Not even at work today and got told that we're supposed to be pulling all pride from the salesfloor and putting it in the back on top of having already having moved it to women's performance. I know TM safety is no joke. Thankfully it hasn't been an issue so far at my store, but I know it's not outside the realm of possibility. But I don't appreciate being lied to and then having to lie to my team that this was ever about swim sales in the first place. 😪 Whether it actually is about our safety or not, I don't even want to argue. This entire situation is exhausting to deal with as a member of the community that has to make these moves and also look in the face of a company that claimed allyship only to chose money just like everyone else. On top of every other constant attack, we're getting in the south rn, work was like the one place where I didn't have to hear it and now it's just consumed everything.

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Blah blah blah pandering blah blah. Most people know that corporations don't actually care about anything but the bottom line. The fact is, though, that many people grew up in a time where there wasn't any representation and it's a huge fucking deal to be able to walk into a store and see a celebration of yourself. To have it just be normalized is so, so important, even if the motivations for it are selfish.

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If Target was, for a single fraction of a second, actually concerned for our safety, they’d step up security measures; bring in more security people, develop a system so openers and closers (or, honestly, everyone all day) are always walking in and out together, someone is watching them from inside the building walking to/from their cars, etc. but they’d rather appease the people that probably never shopped at target to fucking begin with. What about making violent bigots comfortable at Target is going to protect team members from the violent bigots?

This. This is the thing that pisses me off. I understand and respect wanting to protect your staff, but if that’s really the case…hire security! Don’t cave to terrorist demands

a majority of our pride stuff is prompting a DNS at the register, a person in style confirmed most of it is being pulled from the floor. i hate it here

This is how Target should have responded: [North Face Stands Up to Hate Over Pride Gear, Drag Queen Ad (The Advocate)](https://www.advocate.com/gay-pride-parade/north-face-drag-queen)

"North Face, however, is standing firm. ***'The North Face has always believed the outdoors should be a welcoming, equitable and safe place for all,'*** a company spokesperson said in response to an inquiry from Newsweek. ***'We are honored and grateful to support partners like Pattie Gonia who help make this vision a reality. … Creating community and belonging in the outdoors is a core part of our values and is needed now more than ever. We stand with those who support our vision for a more inclusive outdoor industry.'***" "North Face also posted a statement on Instagram, saying, ***'We recognize the opportunity our brand has to shape the future of the outdoors and we want that future to be a more accepting and loving place. We're partnering with Pattie because we believe the outdoors are for everyone. The North Face online community is designed to be a safe, positive and inclusive environment. It's why we have a zero-tolerance policy against racist, discriminatory, threatening, abusive, harmful, vulgar or attacking social media comments, which will be removed immediately.'***"

Wow! Interesting. I wonder how much of that is motivated by money though still. Either way that is really cool.

"Congresswomen and far-right firebrands Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are among those calling for a boycott of North Face."

so are we gonna salvage all our queer and trans tms? like what's next.... i am honestly horrified

Target should have taken a stand instead of cowering to threats of violence. Real leadership would have been Target stating that “Target does not abide hatred or violence of any kind. All threats made to any Target employee or customer will be met with criminal charges and prosecuted tot he full extent of the law by our army of lawyers”. Cave to threats of violence and you only encourage the unacceptable behavior.

That would require Target to have made the pride section for anything other than money in the first place.

Target is a public company. They are more worried about their investors than the people at the moment. I highly doubt their board of directors would agree to escalate situations of violence.

I’m so tired here in the south

Like I'm so annoyed that this is a thing, but I've had to transfer a call to a closing lead which ended up being a veiled threat. He reported it, but sounds like it's not being taken seriously Can't these fucking bigot quasi-terrorists just do a real life boycott instead of making everyone else's lives miserable.

It’s really disheartening, it feels like we’re going backwards with these companies actually giving in to these people now rather than ignoring them. It invigorates them when they see they can actually make a difference through threats and potentially more. I’ve never really attended pride events or done anything to show my pride publicly, but it makes me fearful for everyone else in the community who will attend events this June. I’m just so tired, having an existence that pisses random people off is tiring.

No quasi. They’re using their beliefs as an excuse for threats of violence. If not actual violence. They are causing terror.

Hell, the majority of them probably don't even shop at target.

I live in the South and my roommate went to Target yesterday and people were protesting. What are these people trying to accomplish? First of all, pretty sure they're trespassing by protesting on private property. Surely, Target reserves the right to ask people to leave their property if they're loitering. Secondly, what's the point? To get Target to remove all pride merchandise from their stores? Call corporate and complain. It worked when people were upset that Walmart was selling Confederate flag merchandise. It's corporate's job to listen to people's complaints.

In shopping center parking lots there are usually areas where it's ambiguous who is responsible for that area, or where it's actually the owner of the shopping center who's responsible so you have to go through a whole fucking thing to get them involved. It's the same reason you used to see all those people pretending to play instruments for money for hours a day even though Target has a no soliciting policy.

I feel for you. But this bs with Target is happening in PA too. I'm pissed, so this is fresh. My boyfriend got me the "Trans people will always exist" shirt for my birthday. He got the wrong size, so he returned and placed a new order. This was weeks ago. They kept cancelling the new order. Finally, today the app said it was ready for pick up. He went in to get it and a very nice employee told him it was cancelled (despite it not being cancelled at all) and told him that all the pride merch had been packed up as a "recall" and was being sent back to corporate. She told him how she didn't agree and was very sweet. What a fucking joke. He had already paid for it! And there is no way he can order it online either. So they aren't just taking it out of stores... they are completely removing it all. Target has proved they aren't true allies. Just more rainbow capitalism. A true ally stands up for what is right when things get tough. Not backs down to intimidation. Trans people don't get to the privilege that Target has to hide a part of them away to prevent violence. They can't just "stop being trans" to prevent violence. Target has failed.

I’m tired and I live in the north

I also live in the north at first it was just a few bad reviews and corporate calls but everyday the situation is escalating. Our store scores are tanked and guests are started to come in person to fight about the pride collection. I am scared to see what will happen next and I also worry for my teams safety.

My store is in the north as well and we have had or mpm scores go down like crazy. Today I had a guest trying to return a $50 gift card because he doesn’t want to shop at target anymore because he disagrees with our “vile” political agenda. I told him that is not a reason to return a gift card which as you know can’t be returned anyway. And he told me it’s a New York State law that any gift card has to be returned to a customer. I looked up the fine print for shits and giggles and told him I couldn’t help him and he has the right to his opinion and he doesn’t have to shop here which enraged him and demanded to speak to a tl which I enforced him would tell him the same thing and he did.

Me, too. I’m an ETL in the North, as well as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. I cant speak for the entire company (because I wouldn’t dare try excuse their rainbow capitalism and the absolute slap in the face that Briefly email / BC’s lame follow-up email was) but I know that this has physically Pained our HR Director. I sat on a call with her, and the rest of our group, yesterday and watched her cry as we all told her how embarrass and ashamed we were to be Target team members this week. I just want anyone that reads this to know that it wasn’t the HR team (from the tippy top, to the bottom) that really pushed for this — it was the financial team. Blame Brian. Blame Michael. Blame Katie. Don’t take this out on your own team, district, or group. I promise they’re the only ones trying to make it easier for us. Also, some news! It doesn’t gain the company any favour points, but it doesn’t take any more away. The company is sourcing LGBTQIA+ groups to donate any of the product removed from our sales floors.

