#brian cornell

Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:

Target has cut LGBTQ+ Pride Month merchandise from some of its stores this year, according to Bloomberg. The retailer, which has almost 2,000 locations across the United States, will only stock Pride products in about half of their stores, sources close to the situation told the outlet. The company is still determining which stores will carry the merchandise based on recent sales data. All products will still be available online. A Target spokesperson only said: “Target is committed to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and year-round."

The retailer has celebrated Pride Month every June for over a decade with a collection honoring the LGBTQ+ community. Target began removing some Pride items in certain locations in May last year after threats were made to their employees’ safety, a company spokesperson told The Advocate at the time. "Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work," they said. The behavior ranged from confrontations between customers and workers and items being thrown, to bomb threats or direct threats against employee safety. Target CEO Brian Cornell later defended the decision to pull products, telling CNBC in November that employees experienced "very aggressive behavior," including threats, destruction of merchandise, and disruptions in the cashier area being reported. Some escalated the hostility by yelling at employees and threatening to “light product on fire” within the stores.

This year, Target is scaling back on LGBTQ+ Pride Month merch at its stores thanks to the right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ smear campaign last year, having such displays at only half its stores in-person this cycle. All products, however, will continue to be online.

See Also:

https://img.etimg.com/thumb/msid-123412843,width-1200,height-630,imgsize-134032,overlay-etmarkets/articleshow.jpg Shares of Nasdaq listed Target Corporation plunged 11% in opening trade hitting a low of $94.15 after the company said that its board has unanimously elected Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke to succeed Brian Cornell as Chief Executive Officer and become a member of its Board…

If it weren’t for coffee…

Just spent over a half hour being bounced around Targhetto’s administrative mindlessness. All for the purpose of simply accessing my paystubs they locked me out of accessing once I was let go. No one would help me until after I had begged like a ƃuıʞɔnɟ dog for the documents to assist in applying for a situation they put me into; unemployment. Target’s apparent policy is to make employees they’ve gaslit & mistreated then fired work harder to survive afterward. It’s just a petty way Target continues to torture former employees with legal & codified abuse.

Poƃdamn Target. 

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

Target CEO Brian Cornell divulged the daunting challenges faced by employees due to the company’s Pride Month collection this year, which propelled him to remove some of the merchandise from shelves, in a new interview. For more than a decade, Target has celebrated Pride Month every June with a distinctive collection that honors the LGBTQ+ community. Nonetheless, this year’s collection, inclusive of items tailored for transgender customers, evoked a sharp backlash. This adverse reaction mirrored a larger national discourse where several states have enacted laws restricting medical care and bathroom access. In addition, they have framed guidelines on social issues discussed in classrooms, particularly those impacting transgender individuals. This hostile climate didn’t just result in in-store confrontations but also contributed to a slump in Target’s sales during the second quarter, a point Cornell conceded. On Thursday, Cornell told CNBC about the grave in-store situations employees found themselves in, with instances of "very aggressive behavior," threats, destruction of merchandise, and disruptions in the cashier area being reported. Some people escalated the hostility by yelling at employees and threatening to “light product on fire” within the stores.

Target CEO Brian Cornell spoke to CNBC earlier this week explaining that threats to employee safety due to repeated confrontations was the main cause of why some LGBTQ+ Pride merchandise got removed or relocated.

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

Last week, seven Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Target CEO Brian Cornell warning that selling LGBTQ-themed merchandise "to families and young children" may be illegal. The letter, written by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) — and co-signed by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and South Carolina — alleges that selling "LGBT-themed onesies, bibs, and overalls, t-shirts" could violate "[s]tate child-protection laws" prohibiting the “sale or distribution… of obscene matter." An item is obscene, the letter notes, if its "dominant theme… appeals to the prurient interest in sex." 

The actual LGBTQ-themed merchandise sold by Target in kids sizes, however, is patently not obscene.  The letter cites a number of other state laws "to protect children," including new laws requiring material "harmful to minors" to be removed from school libraries, prohibiting "gender transition procedures on minors," and banning the use of a minor's preferred pronoun. The attorneys general admit that "these laws may not be implicated" by the merchandise for sale at Target but "they nevertheless demonstrate that our States have a strong interest in protecting children."

Unable to marshall a real legal argument, much of the letter involves parroting misinformation about the items offered for sale in Target during Pride Month. For example, the letter claims that Target sold "girls’ swimsuits with 'tuck-friendly construction' and 'extra crotch coverage' for male genitalia." This is false. Those swimsuits were "only offered in adult sizes."  The attorneys general also object to Target selling a t-shirt called "Pride Adult Drag Queen Katya." As the name suggests, this is a t-shirt that is offered only in adult sizes.  Although off-topic, the letter also accuses Target of "products with anti-Christian designs, such as pentagrams, horned skulls, and other Satanic products." This is also a lie. The attorneys general cite a Reuters article as the source of this claim. But the Reuters article notes that these allegedly "Satanic products" were "not sold at Target." According to the Associated Press, "[w]hile some items made by the brand Abprallen were among those featured by the big box retailer as part of its Pride month collection, none of the items bore satanic imagery." Rather, "[t]he three items featured had images of UFOs and planets." 

Even if all these false claims were true, it is unclear what laws Target would be violating. Swimsuits, drag queen t-shirts, and anti-Christian merchandise are not obscene or illegal. Just because these Republican politicians don't approve of these items does not make them unlawful. Although the letter is replete with flawed legal analysis and factual inaccuracies, it should not be dismissed. It is a clear effort by the chief legal officers of seven states to criminalize acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ people, claiming that doing so is a threat to children. Rokita and the other attorneys general are using the power of their offices — and the implicit threat of legal action — to pressure Target to exclude LGBTQ customers and allies from their business strategy.  [...] Target and many other companies court LGBTQ consumers because they are a large group of potential customers with money to spend. According to a 2021 study, the LGBTQ community in the United States has about $1.4 trillion in spending power. Ignoring millions of potential customers does not seem like the best way to deliver value to shareholders. 

Popular Information reports on the letter sent to Target CEO Brian Cornell by 7 Republican AGs (led by Indiana's Todd Rokita) falsely insinuating that Target's LGBTQ+ Pride-themed merchandise being sold to minors counts as "obscenity."