Target moves Pride displays after “violent” customer backlash

[Ivy]

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/target-moves-pride-displays-after-violent-customer-backlash/

 

https://www.advocate.com/business/target-pride-threats-removal-employees

 

 

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”

 

Since the retailer unveiled its collection in early May, anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives have begun recording their visits to the store, either to criticize certain items or to harass employees about the displays.

 

"Several conservatives have said that they want to give Target 'the Bud Light treatment'.” 

 

Looks like they're working on that "Eradication" thing.  It's not only for trans people.

[Vidanjali]

In just the recent past, more and more businesses began to celebrate pride, incorporating rainbow logos and selling pride merchandise. There was some controversy over that emergence, but it was of the academic and quiet type. Thinkers posed such questions as "is corporate participation in pride so much virtue signaling, or a real sign of awakening acceptance?" and following that, "corporations celebrating pride - does it do more harm than good if it's merely performative to reflect what they believe their consumer base will be attracted to?" I think we're seeing the answers to those questions. It's not true allyship if it's so easily pushed back into the closet. Will the h8ers shout and shake their fists at the sky as well when an arch of refracted prismatic light appears following precipitation?

 

[Davie]

1 hour ago, Vidanjali said:

. Will the h8ers shout and shake their fists at the sky as well when an arch of refracted prismatic light appears following precipitation?

[VickySGV]

Ok, I have the time to go look at the Target stores near me out of pure curiosity on this one.  They are NOT my first go-to for my Pride merchandise fix of the year.  (I have already bought a shirt from my church's Pride ministry last Sunday afternoon). 

 

Two churches in the Pasadena CA area that are LGBTQ supportive have received E-mail threats of bomb and gun violence in recent weeks and a city beside mine has had two highly vocal anti-LGBTQ religious organizations rent store front "church" space, which the City Council is not happy about.  The actions are tying up serious law enforcement investigation time.  The advent of the "Selfie video" of a violent sounding and manufactured brief encounter phenomena is getting out of hand.  The fantasies about LGBTQ people harming, instead of nurturing children are running like cockroaches a lot of places I had not seen before, and they are becoming rallying cries. 

Yes, Target is selling the merchandise to make money with the least overhead for store security they can come up with, I am of the opinion that they do acknowledge us for our money with is capitalistic sense and not out of altruism.  It is nice to be a significant segment of the national buying power that gets recognized, and I am also aware that they lose even more if their employees are injured, physically or mentally. 

[Carolyn Marie]

I've underestimated the amount of violence inherent in the anti-LGBT, hysteria--fed right wing movements in this country.  They aren't content with just protests; they are in-your-face and threatening violence at every opportunity, both online and in-person.

 

We will soon lose all support from the business community.  Danger to their employees will trump sympathy for us.  Our community is in dire straits, and I'm talking about all the letters; L, G, B, T, & Q.

 

Carolyn Marie

[Davie]

44 minutes ago, Carolyn Marie said:

I've underestimated the amount of violence inherent in the anti-LGBT, hysteria--fed right wing movements in this country.  They aren't content with just protests; they are in-your-face and threatening violence at every opportunity, both online and in-person.

 

We will soon lose all support from the business community.  Danger to their employees will trump sympathy for us.  Our community is in dire straits, and I'm talking about all the letters; L, G, B, T, & Q.

 

Carolyn Marie

I'm afraid you're right, @Carolyn MarieA true democracy protects its most vulnerable minorities, but this is America, the profitable, we're talking about.

[Vidanjali]

8 hours ago, Carolyn Marie said:

they are in-your-face and threatening violence at every opportunity, both online and in-person.

 

It is tragically ironic. 

[RhondaS]

I did visit the local Target the other day and saw the tucking friendly merchandise amongst the more typical corporate Pride offerings, did wonder how long until it became the cultural battlefield of the moment. 

[VickySGV]

I did not go to my local store, but what exactly is "Tucking Friendly" swim apparel??  I hope our MtF sites have enough good info on "Tucking" that a singular garment is not needed for Pride Month, and why or how in the name of a Sainted Skunk would "tucking" become such a hot issue to Cis &*^% when all I hear is Trans who have no idea what it means.

[Carolyn Marie]

3 hours ago, VickySGV said:

 and why or how in the name of a Sainted Skunk would "tucking" become such a hot issue to Cis &*^% when all I hear is Trans who have no idea what it means.

 

It's not the garments per se, but the deliberate misinformation being put out by right wing pundits and bloggers who claim they are meant for toddlers and youth.  Someone from the MSM did a fact check on the air and said that the Target catalog had absolutely no "tucking friendly" bathing suits for anyone besides adults.  But facts are not the point, or the goal, of the right; just stoking more hysteria.