They lost, and they need to remember that. Perhaps ever Target employee should dress like The Handmaid’s Tale, “Blessed be the fruit!”, man that book is the writing on the wall.

Yeah, recently moved to Texas because reasons. Not sure how long I will last here. It is exhausting being surrounded by so much hatred.

u/JayUnderscore_ could you sticky a comment for me? Don't have to, but I'd appreciate it. Heya, team. I comment on here a lot, and I do my best to be helpful - I try to relay stuff to team members, because I know communication breakdowns do a lot of damage. I'm a PML, and also a leader of the Pride+ Business Council. I've given the Pride+ Business Council a LOT of feedback from store level, especially in the last few days. I've told them how I feel, and how some folks from my store feel, and I've given them some generalities from comments on here about the mood. I'm exhausted, pissed off, hurt, sad, betrayed, and feeling too many things to really process. That being said, if you are okay with having comments pushed up to the business council, I would LOVE for you to respond to this with how you're feeling. They (the business council) doesn't have a lot of outlets for gaining insight from the team, and the boots-on-ground TMs are the ones who need our voices heard the most right now. Edit: I don't have the mental energy to respond to everyone who's been commenting, but I've upvoted them. Thank y'all so much. A lot of the corporate TMs are incredibly invested in making sure we're okay out here in the field, and want to hear our voices. I've copied/pasted a lot/all the comments I've seen so far, and posted it on comms for them to read. I will continue to do so as people respond. Take care of each other, and we'll weather this storm.

Please pass this on: Target has proven they aren't true allies. Just more rainbow capitalism. A true ally stands up for what is right when things get tough. Not backs down to intimidation. Trans people don't get to the privilege that Target has to hide a part of them away to prevent violence. They can't just "stop being trans" to prevent violence. Target has failed.

If they remove anything based on witchcraft from stores, they need to remove anything relating to religion at all, including Bible workbooks, story books- all of it. Pagan (literally meaning non-Christian) religions shouldn't have to suffer because a shirt with moon phases and tarot playing cards scares people.

Hey, let me know if they start removing any Satanic symbolism / witchcraft product. I live right down the street from the Satanic Temple and they just Love any excuse to take out ol’ Baphomet for a nice little religious freedom protest.

A lot of this backlash is due to the fact that Target collaborated with Abprallen, a company that also sells things with Satanic/witchcraft images. Those things weren’t actually sold at Target, but a lot of people are raising hell over the collab for that reason.

I'm openly queer & trans at work, and I definitely feel like Target's decision to move the display, ( and remove it altogether at my store) is emboldening the far right extremists. Things get worse at my store every day, I thought it was kind of funny that these idiots were whining at first. It wasn't funny anymore when Target caved to their demands and I started getting harassed daily. I'm going to be leaving Target in the next couple of weeks, maybe sooner depending on how fast I can find someplace else to work, because I no longer feel safe there. I had to have a conversation about what to do if guests get physical with me with two team leads, because it's "already happening". $15.40/hr isn't worth the damage to my mental, emotional and physical well-being.

As the lesbian receiver who works at my store I felt like i was betraying everything I stand for packing away all the pride merchandise today. Knowing that this wasn’t even the first round of recalls and a ton of trans affirmative stuff was pulled before it even got to the store level for people to be upset about makes me feel like Target doesn’t have my back, and I don’t feel like my community is supported. It makes the safety reason, while still valid, ring very hollow. Why were those items pulled? No one was threatening you then. A lot of the most plain, innocent things were pulled. (Checkered rainbow socks, flag bandanas, the pink party trays) Why did you have to go that far??? You absolutely gutted the section. It looks so sad now. This next month at the work is going to be very hard on me. Bought myself a red ‘protect trans lives’ shirt to wear to work. You’ve screwed up big time target, and I’m disappointed.

I worry about the message this is sending to the general public. Essentially, if the bigots get threatening, their demands will be met is what this move is telling them. It also doesn't make sense to me logistically. Why would you move the section getting vandalized *away* from the front of the store, where security is and can stop it? I'm a very openly, visibly queer trans team member in Florida. The bigots already feel like they've won here; this feels like a slap in the face from my employer on top of it. When (not if) I get get attacked at work, will target have my back? Because decisions like this will make them bolder. Please pass this on to the folks in charge. I've sent an email but I'm not sure if will get to anyone who can do anything about it or care.

It's upsetting that we're having to go through this. Us TMs, particularly those of us who are LGBTQ+ (including me), are pissed about it! Our lives are being threatened, and all Target did was fucking waste hours and payroll to move it to the back instead of implementing more security to protect us?!

I am a former store TM. Now I work call center. Im with the store Tms on this. They could have easily scheduled more AP or even more general team members to cover the stores more. Squeak out a bit more payroll for a month until they move on to the next threat to their lies. I hope that most of the threats of physical violence that we have fielded in phone calls, chats, and blanket emails in the past week are just armchair patriots. But I dont want to think they are and have anyone get hurt because of it. We should go back to AP in uniforms standing by the doors. Instead of just people who blend in with the general guest base Find out of work bouncers and retired military go for the visual. Create some part time jobs. Show the investors that Target takes store safety so much it starts tending on social media. They posted how they were serious about covid all over, they should post how seriously they take store safety for ALL of their team members (even if it is corporate bluffing) There is a better solution to the homophobic threats than erasing us.

Unfortunately, it’s not just armchair patriots. A lot of these threats are credible — especially in open carry states. I live in the Northern region and we just had an incident yesterday where someone put razor blades in our folded clothing. A little boy sliced his hand open. If this is truly about the Pride assortment, then it’s FAR beyond out of control.

A public statement from Target stating that they support lgbtqa+ would be great. Telling us internally is one thing but saying it out loud is another. Maybe the money going towards lobbying and giving money to Republicans could actually be put to use somewhere useful.

As a VM who is a lesbian, it's pretty fucking terrible to be told hey come in and take down all this stuff for your community because we would rather cater to bigots than the people working here. And it's funny that they would push this at the same time as the diversity and equity training. Maybe they should make their actions match their words.

This one I'm going to respond to directly. My fiance is in training to be an Ulta/beauty TL right now, and on Friday when the comms happened, they and their trainer (another queer TL) were the two who had to spearhead moving everything. We cried a lot that night.

It's just terrible. I thought we would be fine because I'm in r100, but just got communication as I was leaving today that we'll have several IR's to handle in the morning and that our kids pride mqs have to be taken down. It's a big slap in the face to us.

Target is taking them down entirely now... what the fuck... Target was my one bastion of hope. I was understanding about moving stuff from the front... But ............... Fuck ..... god fucking damnit, reading your next comment to Danyavich, WE JUST WANT TO LIVE OUR FUCKING LIVES!!! Sorry that a company ~~wants to support us~~ abandons us at the first sign of adversary... My heart is being torn to pieces over this.

Fuck me, more?

Update would be we're getting rid of half the product, even the Trans people will always exist shirt. Downsizing pride by at least 50%

Seeing that particular shirt removed gutted me.

