Seven U.S. state attorneys general sent a letter to Target on Wednesday warning that clothes and merchandise sold as part of the company’s Pride month campaigns might violate their state’s child protection laws.
Republican attorneys general from Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina signed the letter, writing that they were “concerned by recent events involving the company’s ‘Pride’ campaign.”
The attorneys said that they believed the campaign was a “comprehensive effort to promote gender and sexual identity among children,” criticizing items like T-shirts that advertised popular drag queens and a T-shirt that said ‘Girls Gays Theys.’ They also highlighted merchandise with “anti Christian designs such as pentagrams, horned skulls and other Satanic products.”
The letter also criticized Target for donating to GLSEN, an LGBTQ+ organization that works to end bullying in schools based on sexual and gender identity. The company stated in a 2020 guide that school staff should not tell parents about a child’s gender or sexual orientation without consulting the child first, something the attorneys general said undermines “parents’ constitutional and statutory rights.”
The letter did not include any specific demands nor did it outline how they believe the campaign could violate child protection laws, but the attorneys general did suggest that Target might find it “more profitable to sell the type of Pride that enshrines the love of the United States.”
The attorneys general also said they believed Target’s Pride campaign threatened their financial interests, writing that Target leadership has a “fiduciary duty to our States as shareholders in the company” and suggesting that company officials “may be negligent” in promoting the campaign since it has negatively affected Target’s stock prices and led to some backlash among customers.
Target shares have declined 12% this year, but the company is facing issues far beyond the backlash to its Pride collection, which included onesies, bibs, and T-shirts for babies and children. Like many retailers, the company is struggling with a pullback in consumer spending because of high inflation, which has weighed on its profits.
But Target is also facing scrutiny for its merchandise selection, including its Pride line, with its stores removing some of the items in May after facing threats. At the time, the company didn’t specify which products were being removed, although Target has faced criticism online over swimsuits advertised as “tuck-friendly” with “extra crotch coverage” in its Pride collection.
“Target’s management has no duty to fill stores with objectionable goods, let alone endorse or feature them in attention-grabbing displays at the behest of radical activists,” the attorneys general wrote. “However, Target management does have fiduciary duties to its shareholders to prudently manage the company and act loyally in the company’s best interests.”
Backlash to the Pride campaign did involve threats of violence to Target stores and workers. Some merchandise was relocated to less popular areas of the store, and other pieces, including the swimsuits criticized by the attorneys general, were removed.
“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 earlier in June. “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.”
Aimee Picchi contributed reporting
Scottie's Playtime 
Reblogged this on Filosofa's Word and commented:
When I first read this on Scottie’s Playtime I literally saw red. I was so incensed … still am, for that matter! What the Sam Hell is wrong with people??? I have half a mind (no comments on that, please!) to write a letter to each of these Attorneys General and let them know just what I think of their narrow-minded, shallow, unconscionable bigotry! Grrrrrrrrrrrr … Anyway, please click on the link in the first paragraph of Scottie’s post to read the actual letter … if this doesn’t get your dander up, then nothing will. Thank you, Scottie, for sharing this and raising our blood pressure into the stratosphere!
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Hello Jill. Thank you. I am glad you feel so strongly about the attempt to wipe all LGBTQ+ from the public and social acceptance. Somehow these people think if all representation of LGBTQ+ is gone, and no kid sees rainbows, then no kid will ever be gay or trans. And if they are, they will be force to hide it in shame and live in misery all their lives. Hugs
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In the words of the great, late Dr. Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” I do not understand how or why ANYBODY thinks it’s their business, or how they feel ‘threatened’ by the LGBTQ people! It infuriates me! What they don’t understand, they must hate, rather than trying to gain knowledge, to talk to people, to try to understand. It seems people just hate and condemn everyone who doesn’t look, act, and think just like they do. Sigh. It’s beyond old … society needs to grow up. Hugs
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Well, this is great. Soooo, these law enforcement officials are not going to do anything to pursue actual death threats against the employees of the Target stores…they’re more concerned about the “threat” of some rainbows and trans-friendly clothing? Glad they know what their priorities are? Grrrr.
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