to indoctrinate people — particularly children — into either being LGBTQ or accepting LGBTQ people as normal.
On Tuesday, May 23, the big box retailer said portions of its “Pride collection” will be removed from stores “amid threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,” Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda said in a statement to Newsweek.
“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”
Among the “adjustments” Target plans to make are pulling from both store shelves and its website a line of adult swimsuits marketed for its ability to “tuck” genitalia for transgender women, and some Pride-themed children’s merchandise.
Conservatives have taken issue with the use of rainbow colors or items of clothing in colors stereotypically associated with a particular gender, such as boys’ shirts with floral designs, in pastel colors, or pink.
Some conservative media outlets falsely reported that the “tuck-friendly” swimsuits were marketed to children, but the Associated Press later confirmed the swimsuits were only for adults.
Other conservatives demanded a boycott of Target over its partnership with the U.K.-based brand Abprallen, which they claim glorifies Satanism due to the individual designer’s religious beliefs.
Some of Abprallen pieces Target was selling included a sweatshirt reading, “Cure transphobia, not trans people,” a tote bag reading “Too queer for here,” and a messenger pack that reads “We belong everywhere.”
The designer, Erik Carnell, has come under fire and received death threats for allegedly using Satanic symbolism in some of his designs — though not in pieces sold at Target, according to NBC News.
He criticized Target for failing to support or defend him from hate mail, including people who have accused him of “grooming,” but also noted that the store was wise to pull some of his products to ensure employee safety.
It is unclear what other changes to Pride-themed or LGBTQ-marketed merchandise Target will make.
“Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year,” Castaneda, the company spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Some conservatives claimed victory with the company’s announcement. However, others argued that it was not enough, maintaining that the mere presence of LGBTQ-themed merchandise in stores — even if stashed away in a corner, out of view of most customers, as some Target stores in the Deep South have done — is unacceptable and could be considered “grooming” because children might see the display.
In a tweet on Wednesday, right-wing personality Matt Walsh wrote his “goal” was to “make ‘pride’ toxic” for companies, accusing corporations of pushing an agenda on Americans by having LGBTQ-themed merchandise or advertising campaigns.
“If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that they’ll pay a price,” he wrote. “It won’t be worth whatever they think they’ll gain.”
Sales of Bud Light have tanked amid an ongoing conservative boycott after the beer giant partnered with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a social media promotion earlier this spring.
“First Bud Light and now Target,” Walsh tweeted. “Our campaign is making progress. Let’s keep it going.”
In follow-up tweets, he wrote, “I think this Target boycott has real staying power. Target has now branded itself as a far left organization, to the point where it’s embarrassing to shop there. This is the branding that makes the boycott stick. It happened to Bud Light. I think it’s happening to Target.
“This is what conservatives have missed in the past with failed boycott attempts. It’s not enough to simply tell people not to shop somewhere or buy something,” he added. “You have to make it so they don’t want to.”
This is what conservatives have missed in the past with failed boycott attempts. It’s not enough to simply tell people not to shop somewhere or buy something. You have to make it so they don’t want to.
Conservative activist Rogan O’Handley celebrated Bud Light’s drop in company value and Target stock dropping on Wednesday, tweeting, “THIS IS WHAT WINNING LOOKS LIKE.”
Target is also being criticized by LGBTQ organizations — and could potentially face a backlash from LGBTQ consumers — for removing the Pride-themed merchandise and “caving” to conservatives.
“So Target is reportedly taking down Pride displays,” tweeted transgender journalist Erin Reed. “Really forgetting how the lesbian target demographic is so strong it’s a cliche. Corporations are not your friends. Target better not put up a rainbow logo this year if this is true. You don’t cave to fascists.”
So Target is reportedly taking down Pride displays. Really forgetting how the lesbian target demographic is so strong it’s a cliche.
Corporations are not your friends.
Target better not put up a rainbow logo this year if this is true.
In a follow-up, she noted how quickly Target caved to appease anti-LGBTQ conservatives:
“Rather than increase security, they double down. This isn’t the first time Target has faced threats like this — earlier, for instance, we saw videos like this around mask policies. They acquiesced here, though, without second thought.”
Rather than increase security, they double down. This isn't the first time Target has faced threats like this – earlier, for instance, we saw videos like this around mask policies. They acquiesced here, though, without second thought.https://t.co/fqaPOuM3Pw
“Anti-LGBTQ violence and hate should not be winning in America, but it will continue to until corporate leaders step up as heroes for their LGBTQ employees and consumers and do not cave to fringe activists calling for censorship,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement.
“The fact that a small group of extremists are threatening disgusting and harsh violence in response to Target continuing its long-standing tradition of offering products for everyone should be a wake-up call for consumers and is a reminder that LGBTQ people, venues, and events are being attacked with threats and violence like never before.”
David Johns, the executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, called Target’s response “beyond disappointing” and accused the company of “caving to violent political extremists.”
“Let’s be clear: removing items from its Pride Collection, or hiding them in the back of the store, is tantamount to insisting we all go back in the closet,” Johns said in a statement. “At a time when LGBTQ+ rights and people are under attack, at a time when extremist political forces want to exterminate us, pushing our diverse history, experiences, and ways of being into the shadows, we need everyone to speak out for us — including major corporations like Target, and Budweiser.
“This pride, Target, like hundreds of other major companies will declare their support to the LGBTQ+ community, switch their logos to rainbow colors, drape everything in pride flags, and sell a range of products specifically designed to boost their bottom lines. They will do this because the vast majority of the American people support LGBTQ+ rights. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t only support human rights where you are ‘safe’ from confrontation. Shame on Target.”
The CEO of Allstora, a new online bookstore co-founded by international drag star RuPaul, apologized for carrying books authored by several anti-LGBTQ extremists, including the founder of the Libs of TikTok account.
RuPaul announced the formation of Allstora in a March 4 TikTok video. He touted the platform as a place where readers could access books that might be at risk from censorship bans, offering up to 10 million different titles for sale.
However, the platform quickly came under criticism from the LGBTQ community for including titles that espoused right-wing and anti-LGBTQ messages.
The owner of a popular gay bar in the Russian city of Orenburg was arrested for "extremism" last week, just a few weeks after the club's art director and manager were arrested on similar charges.
Vyacheslav Khasanov, the owner of the LGBTQ nightclub Pose, was detained at the Moscow airport on March 29 and taken into custody, accused of "organizing the work of an extremist cell," according to Mediazona.
The club, which opened in 2021, regularly hosted drag parties. After the adoption of Russia's expanded law barring "LGBT propaganda," it marketed itself as a "bar-theater of parodies" and "a night bar with a show program."
José Rolón, who has 150,000 followers on Instagram and over 500,000 followers on TikTok under the user name @nycgaydad, found himself bombarded with threats from right-wing users after conservative commentator Stew Peters tagged him in an Instagram video.
In the video, Peters called Rolón a "creep" and a "pervert homo," and called for his public execution. He also accused Rolón of "criminal sexual conduct," tagging the New York Police Department and urging them to investigate the gay widower.
"Some pervert homo has access to at least four kids around the clock all the time," Peters said, misstating the number of Rolón's children. "He can take them to drag conventions and then post the evidence, post pictures and videos of criminal sexual conduct … and somehow not end up in jail, or better yet, the gallows."
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