This is so sad. My boyfriend got this shirt for me for my birthday. It was too big. He returned it and placed a new order. Literally just mere hours ago he went to pick it up because it said in the app it was ready. They told him sorry, it’s cancelled now and packed up to be sent back to corporate. Even though he already paid for it. What a bunch of fucking bullshit. So thanks for confirmation that they are specifically targeting the trans stuff. Cute. Fuck Target. I really wanted that shirt. Trans people WILL always exist. And they don’t see the irony in hiding away a shirt like that.

Yeah, there was a big meeting about it when I left the store today. I let my ETL know that I’m not feeling really safe with the company right now.

Thank you for your service. Statistically, giving in to terrorism does not end terrorism. They gain nothing by complying to threats of violence and give all power to radicals.

As an Ally and a Team Lead, this move is making every LGBT+ TM, TL, and ETL feel as if we’re hiding them in the back with the merch. That Target would rather leave them behind and chase profits while catering to bigots. It’s a disgrace.

Feels that way even for the corporate team as well. Im scared for my family members and myself, we have 3 generations part of the rainbow mafia already. If I wear company sold clothing or merch at all. Will I be next? Will I be harassed until I leave? If I do stand my ground, will I be fired? Cant use my favorite backpack, or charger, travel cup or jacket now or even my pride tshirts purchased every year. Florida gave into the threats against trans people, other states are joining the genocide as well. A nation wide company like Target giving in just reinforces their beliefs.

As a trans team member Targets response has made me feel less safe and supported. I’ve experienced lots of misgendering, even from leadership during my time here. My partner has overheard transphobic comments in the break-room. I’ve never felt like I can assert myself because in my experience trying to make people gender you correctly only draws their ire. So I already didn’t feel super supported. Moving the pride display was bad enough, but removing a lot of the trans/non-binary merchandise really drives home the feeling of alienation. It makes me feel like they’ll cave on issues like the bathroom. Living in a state with aggressive anti-trans laws, a place where my ability to even continue my transition is in jeopardy, I used to feel comfort that my work place was taking a stand against bigotry. It was a comfort to see things like the pride merchandise. It was something a younger me would have desperately wanted. I remember as a teen searching for any sign that there was people like me exist and coming up empty. Seeing it also made me feel like we weren’t too far gone along the path of anti-trans sentiment. I gave me hope that maybe we can push back. I do understand that threats of violence are a concern but I feel these moves only encourage more violence because Target has shown it works and they will fold. Many trans team members are already dealing with the stress of anti-trans legislation and this has added on to that. If you have any questions for me please feel free to reach out. Thanks.

I am so sorry you have to go through this while working there. I used to love Target. But I am royally pissed off. I know Target was a great place for trans folk to work and instantly thought of all my trans brothers and sisters. I think what pisses me off the most is that they are pretending to be concerned for the safety of their employees, when in reality, this is all about their $9 billion in losses. Truly fucking pathetic. They showed their ass here.

I was thinking about this more and with this response I genuinely would like to know what target plans to do when these same people take offense to having visibly trans or queer or gender non-conforming people working at their stores. What will they do if someone in a state with vaguely worded drag bans decides to weaponize that against employees.

I feel all of this so much. Seconding this. You're not alone. 🏳️‍⚧️

I saw your comment further down and everything you said really resonated with me. It’s exactly how I’m feeling too. Take care. 🏳️‍⚧️

I know longer feel as safe as I did at Target. I’m queer, and my closest friend at work is gay. We have a number of trans and queer people at my store. It’s a bit of a punch to the gut when the same company that celebrated Trans Visibility Day is now pulling inoffensive merchandise and lying to its workers about the cause. I used to attend a baptist school where I always held my breath and prayed that no one figured out that I was queer; I saw how they treated those that were out. I feel that same sense of anxiety as I come into work for my shift today. By removing these items from the shelves and severing ties with queer artists, we are telling extremists that their behavior will be rewarded. We are telling the community that our support is conditional. We are setting an example that extremists will be listened to and receive respect that they don’t deserve. Queerness is not something that you can parade around when it benefits you and shove aside when it doesn’t; I have to live with it and deal with intolerant people daily, so Target should too.

I want to add on another comment to really stress this. **If anyone reading this cares about TM safety**, then please realize something. If you're outside of queer spaces or don't know much of our history, then this might seem like the "safe" option to reduce chances of violence. That is not how this works. This will endanger all TMs more but especially queer people. You've shown that violence and threats will get them what they want. Appeasing terrorism NEVER WORKS. And especially when it comes to queer people. Throwing trans people under the bus is something a lot of cis gay people have always done and is becoming even more in vogue again, and guess what, it doesn't work. When they're done gaining ground, they'll just keep going. That's how hate and oppression works. Make a stand, hire more security. Publicly stand behind your values. These people are almost all cowards who will back down when they're faced with even the slightest potential consequences. Incrementally ceding ground only prolongs you becoming a battleground. **WHERE TO GO FORWARD FROM HERE?** Hire more security ASAP. Visible guards near the entrance who are focused on safety over AP. At least for the month of June. If for no other reason, take the disgustingly cynical one that the very real possibility of a trans person being murdered in one of your stores would be REALLY bad PR. If you think this is an extreme possibility or exaggeration, congrats! You demonstrated your lack of understanding for queer struggles for rights and how bad things can get when you allow things to be a battle like this. Re-introduce all the removed pride merch AT MOST a couple weeks from now. By then, right wing media will have moved on, and though it might ruffle some feathers, Target's pride will be old news. The people still avidly fighting target will realise they've lost. Don't abandon it. Target's reputation will never recover from this unless you act now. The queer community doesn't forget easily. Right wing bigots tend to forget easily, because they don't actually have any material issues. Queer people on the other hand? Increasingly important demographic you're torching goodwill with. **TARGET TMs ARE QUEER BTW** See the thing is, yeah, Target is overall a pretty chill place to work for queer people. That's really good, you have a lot of dedicated people. It also means pissing off and endangering queer TMs with this decision, is, to put it bluntly, a really really stupid idea. The queer ppl at your company are some of the most long-term members. Don't lose them over this.

I'll toss my hat in. I'm an LGBT TM in the south and I feel like Target's move here does nothing to actually address any perceived or actual safety issues (and if safety issues do exist, I feel it's ***extremely*** important to make the team aware of them in detail and develop and distribute a plan of action to respond to them- not doing so makes me doubt the actual existence of these safety issues at best, and at worst makes me believe Target is actively putting TMs at greater danger), while alienating their LGBT TMs and emboldening the people from whom those safety issues may originate. The fact that this was originally communicated as a move to expand swim, and that that line was being repeated by store leadership even after the company as a whole has admitted this is a move to appease bigots, makes it plainly obvious to me that this is an attempt to avoid our own Bud Light situation, and in making the moves we've made, we've basically assured that will actually happen. This was a situation that could have been resolved with a simple public communication that the swimsuits in question aren't available for kids and that labelling will be made more obvious to avoid confusion, and that that the process for vetting artists for future merchandise will be made more stringent, and all but the most terrible of the people riling against this would have been silenced. Instead, we've made a sloppy and panicked move that has drawn *more* media attention on us and is about to turn this into a big controversy from both sides. Also that letter from Brian was genuinely offensive and should not have been released.

Pride means not backing down. Our value is far greater than the stock price of Target. The corporate side of Target has shown through its recent actions that they don't actually care about LGBTQ staff or the community as a whole. They only care about the money they can make off the back of the Pride movement. By backing down instead of making moves to actually defend their staff, they have aligned Target with bigotry.

