Target caves to right-wing terrorism, removes Pride merchandise for employee safety

[the artist formerly known as catmusic]

not gonna lie, this is the first year I'm genuinely worried about pride month. for years every company ever does their token corporate pride moment and has a rainbow logo and gets some generically masculine looking white dude in a suit to say how great it is to work for the company and get a cameo of their identical twin husband. I'm sure a lot of companies are planning to do the same old same old as they have for almost a decade now; but people are SO angry about it right now, idk what to expect. I hope companies realize their employees could be in danger and will take steps to protect them and allow them to defend themselves and their companies.

wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of companies follow suit though and scale back on pride month stuff after the inevitable backlash. corporate pride never meant anything, it was annoying, conditional, and performative, but idk, I remember the first year I came out how nice it was to feel like society as a whole was moving towards accepting me. doesn't feel that way anymore.

[jojoju1998]

Wow….

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories. 

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories. 

And why are these items worthy of boycott?

A.All terrorists here need to be arrested and locked up with the key thrown away if they were violent or made such threats
B. Tuck friendly swimsuits are fine, its better than the Dylan Mulvaney option of everyone having to normalize dick bulges.

C. The Satan stuff wasn't merely some shirt with the devil but an actual partnership target entered into with an actual Satanist. Satanism is basically a peak own the con move as the concept of Satan comes from Judaism/Christainity/Islam so not sure why one has to say they support Satan. I'm fine with satanic imagery and I can't exactly oppose Satanism as a non Abrahamicist but its kinda weird and I get why Christians oppose it. Extremely dumb move for Target to promote this stuff in the front of their stores.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/target-partners-with-satanist-brand-for-pride-collection/amp/

According to saner sources than the NY Post, Target has never sold that Satan Reapects Your Pronouns shirt, they just sell other 3 other products made by the same brand, Apbrallen, for their LGBT collection which has any references to Satan
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsCN6H0rn2H/?igshid=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/05/25/false-claim-target-sells-satan-respects-pronouns-shirt-fact-check/70252503007/

"Carnell [ie Apbrallen] said three products – a fanny pack that says “We Belong Everywhere,” a tote that says “Too Queer For Here” and a sweatshirt that says “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People” – were the only ones Target sold as part of the partnership between the two companies. Abprallen posted pictures of the products in a May 9 Facebook post that announced the collaboration and described them as “part one of the range” that would be sold by the retailer. "

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

https://twitter.com/ChudsOfTikTok/status/1661913985078251525?s=20
Amazing. If I can, I'm definitely gonna try and cop the 'Cure Transphobia, not Trans People' shirt if it comes back for sale.

Also this:

https://twitter.com/KodieKulp1/status/1661926287122866176?s=20

[Gass3268]

1.who cares?  One way or the other.
1a.you don't have to buy this sh**t
1b.you can buy them at places other than Target
2.wearing "satan" themed gear is what 13 year olds do who don't dare properly rebel, it's the equivalent of green hair.  It's better to just ignore it, they'll grow out of it.  Or they won't.  It's not your problem.
3.boycots are "terrorism" now?  Interesting story.

Boycotts aren't, but the threats of violence are.

[Pres Mike]

Good. No business should sell "tuck friendly" women swimwear where children shop. Glad Target did the right thing

[Alben Barkley]

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories.  

And why are these items worthy of boycott?

A.All terrorists here need to be arrested and locked up with the key thrown away if they were violent or made such threats
B. Tuck friendly swimsuits are fine, its better than the Dylan Mulvaney option of everyone having to normalize dick bulges.

