Companies like Target should stand up to anti-Pride fervor

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, by which I mean Pride Month. And just like the other most wonderful time of the year, it’s a grand opportunity to have your beliefs and emotions commoditized for corporate gain — and also subject yourself, of course, to transphobia and anti-LGBTQ outrage. It’s like a smorgasbord. 

Okay, so Pride Month is June, and it is a month where we celebrate diversity and inclusivity. And we show support for the LGBTQIA plus members of our community. It also has historically been co-opted by brands who want to show nominal support without any real action — those companies that changed their logo to a rainbow one for the month of June and then flip it right on back July 1 come to mind.

There’s even a name for this. It’s called “rainbow washing” or “rainbow capitalism” — performative support without any real meaning behind it.

This year, though, something feels different because now, more than ever, corporations are feeling pressure from both sides of the political aisle to take a stance on social issues. In recent months, companies such as Bud Light and Target have come under right-wing fire for their support of the LGBTQ community. Target, for example, had been offering gender-affirming merchandise such as a bathing suit created for trans women, and unsurprisingly, right-wing shoppers were super-not into it and let their not-into-ness be known. In response, Target has apparently removed the bulk of their pride merchandise from stores after “threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well being.”

Customers viewing the items have apparently knocked down displays, behaved aggressively towards employees and posted threatening videos to social media from inside the stores.

Now, I’m not of the opinion that brands necessarily have the responsibility to declare political alliances, but if you’re going to explicitly support the LGBTQ community, support them. If you’re selling merchandise, hoping to capitalize on the spending power of a group, and then immediately pull back because a small group of bullies — whose actions are, by the way, a visceral demonstration of why Pride Month is important — I mean, to me, it’s almost worse than never entering the conversation at all. Inserting social values into the capitalist structure is always going to be awkward at best, but still, pulling pride merchandise off the shelves… really? Do better.