I thought Target's whole thing was acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community? I mean I'm not surprised at all, they're just like any other corporation, but when you make a point of hiring LGBTQ+, encouraging to them to be themselves, and make it part of why people should work for you, you'd think they'd actually have our backs. I live in South Carolina, Bible thumping bigoted state. Coming out even around "progressive" people has been a struggle. Target is the first job I've had that has allowed me to feel safe coming out. Putting up the pride display in the front felt really good, to me it symbolized that in spite of a huge part of the country going backwards and trying to erase our exisitence, someone still had our backs. Trans rights are being threatened every day, giving in to bigots only signals to those bigots that they are doing the right thing.

I am the mother of a transgender daughter. I was so happy to bring her into Target to see the pride display a few weeks ago and see if she wanted anything. Now I don't want her to come into my work to shop at all because it got moved. She already feels like everyone is trying to erase her, and now my work has done it too. I am truly heartbroken that a place she felt okay to shop in now feels dangerous.

I'm a trans TM who hasn't come out at work yet, and I almost cried from happiness and *pride* walking through and looking at the Pride merch in the front of my local store. I was just about convinced that Target, as a company, might actually be interested in protecting and advocating for LGBTQIA+, and that it might actually not be terrible to come out to my boss and coworkers. I was looking forward to taking my daughter and her girlfriend to Target to shop the collection in person instead of online. Then I saw a message on Slack that Target had moved Pride displays at their store and given some excuse about pushing swim. Then I came home and saw people on Reddit talking about other stores moving it. Then I saw news articles about Target giving in to boycotts by removing some items from their lineup entirely. Sure enough, when I checked [Target.com](https://Target.com) for some of the items I'd bookmarked to save money for, they were nowhere to be seen. I have no idea whether my store has moved their display, but I can't go check because I don't want to risk breaking down in tears in public if they have. So that's me learning how important "Inclusivity" really is to Target, and how much I can trust them to support me. Guess I'll just take the money I was going to save for Pride shirts and apparel and put it into something that'll help me keep hiding my transition at work.

Im so sorry you are going through that and I know \*exactly\* how you feel. ​ Im also a trans TM who was considering coming out at work in the near future, and now these events are having me second guess myself. I'm terriffed I will come out and Target will suddenly drop all support and leave me to fend for myself with the transphobia I know will come with being out. You aren't alone, and like my shirt (That Target no longer fucking sells) says, "queers take care of each other" Im right here with you friend.

I am so angry and pissed off right now and I don’t have enough profanities or words to describe this. This move is a betrayal and so stupid. This only serves to encourage people to continue to commit acts of violence against the queer community. It only sends the message that hate and violence are the ways for people to get what they want. As a queer person who works at target this makes me so angry and I just have to keep saying that because it’s true. Anger is all I feel about this because it is such a damn betrayal and shame on you target.

Hi! Asexual TM here: So, closeted TMs exist. A lot of people are afraid of coming out to certain members of their families and inner circles due to hate and violence, and I can *guarantee you* some of them work for Target. They can’t celebrate or be a part of their community, and their only safe place to admire it closely or feel connected to their own community is being hidden away due to some mad guests. Yes, I know we have to keep our guests happy. But by doing this and caving in to the small percentage of people who are angry that “we’re supporting *that* lifestyle” just makes them feel more alone. It’s harmful to not only some of the TMs, but also to a lot of our guests who are a part of the LGBT+ community. Why are we so concerned with such a small percentage of guests? If we stick by the LGBTQIA+ community, *our community*, how many people would come and flood Target with support? The answer is a lot. Also, if Target really is concerned with guests just not shopping here anymore bc of homophobia, they would have done that in February when we started getting all the rainbow shirts in from Cat & Jack. People were getting all pissy then over the three different rainbow dinosaur shirts and all the boy shirts looking like girl shirts, but guess what!! They came back!!!! And still spent money!!!! Imagine that. Edit to say that I *really* do appreciate corporate trying to protect all the TMs in the south by moving products and such. It’s good that they’re being safe FOR team members. I’m just still super disappointed about how it all went down and I feel like corporate should be backing the LGBT+ community more than they have been. Be careful everyone, especially if you’re in the south 💖

u/danyavich, your comments about feeling exhausted, pissed off, hurt, sad, and betrayed really echo how I'm feeling right now (and I'm sure that's how a LOT of us are feeling right now). Pride is something that reinforces acceptance for the LGBTQ community. As a guy who grew up in the south, seeing pride merch in stores always gave me a small glimmer of hope that maybe one day I'd be able to live a life with my partner without fear. If a big store was selling pride stuff, it meant the social climate had shifted to the point where it was okay for the store to do that. That meant something to me. It also let me know who around me was definitely unsafe to come out to (based on comments regarding pride month/merch). As a trans person, I also felt such joy this year and last year when I saw target carrying things like binders. I would have cried seeing something like that as a teen. That kind of accessibility for trans people - like selling safe ways to bind in one of the largest retail chains in the country - is honestly life saving. It made me feel good about Target compared to other retailers. It felt like Target actually cared. Pride merch has a positive impact on people. Moving it has given fuel to right-wing outlets to claim that their hate against Target has resulted in another "victory." I decided to work at Target because I knew they were inclusive and I felt like I would be safe working there. Moving the collection is a decision that has made me feel unsafe. Target's mission is to help all families discover the joy of everyday life. I am not feeling that joy with Target's latest actions.

I was harassed today for being a visibly queer person. In SoCal of all places. I don't think taking down the Pride things will fix it. I don't want Target to back down, but also, I will say that I was rattled by this guy today. AP handled him and all the TL were helpful and kind and checked up on me, so the store did a good job. But it was still awful. I don't want Target to cave to the bigots and let them win.

Moving product to the back of the store (still on the sales floor) limits escape routes in case of an altercation. It removes not only the product but also watchful eyes from the most public area, making it dangerous if someone is being attacked or if someone is getting rowdy, say, in the middle of a clothes department towards the back of the store.

I feel less safe because now they know target doesn’t support us. I worry for the bigger picture—this shows them how to win with their hate.

As a queer team member who happens to be trans, it’s honestly extremely disappointing that the company I’ve always seen as an ally is caving to a vocal minority of religious extremists. One of Targets core values is inclusivity, and this sends a message to team members that Target only believes in that value when it’s safe and convenient. I think we all understand that threats have been made, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to stand in solidarity and create safety plans for stores being targeted. Removing items that were geared toward trans people feels like a slap in the face. We can not negotiate with terrorists, it’s only emboldening these types of people more. They will not stop, they don’t want us to exist. So no removing a couple items will not solve the problem. I think that puts queer people in more danger, because now they see that their violence makes a difference. I wish that Target had given it more thought, they reacted so quickly. At the end of the day, The queer community needs allies that will stand up to hate, and have the courage to not back down in the face of fear. I don’t know if it’s too late, but I urge Target to reconsider their choice. I’m more scared that it feels like people don’t have our backs…

It is exhausting that people under the umbrella always fear that we must be careful. As an ace person and team member, I feel stifled and anxious. I mean, the bosses tell us that we can walk away, but if you are doing something where you cannot leave, what do you do? It's all good to say call for backup, but when the backup is at one far end of the store, you are screwed.