C. The Satan stuff wasn't merely some shirt with the devil but an actual partnership target entered into with an actual Satanist. Satanism is basically a peak own the con move as the concept of Satan comes from Judaism/Christainity/Islam so not sure why one has to say they support Satan. I'm fine with satanic imagery and I can't exactly oppose Satanism as a non Abrahamicist but its kinda weird and I get why Christians oppose it. Extremely dumb move for Target to promote this stuff in the front of their stores.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/target-partners-with-satanist-brand-for-pride-collection/amp/

"Satanists" are indeed stupid edgelords, "I'm 14 and this is deep" r/atheism types in my experience. They don't ACTUALLY believe in or worship Satan, but they try to scare Christians by pretending to. It's cringe and "own the cons" is a good way of putting it, as it is reminiscent of a funhouse mirror version of the "own the libs" cringe common from the right. Also reminds me of the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" smuglords who peaked in like the late 2000s/early 2010s who thought they were so superior to religious people by claiming to be "Pastafarians." Even as a teenaged atheist, I thought this type of thing was cringe and counter-productive. I definitely do now. LGBT movement had its greatest success when it was trying to convince Americans that gay people are just like them and just wanted the same rights everyone else had. Flaunting their "queerness" and mocking religion, embracing the idea that their behavior is "sinful," seems like an easy way to turn people off to me. But in general I don't understand what if any strategy the post-Obergefell LGBT movement is trying to do, as someone who likes to think from an optics perspective. It's bizarre how they went from such a well-organized and successful campaign to such a fractured, confused mess that has managed, it seems to me, to actually undo some of their hard-fought progress in receiving respect from "normie" straights.

[DrScholl]

At this point left-wingers need to gather outside right-wing churches and blast explicit rap music during service. If right-wingers are going to harass stores then they need to be handed back their behavior.

[Horus]

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories.  

And why are these items worthy of boycott?

A.All terrorists here need to be arrested and locked up with the key thrown away if they were violent or made such threats
B. Tuck friendly swimsuits are fine, its better than the Dylan Mulvaney option of everyone having to normalize dick bulges.

C. The Satan stuff wasn't merely some shirt with the devil but an actual partnership target entered into with an actual Satanist. Satanism is basically a peak own the con move as the concept of Satan comes from Judaism/Christainity/Islam so not sure why one has to say they support Satan. I'm fine with satanic imagery and I can't exactly oppose Satanism as a non Abrahamicist but its kinda weird and I get why Christians oppose it. Extremely dumb move for Target to promote this stuff in the front of their stores.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/target-partners-with-satanist-brand-for-pride-collection/amp/

"Satanists" are indeed stupid edgelords, "I'm 14 and this is deep" r/atheism types in my experience. They don't ACTUALLY believe in or worship Satan, but they try to scare Christians by pretending to. It's cringe and "own the cons" is a good way of putting it, as it is reminiscent of a funhouse mirror version of the "own the libs" cringe common from the right. Also reminds me of the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" smuglords who peaked in like the late 2000s/early 2010s who thought they were so superior to religious people by claiming to be "Pastafarians." Even as a teenaged atheist, I thought this type of thing was cringe and counter-productive. I definitely do now. LGBT movement had its greatest success when it was trying to convince Americans that gay people are just like them and just wanted the same rights everyone else had. Flaunting their "queerness" and mocking religion, embracing the idea that their behavior is "sinful," seems like an easy way to turn people off to me. But in general I don't understand what if any strategy the post-Obergefell LGBT movement is trying to do, as someone who likes to think from an optics perspective. It's bizarre how they went from such a well-organized and successful campaign to such a fractured, confused mess that has managed, it seems to me, to actually undo some of their hard-fought progress in receiving respect from "normie" straights.

You said it yourself, the movement was most successful when trying to convince Americans that gay people are just like them. Gay and queer are not synonymous, and the queer movement is often intentionally confrontational and disrespectful, something that us regular boring brunch gays are less likely to be.

[Crumpets]

https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1662215816975372288

[jamestroll]

I blame the evil corporate notion of "The customer is always right" for the uncivilized savagery of American shoppers. It used to be that if you walked into a general store and started talking a bunch of sh-t and threatening people, the owner would throw your ass out or go grab his shotgun and demand you never step foot in their establishment again.

Now a patron can be flipping over entire displays of merchandise or screaming in the face of an employee and the manager just says, "Excuse me sir, please calm down." People would not behave this way if they didn't know they could get away with it.

I totally agree..

and I believe in fantastic customer service and cared for my customers/guests.

