Republican Attorneys General Threaten Target Over Pride Merchandise
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita recently announced that he and six other state attorneys general have sent a letter to Target, threatening that their Pride displays could “violate state laws.” In the letter, they incorrectly accuse Target of violating laws that “protect children from harmful content meant to sexualize them and prohibit gender transitions of children.”
The letter, which is hard to follow, accuses Target of selling Pride merch for kids, helping GLSEN, which is an LGBTQ youth advocacy group that the attorneys general say has a “purpose of undermining parents’ constitutional and statutory rights by supporting ‘secret gender transitions for kids,’” and promoting products from a brand that sells “satanist-inspired” items.
In the letter, they falsely accuse Target of selling products with “anti-Christian designs such as pentagrams, horned skulls, and other Satanic products,” which simply did not happen. Target has sold products from the brand ‘Abprallen,” which has previously associated with Erik Carnell, a British designer who has sold that kind of merchandise through his own unaffiliated channels.
Target selling Satanic products was a rumor that trolled the internet earlier this year. AI-generated pictures of shirts with symbols like pentagrams and goat heads and a store display with a goat headed mannequin were shared on social media, which caused outrage for Republicans even though they were obviously fake images.
Additionally, it became some sort of weird trend for conservative social media influencers to record themselves harassing target employees and sharing their disdain for the Pride displays, even vandalizing some of them.
The attorneys’ general letter appears to draw inspiration from those videos while sharing some of the products that the Republicans were angry about, such as an adult tucking swimsuit which some conservatives thought would turn kids transgender. The letter also mentions their strong dislike for “LGBT-themed onesies, bibs, and overalls.”
“It is likely more profitable to sell the type of Pride that enshrines the love of the United States,” the letter states. “Target’s Pride Campaign alienates, whereas Pride in our country unites.” It also says that Target “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 letter says that “as the chief legal officers of our States, we are charged with enforcing state laws protecting children and safeguarding parental rights” including laws that “penalize the ‘sale or distribution… of obscene matter.’” It doesn’t, however, threaten to prosecute Target for selling rainbow clothing items.
Furthermore, the attorneys general state the recently passed ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth in Indiana, but Target isn’t known for selling puberty blockers and hormones amidst their Pride clothing.
The letter is signed by Rokita and the attorneys general of Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and South Carolina. They are all Republicans.
Photo courtesy of social media