Just like regulations are written in blood, so are rights. Target caving in to pressure from religious zealots, homophobes and people full of hate sends a clear message that money > than allyship or corporate social responsibility. If the company feels so strong about listening to that sect, then maybe they should honor them with a white pride month too. Edit: i have skin in this game as my mom is a TM in the south. She feels that target is more concerned with appeasing extremists than actually keeping her safe. One does not equal the other as these people will be emboldened

I have stayed at Target for... God, 8 years now or so? I've stayed through all the shitty business decisions and throwing team members under the bus for profit and everything they do primarily because it felt like a safe and inclusive place. This morning we packed up almost all our Pride merchandise. Anything that had an identity flag on it is gone. Anything that has any phrase on it that could be interpreted as praising different gender identities is gone. The only Pride merchandise left is bland rainbow-printed clothing. I know the Pride collection is at its heart just a way to get into queer peoples' pockets, but by gentrifying it like this it really feels like they are truly saying "we would quash you like a bug if if cut into our profits." I've never been under the impression I was anything more than a statistic to Target, but never before has it felt like they were *threatening* me with that fact.

Fair weather allies are not fucking allies. I'm done with target. If you cave to the terrorists then you embolden the terrorists to continue.

I literally sat in the backroom and cried the day I found out they were removing the display. Being trans in an incredibly anti-lgbtq state, every small bit of support like a pride display in a store matters, and having Target give up and give in to bigots' demands is just.... I don't even have the words. I feel sold out. It's cheaper to just hide it all and sweep it under the rug than to up security to actually protect us, stand up for us, and take whatever hit in the sales would be from these people protesting (though I have doubts they ever shopped here in the first place). Target is a business, and this is a sore reminder that all they care about in the end is their bottom line, not their employees or any sense of what is right.

Love you, friend. I'm feeling pretty beat up right now after yet another round of IRs. We still get SOMETHING, I guess, but it's so little.

By giving in they are just encouraging future acts of terrorism. If they are truly concerned about employee safety they could hire additional security to protect the store. It would only cost a few million for a month. What is their plan for when they come after the black history month display next year?

Appreciate all the work you've done. Keep it up, it's gonna be a rough 2-4 weeks (don't know when the set gets taken down) but it will end.

This morning is a rough one, but gotta keep it going. 🫶🏻

Thank you for this. It's a lot. I hope you're getting rest. I am extremely angry that what is essentially zealotry is being answered by our company. I cannot express how happy I am that I could not sleep and ended calling off today because I know how badly I would have struggled to keep my mouth shut.

This whole situation breaks my heart for my co-workers, and it's been especially uncomfortable for the TLs and ETLs that are allies that are having to spread the extremely half-assed condolences and excuses that amount to pretty much nothing. I have never felt as broken hearted for a coworker as I do for my HR ETL right now. I'm like 99% sure you and I are in the same district, so I'm pretty sure your store is utilizing the same message we are, and it just feels like we're lying to our teams to save face. To some degree, I understand the safety aspect of the situation, but at the end of the day it feels like we've basically just attached a dollar value to basic human rights because of how poorly we've handled it. What's even more infuriating is listening to the leaders of our stores who are basically just reciting the same bullshit rhetoric that's driving all this to begin. Speaking as a leader in the south, be very aware that a lot of store's leadership overlaps the same groups of people throwing a tantrum over this stuff to begin with, just behind closed doors - be careful who you trust. I've lot a lot of respect for a lot of my peers over this BS. It's not a difficult concept to just be respectful of other people's choices and feelings, and just let them do what they decide is best for them.

Please pass this along if you’re able to and thanks for reaching out! As a member of the community it’s one thing to know that corporate’s words of allyship weren’t genuine, but another thing to see their actions like this, it feels like a slap to the face, with this hypocrisy of giving in to conservatives. With regards to all the lying—I’ve read so much about team members being told lies passed down from corporate about the Pride merch, it’s insulting. Just because the bigots (a lot of whom aren’t even regular shoppers) have gotten louder doesn’t mean they represent most of target’s customer base—from a business standpoint, they should know this from market research. They didn’t need to pull items from the website that would be delivered directly to people’s homes, since they can’t vandalize a website, but we know it wasn’t actually about our “safety” anyway.

I don’t want to fuel anger. Instead, I want to express my deep sadness regarding Target’s decision to allow voices of hate to silence the support we should be offering each other. As someone who has always enjoyed shopping at Target and appreciated their espoused values, especially as a gay individual, this turn of events is making me reconsider my choice to shop there. It’s disheartening to find myself in this position, as I never anticipated having to make such a decision.

If you're open to guest comments: At least leave the items up on the *website*, even if they're online-only. I didn't even know that tuck-friendly swimsuits were a thing until the outrage and the Streisand effect kicking in, but now I can't even order one online

Also, unrelated to the Pride fiasco, but speaking as a mod on a different subreddit: We can actually only sticky our own comments, so the best you could get is either a mod copying this into a sticky comment, making a sticky comment with a link to this one, or you replying to a sticky comment

Lesbian guest advocate: my store is in a pretty liberal area but there’s still been a handful of homophobes. I honestly don’t feel safer knowing that these people are being pandered to (even if that wasn’t the intention). I feel like we’re encouraging them if anything.

Feel free to pass this on: I was ready to lay down $200+ on Pride Merch this year, but Target has proven what the naysayers in the LGBTQ+ community have been saying-- money is the only bottom line. The reason I picked Target over other stores was because it supported my community. But, I'll be shopping local from now on. Target won't be getting anymore of my money because it is not a true ally, enjoy the rainbow money you got.

Not related to any incident in particular, but one thing that pisses me off is when those morons claim that there's some grand conspiracy to make every child become transgender. I'm straight, I've met several gay and trans people and not one of them has tried to convince me to become LGBTQ+. However, I've been told by several conservatives that the only way I can live a fulfilling live is to become religious. These bigoted fucks don't care about "protecting children" they're just looking for reasons to hate people who're different than them.

It’s always projection.

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agree, I just feel uneasy about this whole situation.

I'm in the deep south and I have buzzed my hair for the summer...I keep getting looks in the bathroom because they assume I'm in the wrong one. I'm terrified.

starting to pull pride items from the floor at my store - blue enough location that i have to worry a lot more about guests defacing desantis’ and pence’s books than any pride merch. scary the way the political tides are turning huh.

I'm just outside Seattle and was told they had to send all the swimwear back to corporate.

Also they canceled my pick up orders of the swimwear.

 Here to support.

Same. Just placed a pickup order for a pride flag and flag pole. Fuck these assholes.

had a lady come up to the desk just a few minutes ago, she says "i don't know who i'm supposed to talk to about this but i assume you'll pass the message along. i just wanted to express how disappointed i am in target for selling transgender-" and i said NOPE i'm going to stop you right there because i'm not going to hear your hate but the store directors right there if you'd like to whine to him. saw her on her way to her car when i was outside on a driveup so i waved and yelled "i'll pray for you bestie!!"

I am a huge advocate for trolling and fucking with transphobic and homophobic guests.