Customer is not always right, they are confused. Customers need explanations, and of course personalized service. Ironclad strict policies do not work for all situations.

My whole hospitality management career ended just because I told some recently graduated hospitality management majors off, but the timing was perfect. It was just as I secured a new position in a different industry.

I just literally told them, "This is not heart surgery, just relax. The work in this industry [hospitality] ultimately isn't that vital! Just because someone says something; it does not mean they are right or valid".

Yup.. that created such a huge backlash to me.

[lfromnj]

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories. 

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories. 

And why are these items worthy of boycott?

A.All terrorists here need to be arrested and locked up with the key thrown away if they were violent or made such threats
B. Tuck friendly swimsuits are fine, its better than the Dylan Mulvaney option of everyone having to normalize dick bulges.

C. The Satan stuff wasn't merely some shirt with the devil but an actual partnership target entered into with an actual Satanist. Satanism is basically a peak own the con move as the concept of Satan comes from Judaism/Christainity/Islam so not sure why one has to say they support Satan. I'm fine with satanic imagery and I can't exactly oppose Satanism as a non Abrahamicist but its kinda weird and I get why Christians oppose it. Extremely dumb move for Target to promote this stuff in the front of their stores.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/target-partners-with-satanist-brand-for-pride-collection/amp/

According to saner sources than the NY Post, Target has never sold that Satan Reapects Your Pronouns shirt, they just sell other 3 other products made by the same brand, Apbrallen, for their LGBT collection which has any references to Satan
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsCN6H0rn2H/?igshid=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/05/25/false-claim-target-sells-satan-respects-pronouns-shirt-fact-check/70252503007/

"Carnell [ie Apbrallen] said three products – a fanny pack that says “We Belong Everywhere,” a tote that says “Too Queer For Here” and a sweatshirt that says “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People” – were the only ones Target sold as part of the partnership between the two companies. Abprallen posted pictures of the products in a May 9 Facebook post that announced the collaboration and described them as “part one of the range” that would be sold by the retailer. "

Fair enough . I apologize over this .

[Del Tachi]

Also this:

https://twitter.com/KodieKulp1/status/1661926287122866176?s=20

Damn.  The gays really need to step up their game.  Mrs. Gore and Mrs. Baker be looking POISED, her fashion is indemnable!  That devil sweatshirt be absolutely horrid.    

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Good. No business should sell "tuck friendly" women swimwear where children shop. Glad Target did the right thing

You have to admit, even if you are against this kind of thing, that would be a ridiculous real world policy that would all but eradicate trans people from public life as almost everywhere that sells clothes is going to have the potential for children shopping there.

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/KUTV2News/status/1662204483558858752?s=20

[Mercenary]

At this point left-wingers need to gather outside right-wing churches and blast explicit rap music during service. If right-wingers are going to harass stores then they need to be handed back their behavior.

Rightwingers copy leftwing behavior with boycotts of stores over politics and the left response is to then turn around and harass church goers? Politicis really is about which side can be more horrible than the other and nothing more.

[7,052,770]

At this point left-wingers need to gather outside right-wing churches and blast explicit rap music during service. If right-wingers are going to harass stores then they need to be handed back their behavior.

Rightwingers copy leftwing behavior with boycotts of stores over politics and the left response is to then turn around and harass church goers? Politicis really is about which side can be more horrible than the other and nothing more.

There's nothing "horrible" about boycotts at all. If you don't want to shop at Target over this, fine. It's the bullying and threats of violence (with many examples of said threats being acted upon) where Republicans are going over the line here.

[DrScholl]

At this point left-wingers need to gather outside right-wing churches and blast explicit rap music during service. If right-wingers are going to harass stores then they need to be handed back their behavior.

Rightwingers copy leftwing behavior with boycotts of stores over politics and the left response is to then turn around and harass church goers? Politicis really is about which side can be more horrible than the other and nothing more.

What I described is a protest. The right-wing has been making bomb threats to target and also vandalizing displays within the stores.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Good. No business should sell "tuck friendly" women swimwear where children shop. Glad Target did the right thing

I'm pretty sure Target still has separate sections for women's clothing and children's clothing unless I'm missing something here.