 

Carolyn Marie

[RhondaS]

[RhondaS]

"Tuck friendly construction" and "extra crotch coverage" are the words on the label on that hard to read image.

[VickySGV]

I am not naive to our needs, but incontinent adults, and pre-pottytraining children wearing diapers could benefit from that type of garment construction.  Yes I am picking apart the protestors arguments to show their bias and lack of critical thinking. OTOH, the garment creator could have used something other than a 'code word' for Trans users.  Do not poke sticks into wild animal's cages is an admonition I received often as a child.

[Ivy]

I guess underwear is getting political now…   I mean, why not?

Underwear cops instead of undercover cops.  Maybe undercover underwear cops?  They could work the public restroom beat.

What happens if I go "commando"?

[GlitchedSalvation]

This is getting ridiculous. I mean, so what? It just exists, it's not like you're FORCED to buy it. Just ignore it! Shop somewhere else if it's that big a deal to you! oh wait, they don't have the brain capacity for that.

[Carolyn Marie]

48 minutes ago, Ivy said:

Underwear cops instead of undercover cops.  Maybe undercover underwear cops?  They could work the public restroom beat.

What happens if I go "commando"?

 

"Captain Underpants" comes to mind.  My son used to love those books.  Oh, wait...I think those books are banned!

 

Curses, foiled again!

 

Carolyn Marie

[RhondaS]

I didn't check the kids section, but haven't heard that Target offered the 'tuck friendly' clothing in their sizes from any source than the people filming themselves vandalizing the stores. 

[Ivy]

I'm thinking they just carry them there to be misleading.  The actual truth doesn't matter when your object is to stir up some muck.

[Ivy]

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/conservatives-admit-that-bud-light-target-boycotts-are-about-making-pride-toxic-to-corporations/

 

"On his own Daily Wire show, host Michael Knowles reiterated Walsh’s point. “This has been the point that has been building for months now, which is we need to make that symbol toxic, the Pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic,” Knowles said. “We need to have companies think twice about it.”

 

And this…

"On The Daily Blast Live, host Erica Cobb accused Target specifically of “performative allyship.”

“This is the reason why everyone is so up in arms about people monetizing saying that they are allies,” she said. “Allyship is not meant to be comfortable. Why is it not meant to be comfortable? Because the people that you are aligning with aren’t comfortable. The whole point of allyship is to join forces, is to amplify minority voices. That means that you are in it with that group regardless. So, if you are going to back down from what you are doing—essentially just monetizing off of LGBTQIA+—that means that you were never about it to begin with.”

[Vidanjali]

1 hour ago, Ivy said:

"On his own Daily Wire show, host Michael Knowles reiterated Walsh’s point. “This has been the point that has been building for months now, which is we need to make that symbol toxic, the Pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic,” 

 

Do they even realize the irony of what they say. Something is either toxic or it isn't. Making something toxic implies applying toxicity to it, whereas there was none prior to application. And whence comes said toxicity? THEY (the h8ers) are the very source of that toxicity.

[Charlize]

2 hours ago, Vidanjali said:

Making something toxic implies applying toxicity to it, whereas there was none prior to application.

 

It is very much like making "woke" a dirty word.   Nonsense from specialists in nonsense.

[Ivy]

2 hours ago, Charlize said:

It is very much like making "woke" a dirty word.

Well, they don't want people to wake up.

[Mx.Drago]

5 hours ago, Ivy said:

Well, they don't want people to wake up.

It's hard to tell what they want cuz there was never any logic to the thought. They're so noisy it's like telling somebody "go to sleep" with a megaphone directed on the ear. Not only does it advertise the fruit, it sells it too. The situation is entirely messed up, evil, but what was I to expect.

[Susan R]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:24 AM, Carolyn Marie said:

I've underestimated the amount of violence inherent in the anti-LGBT, hysteria--fed right wing movements in this country.  They aren't content with just protests; they are in-your-face and threatening violence at every opportunity, both online and in-person.

This is the unfortunate truth. What bothers me the most about these attacks (especially the online variety) is the blatant and purposeful misinformation they spew. In general, the public take these lies and deceitful statements as fact without doing any due diligence. Reading the comments on any of these reveal the level of idiocy and ignorance about the LGBTQ+ but especially the T. Some of the anti-trans comments are so off-base and so far from the truth that I have to believe most are strategically posted by specific anti-trans groups. IMHO, It’s all one big dog & pony show.

[Ivy]

4 hours ago, Susan R said:

In general, the public take these lies and deceitful statements as fact without doing any due diligence.

The people into this scan the internet for the most outlandish individuals, and post the insanity as a supposed example of a trans person.  If you look hard enough, you'll eventually find a weirdo of some sort.  And it's easy to take a statement out of context and completely misrepresent what was actually being said.

If you can keep people angry enough, they won't think about what they're actually doing.