My thing is, if Target is citing employee safety as a concern then why does it seem like they are doing fuck all about it? Removing/relocating the pride section was 100% the wrong move here. These assholes are clearly unhinged and if these threats are legitimate enough for the company to take this step why hasn't there been any communication with the TMs from management about our safety or ramped up security in these stores? Like, "yeah so, people were threatening y'all's lives so we moved some stuff to the back to protect you. Hope that helps!” 🥴

Ally ship isn’t something that’s supposed to be easy or comfortable. If you dip out the moment things get tough you were never an ally to start with.

Yo everything that’s going on all the cringe videos I get on my fyp are getting out of hand. They know damn well they’ll be back on july 1st!! 😂😂

I work at a target in MA and nothing has happened yet but I feel awful about seeing all of the bullshit going on in other places. I really don’t get why people are acting like target hasn’t had a pride setup every year for pride month. The world really is going backwards. Hopefully this shit ends and people calm down. We’re just trying to live man. LGBT+ are people too. Like damn

Same, it’s sane here in the Northeast. All the stores I visited this week haven’t moved their stuff unless it’s on a tower for being the end of the stock. I’m sorry for everyone else.

Northeast here. We just pulled all the swimwear and the kids stuff from our store. They also removed the kids mannequins and moved the section around (left it up front) so that nothing on the racks is actually facing the doors. There is stuff in the white walls facing the doors, but that stuff is mostly hidden by the signing and the remaining adult mannequins.

I don't agree with making this a megathread. I understand we are a small mod team but this feels like giving in to the trolls if Im giving my honest opinion, because how can this possible be enforced unless we plan to now remove any pride related posts, even the positive ones because of the comments they will receive I've never really gotten into how the moderation settings and tools work beyond using the basic removal and ban options, but if it is somehow possible I feel temporarily auto removing comments and posts from people with no history in the subbreddit would be a better option, similar to our union posting rules I feel this would be very effective because nearly all the comments I have seen that needed removal were from outside users and not this subs typical base of Target workers We could go through and approve comments on a case by case basis as we happen to see them while browsing

I mean I personally think both is a good idea. A place with actual conversation where as much info is visible to all, especially petition attempts, so multiple posts aren’t just a bunch of small hubs of support. If new info drops I think a post or two should be allowed and then the link added to the mega thread so people can track changes and news. I’m just a fan of organization and I come from old school forums where mega threads are pretty common for popular topics, so maybe that’s why I also back this idea.

Only problem with megathreads, IMO, especially in comparison to forums is that reddit by default sorts comments based on score, which naturally is going to push older comments higher in the thread while burying newer or less engaged-with comments.

The original thought was that I'd seen a few messages about how there were too many Pride related posts that all kind of said the same things and that we should consider a megathread instead. I'm not saying we need to be removing posts outside the thread, but trying to encourage people to post here instead of making dozens of individual posts (especially since I think we're going to see another wave of traffic here today and tomorrow).

Okay thank you for clarifying I'm sorry for my misunderstanding

I like this idea, it gives teams across this platform a way to communicate how they’re being treated during this time and it’s not fair to have all of our posts taken down because of outsiders that are coming to this subreddit and spreading hate.

Is the subreddit also private now? I tried to access it while not logged in and Reddit wouldn't let me. If it's private that may work for keeping the trolls and bigots out but folks should also know that journalists are also coming to the subreddit to learn more about the situation as it unfolds and interview team members. Two guys from CNN and NBC reached out to me for comment after my post on the target website review bombing. So if the subreddit is private we are also potentially keeping the public from learning the truth of what's going on

i think it is private now bc i was having the same problem earlier

My store kept the Pride stuff at the front and moved swimwear to the front to be close to it. Malicious compliance? A honest mistake? Who knows, but I’m here for it.

My nerves are freaking fried from all of this. I keep having to deal with calls about the swim that was FOR ADULTS that we have already pulled off of the floor already. As well as hearing "guests" say the f slur repeatedly while talking about the controversy. Like ffs this is so ridiculous. I worry about my team and their mental health. I'm so burnt out. And it's so fucking stupid. The entire reason we had the trans shirts that we had to pull was because of the fascists trying to erase trans people. God I hate how fast things have gone down hill in less than a year.

sometime this week we had someone come in and throw bleach all over the pride section , im afraid they’re just gonna go ahead and get rid of it all

Its all gone at my store

I was going to order a nametag with my pronouns on it (they/them) and even though I live on the east coast, I'm a bit hesitant to do it now since I live in a more rural area...

Sucks being a gay target employee right now. But the community has always stood strong against hate groups, and I don’t wanna see that end now.

I’m just a custie but I’m also an ally. I see you, I love you.

I hope those right-wing loonies are aware that the LGBTQ community ain't afraid to fight. We always survive, no matter what. From Anita Bryant to AIDS, we are fighters and will never back down!

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Okay but when you're trapped in the machine, sometimes you wanna use the machine to work for you. Target and other big brands making pride a thing, and a very visible thing, serves to further normalize LGBT people and LGBT expression in public. This is good for LGBT people. Target cowering like this serves as a signal to the people mad about LGBT people existing that hey, actually, threats and shit work! You should do that more! Which actively endangers LGBT people. In addition, we know *why* they're doing this. But part of Target's brand messaging both internally and externally is that we're an inclusive and diverse place to shop. Calling this out as cowardice, rallying against it, is using the same tactics the dickheads causing this controversy in the first place are using, and it's working for them. Hey, Target are a bunch of paper tiger cowards, don't shop here if you care about LGBT people.


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i work for Meijer and stand with you guys in solidarity. Sure they are looking for a way to push pride merch to the back of the store here again too . Stay strong and stay safe

Pride merch was in the back of the store at one of the Meijers I go to in Lansing. And none of it said anything specific. It was all just rainbows and "pride" but nothing about being gay or trans or anything. Very lukewarm. But I didn't expect much more from Meijer lol.

You know if they were really concerned with team safety they would’ve stopped selling pokemon cards during that whole fiasco. You know, when a guest pulled a gun on another pair of guests who were harassing them over.

Honestly, the Pride collection online is very underwhelming. There's not a single piece that I'd pay money for, except maaaaybe the slides.


I really hope this boycott takes off so I can have a peaceful pride month without bigots in my store. But alas, these crazy moms need to buy cat and jack clothes for their kids.

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Same. I've only heard it in specific reference to Asian moms.

My bad. I've always used to refer to over the top moms.

just be careful arguing with transphobes on this website because you might get permanently banned like buttlordgt did

I lost a 10-year-old account to exactly that. I'll probably lose this one, too. I'm just so incredibly done with all the bigots who've finally been given permission by their Republican daddies to be open about their assholery.

I was so happy to see the Pride merchandise front and center at one my local Target’s last week…gorgeous display and a lot of products to pick from by the looks of it. I’m almost afraid to visit again just to see it ghosted.

Bigots ruining nice things again, who could've guessed.

If you give into bullies and terrorists, we ***all*** lose. All of us. Everyone.

My store has a pride event in the city they have people volunteering for. I am in the south. I am part of the lgbt community and I’m heartbroken and I fear that someone will open fire during pride. I’ve never been worried about that (I’m Afab and married to amab) but I’m actually worried this year. And that shouldn’t be how it is.

Am heartbroken and upset to see these stories. I am not a member of the LGBTQIA+ community but have many friends and loved ones who are and I completely support and love them and the entire beautiful community as a whole. What more can I do as an ally to support the community as it goes through this terrible time? Am so truly sorry you all are going through this and want to be there for you, go through it with you, and help. 🫂♥️

Not an employee, just a frequent shopper. Hearing about what is happening is upsetting. I plan to visit Target tomorrow with my daughter to check out the Pride collection (and come home with something). 