[The Undefeatable Debbie Stabenow]

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories.  

And why are these items worthy of boycott?

A.All terrorists here need to be arrested and locked up with the key thrown away if they were violent or made such threats
B. Tuck friendly swimsuits are fine, its better than the Dylan Mulvaney option of everyone having to normalize dick bulges.

C. The Satan stuff wasn't merely some shirt with the devil but an actual partnership target entered into with an actual Satanist. Satanism is basically a peak own the con move as the concept of Satan comes from Judaism/Christainity/Islam so not sure why one has to say they support Satan. I'm fine with satanic imagery and I can't exactly oppose Satanism as a non Abrahamicist but its kinda weird and I get why Christians oppose it. Extremely dumb move for Target to promote this stuff in the front of their stores.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/target-partners-with-satanist-brand-for-pride-collection/amp/

"Satanists" are indeed stupid edgelords, "I'm 14 and this is deep" r/atheism types in my experience. They don't ACTUALLY believe in or worship Satan, but they try to scare Christians by pretending to. It's cringe and "own the cons" is a good way of putting it, as it is reminiscent of a funhouse mirror version of the "own the libs" cringe common from the right. Also reminds me of the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" smuglords who peaked in like the late 2000s/early 2010s who thought they were so superior to religious people by claiming to be "Pastafarians." Even as a teenaged atheist, I thought this type of thing was cringe and counter-productive. I definitely do now. LGBT movement had its greatest success when it was trying to convince Americans that gay people are just like them and just wanted the same rights everyone else had. Flaunting their "queerness" and mocking religion, embracing the idea that their behavior is "sinful," seems like an easy way to turn people off to me. But in general I don't understand what if any strategy the post-Obergefell LGBT movement is trying to do, as someone who likes to think from an optics perspective. It's bizarre how they went from such a well-organized and successful campaign to such a fractured, confused mess that has managed, it seems to me, to actually undo some of their hard-fought progress in receiving respect from "normie" straights.

To use your verbiage, some of us “flaunt” what we “flaunt” because we don’t want live our lives constantly concerned about being diligent soldiers in a political campaign to win respect from people who will only respect us if we present ourselves in a palatable conformist way. That’s not much of a victory at all. Frankly, it’s quite easy for non-LGBT people to make recommendations about “optics” when it’s not their behavior being policed in order to satisfy those optics goals.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Good. No business should sell "tuck friendly" women swimwear where children shop. Glad Target did the right thing

What's wrong with tuck friendly swimwear? The alternative is what probably a miniscule minority of trans people but unfortunately a decent chunk of the more in your face activist types and the standard insufferable Twitter people want, which is actually flaunting bulges to get people upset (and would actually be quite frowned upon and even argued to be sexual harassment coming from cis men.) But again that's a tiny minority and "tuck friendly" swimwear is a good thing to have for the trans people who aren't them.

The Satanic stuff on the other hand is pure evil and it's good that that's going away (although of course the threats and violence are not justified and those engaging in them need to be aggressively prosecuted.)

[Ferguson97]

Good. No business should sell "tuck friendly" women swimwear where children shop. Glad Target did the right thing

Target also sells lingerie, but I'm going to guess you and every other conservative doesn't have a problem with that.

[Hollywood]

The terrorist angle is the same media-driven hyperbole that we've seen since George Bush, and I honestly doubt there's actually been any serious or credible threats of violence.  Almost every politician and corporation has received threats from loons across the political spectrum.  During a boycott by either the left or right, there's almost always a small group of lunatics that choose to make threats.  

However, I'm inclined to believe that this new message is merely a clever marketing strategy, which justifies their removal of the clothes protestors find objectionable without pissing off the LGBTQ activists.  I find it unlikely that Corporate Employees are more concerned about the safety of their employees rather than the billions of dollars lost, as well as fear that their brand will continue to decline given the success of the Bud Light boycott.  Not only did Anheuser-Busch lose their core base of customers with their Dylan Mulvaney campaign, but they also lost LGBTQ customers when they pulled the trans-activist.  While not to the same extent as Anheuser-Busch, Target has managed to piss off both sides unwilling to buy the company's narrative.    

