Target announced earlier this week that the company was removing some LGBTQ-themed items from shelves and moving displays intended to honor Pride month to the back of the store in response to a public backlash from the right. But what happened at Target goes far beyond just some people calling for a boycott.
As Target explained in a statement, some customers had knocked down Pride displays at stores while others outraged by Pride-themed merchandise angrily approached workers as well as posted threatening videos on social media. Target has been celebrating Pride month for a decade, but as the company noted, “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.”
For those who doubly identify as LGBTQ and Muslim, this new method of attack is a sore reminder of the harm this relentless conservative effort to marginalize them is capable of.
These physical threats of violence are deeply alarming — but not that surprising. They are the expected, and even intended, result of the concerted campaign by both GOP-elected officials and leading conservative voices to make all things LGBTQ-related “toxic.” They also strike a nerve for other communities, such as my own Muslim American community, whose members have experienced the wrath and concerted attacks from conservatives with similar objectives — to alienate, make toxic and further marginalize from mainstream society — in the past. And for those who doubly identify as LGBTQ and Muslim, this new method of attack is a sore reminder of the harm this relentless conservative effort to marginalize them is capable of.
“The goal is to make ‘Pride’ toxic for brands,” wrote right-wing commentator Matt Walsh on Twitter. That sentiment was reiterated by conservative outlet Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles who urged his listeners “To make that symbol toxic, the pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic.”
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