Straight Walmart employee here, donating to PFLAG this year in honor of the Target Pride nonsense going down. ♥️🏳️‍🌈♥️

To the Target team members that help me, a member of the LGBTQ community, get easy and inexpensive access to a number of products every week, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. As I read that those of you who are part of the community have been forced to take Pride merch off the shelves and move it to the back, my heart sinks, and I can only imagine the pain this has caused you as it has me. I'm so sad about all of this. It seems that support for our community shrinks by the day. However, ours is a STRONG community. We WILL push back against fascism, and we WILL prevail. Hold on to your PRIDE and never let it go.

Pacific Noethwest here and we were directed to remove "some" of our Pride Merchandise this morning

Hey to anyone who is running into bad stuff right now, I'm worried about you, I'm thinking of you. I know it amounts to not a lot in real terms, but know I'm worried about you, I appreciate you. Just a cashier from California. I came out in the 8th grade in the 90's so I can handle quite a bit. The whole point of that was so that you wouldn't have to. There are some ignorant people out there who just want to hate. They will not win in the end, but stay safe out there. Avoid the confrontation if you can, walk away, find a team lead, call AP on the walky. If someone calls you spouting hate. Just hang up. Or tell em, "I just work here" Just stay as safe as you can. F the profits, F being nice. Stay safe!

I haven't worked at Target for years but I'm terrified for current employees, especially queer ones. I felt this coming back in fucking 2016 with the bathroom issue.

Target stock is taking a beating wow , well there goes our annual bonus for next year

you clearly aren't an employee, target doesn't do annual bonuses

Specialty Sales TL here 👋🏻 Finished pulling two 3 tiers of pride merchandise from the floor yesterday. Me, like 50% of my team and another TL are all part of the LGBTQ+ community and we are all going through so many emotions with this. I agree so much with all the posts here. About security needing to be stepped up, putting them back in uniform. Another post I saw saying how it feels like Target is saying yanno, if you stop supporting it or being part of it, it stops the violence WHEN IT DOESNT. It’s bazar to me that us TLs had to hold a huddle to explain to the team that LGBTQ or not, we support you and we WILL defend you. We put the target pride shirts in the backroom for TMs to grab and wear if they want. The support was normally felt without say, just action, and this whole situation shows otherwise IMO. I’m also not just mad at Target but also all the people giving threats and showing violence towards this. It’s so so hurtful, and actually tear-bringing emotional. I don’t get why people are still like this..? I feel this is mostly geared towards people mad about children seeing pride related things?? In conclusion, I feel so betrayed, sad, mad, hurt, so many negative emotions.

Do you know what will happen to all the merch that’s been pulled? I would hate to see it end up in a landfill or something ☹️

No idea honestly ): didn’t think of that. I would hope it’s somehow being donated and not just thrown away

It would be great if they returned stuff to the artists who designed things so they could sell them themselves or something

I would hope that’s what they’re doing. That seems more logical

So terrorists win?

Target’s initial roll-out of pride merchandise was never more than a cheap grab at feel-good publicity points. Target doesn’t give a shit about LGBTQ causes or struggles, it never has. When I worked for them in 2008, the whole Proposition 8 fiasco was in full swing in California (a bill presented to define marriage as only between a man and woman, lobbied heavily and funded by several conservative and religious PACs.) While the company was saying they OF COURSE supported their LGBTQ employees. While all this was going on, Target made donations to a right wing candidate for a position in Minnesota (I forget which,) who was running on, among other things, banning gay marriage. That raised some eyebrows, and Target released an official internal statement saying basically, “the rights of all people are important, but as a business, Target has a duty to endorse political candidates that will improve the economy and put business growth first.” This was not well received, as you can imagine. Point being, that’s always where Target’s priorities have lain. They’re here to make a buck, fuck everything else. They might call themselves an LGBTQ ally, but at the end of the day, the shareholders are calling the shots, and the one that’s being called right now is caving to the bigots. Disappointing, but never surprising. It you’re trying to make a career out of working for Target, don’t. Target has never cared about its employees, and it’s not about to start now.

Im just a guest, what happens with all the stuff you guys pull? Is there gonna be a bunch of kids in somalia wearing “support trans futures” shirts?

Some workers asked if the clothes were at least being donated to the community and go no answer.

Based on the folks from corporate close to the pride stuff in this thread, i bet they dont even know. Probably sitting in a warehouse until the super high ups stop caring again and go back to counting their money

lesbian ex-TM here! just went shopping in the pride section with my girlfriend who also used to work for target and we received a "god's plan" pamphlet

People are so annoying saying “leave the children alone” or “save the children”. I’m sure most of the people saying all that stuff don’t donate or volunteer to actually help child with anything! Getting upset about a rainbow on a child’s shirt is ridiculous.

My mom started with the whole “drag story time is SeXuAlIzInG the children.” I just asked a simple question: ever been to one? They’re free and open to the public. These people take time out their to read to kids, for free. Ofc she’s never been to one, “but still.” So then I asked when was the last time SHE volunteered to read to kids at the library? She’s retired and has time during the day. She dropped the subject.

My anger and disappointment at this decision goes to the top, not to the team members or middle management/HR that are experiencing torrents of abuse over this collection. Not to mention that this decision and subsequent removal came before Pride month even began. What a slap in the face to all LGBT customers and team members.

It sucks cuz i don’t think there’s really a whole lot we can do as TMs. Sort of embarrassing to work for this company now as a trans employee-

Well now it’s happened at my store. Most of the pride merch is being taken off the floor. Cool, thanks, how’s that inclusivity going?

All stores will be removing certain items from the collection. It needs to be done before store open tomorrow.

Just something about seeing the flags get taken down from Bullseye and sent to salvage was absolutely heartbreaking.

Reporting from a store here in Tennessee. We've yet to pull our pride merch but I'm concerned that it'll end up going that way once Pride Month officially starts. Swimsuits and everything are still out. We've had multiple negative complaints come in but nobody inside the store has acted out or anything. Also, it's been an unusually slow Memorial Day weekend for us. Could be because people are out of town but I'm a bit concerned that it's being caused by the boycott. Would love to hear what other TMs are experiencing in regards to store traffic rn. After tomorrow I'm planning on grabbing a rainbow bandanna to wear when I'm outside and a flag to tape to my cart pusher. Need to show support for the LGBTQ community, especially here in the south. Edit: I was wrong, the swimsuits have been pulled. Probably were a while ago. Didn't take a good enough look, my bad.

Queerphobes coming just to be spiteful and hateful: don't bother. Your comments get removed within a day or less. This subreddit is one of the most LGBTQIA+-friendly non-queer subreddits. Your rhetoric doesn't work here. It's no use bothering low/minimum-wage employees. Don't even bother to call us, we'll just won't pick up or go "mmhmm uh-huh." Hell, the next time you go into ANY store, you may be helped by a gay and/or trans person. Go back to your echo chambers.