BTW... I don't find the clothing all that objectionable, even the ones that clearly express political messages, but I guarantee left-wing loons would find these items just as objectionable as the right if they expressed white, male, or heterosexual pride.  Imagine if the shirt said, "I'm so happy your straight" instead of "I'm so happy your gay" or "White Lives Matter" instead of "Black Lives Matter" or "Biological Males/Females will always Exist" instead of "Trans will always Exist" kid's shirt.  It's pretty stupid for any store to be selling shirts with political or racial/gender/sex pride messages, and I would find it strange that such shirts would be placed at the front entrance of my Target like the current Pride Collection.        

[Farmlands]

Apparently the two items that Target is removing will be "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits and Satan-themed LGBTQ+ accessories.  

And why are these items worthy of boycott?

A.All terrorists here need to be arrested and locked up with the key thrown away if they were violent or made such threats
B. Tuck friendly swimsuits are fine, its better than the Dylan Mulvaney option of everyone having to normalize dick bulges.

C. The Satan stuff wasn't merely some shirt with the devil but an actual partnership target entered into with an actual Satanist. Satanism is basically a peak own the con move as the concept of Satan comes from Judaism/Christainity/Islam so not sure why one has to say they support Satan. I'm fine with satanic imagery and I can't exactly oppose Satanism as a non Abrahamicist but its kinda weird and I get why Christians oppose it. Extremely dumb move for Target to promote this stuff in the front of their stores.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/target-partners-with-satanist-brand-for-pride-collection/amp/

Snip

To use your verbiage, some of us “flaunt” what we “flaunt” because we don’t want live our lives constantly concerned about being diligent soldiers in a political campaign to win respect from people who will only respect us if we present ourselves in a palatable conformist way. That’s not much of a victory at all. Frankly, it’s quite easy for non-LGBT people to make recommendations about “optics” when it’s not their behavior being policed in order to satisfy those optics goals.

Most people have no problem with others who are confident to be themselves and let society’s remarks be water off their backs, but the simultaneous rebellion/preaching act is what's off-putting for many. In a similar vein, the Satanist designer crying foul when it was his intention to upset Christians.

[Fuzzy Bear]

At this point left-wingers need to gather outside right-wing churches and blast explicit rap music during service. If right-wingers are going to harass stores then they need to be handed back their behavior.

Rightwingers copy leftwing behavior with boycotts of stores over politics and the left response is to then turn around and harass church goers? Politicis really is about which side can be more horrible than the other and nothing more.

What I described is a protest. The right-wing has been making bomb threats to target and also vandalizing displays within the stores.

Yet not a peep out of you when Target stores were being looted by BLM criminals in 2020.

People who make bomb threats need to go to jail.  But ALL of them, not just those whose ideology is favored.  Same with looters.

At a personal level I don't shop/not shop stores because of their politics.  I've shopped Walmart even though I'm not happy at all as to what they've done to much of small-town America.  I've shopped Target even though I've considered them mildly hostile to Evangelical Christians and openly supportive of social agendas I do not support.  What's amazing here is the Atlas Left getting upset not just with bomb threats (which are rightly called out and should be legally punished) and simple pushback from people who have as much right to be vocal in their objections to a retailer's marketing practices as anything else.

If a retailer wants to celebrate Pride Month, that's up to them.  That a retailer would demand that an employee actively affirm the concept of Pride Month by wearing a Rainbow pin or shirt, etc. is something else.  I'm fine with not forcing an unbeliever or someone with a religious objection to actively affirming Christmas, but that cuts both ways, and store employees should not have to affirm Pride Month as something they agree with when they don't.  Corporate America has gone there, and they've rightly received pushback.  If we're going to be a "diverse" society, learning to live and let live without requiring others affirm where you, personally, are at, is going to be a necessity for people to make this thing work.  That, quite frankly, goes double for the arm-twisters of the Woke Left than it does for the Far Right these days (although that certainly wasn't always the case).