Target Being Held Hostage By Anti-LGBTQ Campaign

During every Pride Month in June for the past decade, Target has sold merchandise for LGBTQ customers, employees and allies. But this year, Target faced an anti-LGBTQ campaign that went viral on social media, analyst Nathaniel Meyersohn wrote for CNN.

Photo Insert: The campaign became hostile, with threats levied against Target employees and instances of damaged products and displays in stores.

Fueled by far-right personalities and on social media platforms, the anti-trans campaign spread misleading information about the company’s Pride Month products and its business practices.

Hurting brands’ sales and reputations was the stated goal of the campaign: “The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands,” said right-wing commentator Matt Walsh on Twitter.

“If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that they’ll pay a price. It won’t be worth whatever they think they’ll gain.”

The campaign became hostile, with threats levied against Target employees and instances of damaged products and displays in stores.

That effectively held Target hostage: The company was forced to make an impossible choice to either safeguard its employees and stores or continue to support customers who wanted to buy the products it was selling.

In the end, Target opted to protect employee safety by removing certain items that it said caused the most “volatile” reaction from opponents. But Target’s response angered LGBTQ advocates and led to criticism that it was caving to extreme elements of American society.

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