Pride Month in the USA: Target removes LGBTQ products from its range after threats and violence

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Target's "Pride Month" Products: "Find and Expose All LGBTQ Advocates and the Employees Who Support Them"

Photo: George Walker IV / AP

U.S. retail chain Target has removed some products in support of queer people after workers were threatened, according to the company. Since the launch of the new collection for this year's "Pride Month" to honor gay, lesbian, trans and other queer people, there have been threats and other incidents "that endanger the safety and well-being of our team at work," the company said.

In view of these "unpredictable circumstances", the company is forced to make adjustments and remove some products from the shelves, it added. However, Target will continue to stand by the scene and support it. The scene is traditionally honored with events in the month of June.

Target recently added a number of new items to its range, including swimwear suitable for trans people, a mug with the imprint "Gender Fluid", which describes a flexible gender identity, and printed T-shirts that allude to "Pride Month" with the terms proud and pride. Many products are in rainbow colors – rainbows are commonly used as a symbol of sexual and gender diversity.

Videos apparently also show violence

Conservative hardliners had then filmed themselves in the shops and made fun of the rainbow products. A video that is widely shared on social media in this context shows a man tearing down a rainbow display in a store and trampling on it. In response to a woman's complaint, he says that the display is "devil worship." The British company that manufactures the products for Target has been denounced as "Satanist" in right-wing media.

A well-known right-wing extremist also threatened in a video to find and expose "every single manager" and "all LGBTQ advocates and the employees who support them." In his spare time, he "likes to hunt LGBTQ supporters." Those who support the scene are "not safe" from him.

Another video taken by the same man shows him holding a "Pride" T-shirt on a hanger in a Target store and asking people what they think of "Satanism." A woman who identifies herself as an employee of the store then shows solidarity with the LGBTQIA scene in front of his camera. When asked by the filmmaker whether she supports the devil, she says ironically: "Yes, the devil and Pride." Together with another man, who says he is an undercover security guard, the woman leads the right-wing extremist out of the store, who repeatedly tries to address customers.

California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom lamented a "systematic attack on the gay scene across the country" and criticized Target's move. In doing so, the chain is "handing over the LGBTQIA scene to the extremists". One Twitter user wrote that no child would see the displays at Target and "decide to become gay."

It is not the first case in the recent past in which a US company expresses its support for queer people and then receives right-wing hatred. At the beginning of the month, sales of the Bud Light beer brand slumped by 25 percent. The reason was apparently that conservative and right-wing circles in the USA had called for a boycott – because Bud Light had worked on social media with a trans influencer who had published a promotional video for the brand.

kko/AFP