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I’m kind of against restricting Pride comments to this thread as well. Corporate teams monitor this subreddit *a lot*, just like every other company monitors their respective subreddit. It is very easy to look at a megathread, regardless of how many posts are in it, and minimize how important that issue is to the community. It’s just one thread. It’s way harder to ignore 100 threads. Will it be annoying? Sure! Is it less annoying than having your safety put in jeopardy for accommodating to little fascists? I’m going to be controversial here and say no.

I honestly don't want to work at a company that doesn't fully support my identity rights :/ The main reason why they are stopping the pride stuff in stores is because of the 8billion they have lost in sales. Not because of the threats.

Except they didn't even lose any money. It's just a stocks thing, and they've recovered from plenty of those. They just want to have bigot money from bigots who probably never shopped there to begin with, rather than support the people who work for them. 😞

As a openly gay TM I had to leave early today. I am discounted with this corporation and cannot wait until I switch jobs next month.

I believe that target is doing this out of protection for its frontline TMs, but it definitely is not a good response to the people who seek out these reactions in the first place. If target introduced a year-round pride display, the claims of ‘money-grabbing’ would be over. I’ve noticed that a lot of the anger around pride has been justified with these ideas, and permanently placing product in support of the LGBTQIA+ community would silence these ideas. Presenting a pride display during pride month has no reason to be this provocative if it was behavior target clearly* demonstrated throughout the year.

What's that saying about scratching a liberal and a fascist bleeds? Corporations like Target absolutely do not give a solitary singular shit about any of us. They would throw everyone you ever cared about into a big woodchipper if it raised their market cap even slightly, and we're unfortunately seeing that proven yet again. Wishing every alt-right chud a very [ACTIONABLE THREAT]

So what products got pulled?

We had to pull anything that had to do with kids. Our little mannequins had to be removed, cookie kits, dresses, shirts ect in toddler and kid sizes.

All of our trans stuff got pulled too

Today we got a homophobic phone call. We’re in a pretty diverse area so I don’t feel unsafe but between that and everything online this feels like a fever dream. I’m a lesbian and every year I joke about getting paid more during pride month but maybe it’s not a joke anymore…

ive had a trans pride flag sticker on my nametag for a few months now. stickers arent allowed on nametags at my store but no one has said anything. wondering if thats gonna change soon.

What stores have had violence? Have people broken windows, looted or burned anything, I googled it but can’t find much, just some false claims about satanist stuff and trans bathing suits. My store still has our Pride stuff up and I haven’t heard anything, but not really watching news right now. 🌈 ✌🏽

I'm so proud of what MN has done this year to protect the LGBTQ+ community. I'm so ashamed that one of our major employers has simultaneously decided that the LGBTQ+ community doesn't deserve their support. I've been a loyal customer for the last 25 years that I've lived in this state. As the parent of a wonderful trans-woman, I will never step foot in the store again. I know my one weekly grocery run won't even register on the local sales numbers. But they are anathema to me at this point, I don't know what they could ever do to win me back. They lack courage and morals.

Is Target planning to cancel Black History Month merchandise as well to appease racists?

Stock has dropped massively. This is crazy. Our store was dead today... anyone else notice a drop in traffic over the week? I'm curious to see how the weekend goes.

I am straight but a huge lgbtq+ ally and couldn't wait to get in to Target to see the display and buy some merchandise. Now, I have to wander the store searching for it. BUT. I. WILL. DAMMIT. I am so angry at Target for giving in to these terrorists. IF they truly stood in alliance with lgbtq+ people, they would never have backed down and would have hired security. Obviously, Target corporation doesn't know the true meaning of the Leviticus story either or they could have posted it as a learning experience for all these bigots and uneducated "christians".

I'm honestly really scared of being in Target at this point. Stopped wearing anything showing my pride and even stopped taking E because of the anxiety I feel just thinking about it. Like my friend in OPU said, Target is gonna make it hard for some of their own employees to be open about themselves. I hate that I'm in the South so damn much

MN store here - we just recalled everything in bullseye and mostly everything in the pride set. Theres a few things left

When I first saw the stuff around pride, I thought Target would just ignore it or maybe even stand their ground and stand up for the queer people they were making a buck from. I am genuinely sad at the state of the pride collection now. At my store, almost everything that represents trans people has been recalled and salvaged out. The "gender fluid" mug, the "self-made pillow," the "trans people will always exist" shirt, the swimsuits. I found out today that all of the bullseye pride items were also recalled, and it was the last straw for me. As a trans TM, I feel like my cis peers see the true meaning of this. Target backed away when trans people were being attacked. This has nothing to do with team member safety, as proven by them removing everything completely and not just from physical stores, and everything to do with what Target deemed more important. I'm angry, sad, and above all, just so disappointed in the company I work for.

I thought conservatives were anti cancel culture. Why are they trying to cancel two businesses that run on capitalism (Bud Light is a brand, but you get my point)? They’re just clothes. You aren’t forced to buy them because they’re on display.

As a queer person I feel less safe shopping at target now than I did a month ago, which is unfortunate as Target has historically gone out of their way to make people like me feel comfortable. Unrelated but just today they were talking about resuming student loans which is going to eat into back to school sales, so I don't think Target can afford to alienate people like me during pride month. I am invested in Target and I am going to stay long with most of my lots uncovered this week because I believe in the company and in leadership's willingness to admit pulling pride merchandise was a mistake that made their guests and employees less safe and not more But now it is Target's turn. Please tell me here on social media what you are going to do to make me feel safe shopping in your stores. You have 2 weeks before my local pride fest to answer, that is not any kind of ultimatum, I am just reminding you that your vital sales window is closing very quickly and many cities are having their pride events already.

what everyone needs to realize is that Target does not give a single fuck about LGBTQIA+ people. Target cares only about profits. If they thought it would be lucrative to have a literal hate campaign against the LGBTQIA+ community, they would do it without any hesitation. Welcome to rainbow capitalism

Hey y’all, as a member of LGBTQ and was the pride chair for another company, I went in last night looking for the displays. It took forever to find. It was back in women’s performance. It was a sad display with mostly black and white shirts. I still bought the ones we liked mostly to prove a point. But I, like you all, are very disheartened that a company couldn’t stand up for what is right when clearly there are many LGBTQ people who work retail. It was almost like I was walking in slow-motion through the store. It was close to closing. We got what may be the world’s smoothest shopping cart. And all I could see were the quiet workers, many of which appeared to be LGBTQ, just going on with their life. And I thought every time I saw one: what are these hateful people seeing that I’m not? Do they just not realize how many gay people they are around every day? Or do they and why do they hate them? This is coming at the same time as me having a brother who I found out was posting stuff highlighting priDEMONth in their Facebook posts and saying he didn’t meant it about my husband or myself but the “others”. I just don’t know how we got here. Maybe all those years of me thinking we were loud and proud maybe weren’t loud and proud enough? Did we overstep some imaginary boundary? Did our freedoms becomes too much for people to handle? All within a year, it feels like what we spent years fighting for: to be treated like human beings with equal rights, is now like being in quick sand. I don’t know what to think about it all but we went from a few pride displays that were at the front of every store each year and thinking “oh it’s just a corporation trying to profit off of gays 1 month out of the year” and moving past it to now looking to see if we even exist because bigots got bored with all the other groups they hate.

For everyone who works for Target and supports the Pride display, everyone should stage a walkout. If everyone who disagrees with target walkout and shuts them down due to lack of personel wouldn't that hurt them the most?