News/Commentary

LGBTQ+ activists putting pressure on corporations as ‘Pride’ backlash intensifies: ‘You need to be our ally’

May 31, 2023 | | Print Article

In the wake of a massive backlash against Target over its Pride displays, activists in the LGBTQ+ community are crafting campaigns to pressure companies to be their allies, asserting that if they boycott the retail giant, then they are economic terrorists.

Australian economics professor Justin Wolfers accused conservatives of economic terrorism on MSNBC Thursday because Target is being boycotted over its transgender and LGBTQ+-friendly store policies.

“When Target caves into this, then it says that the moment you threaten the employees of even a very large corporation you get to control its policies. This is economic terrorism. Literally terrorism,” he charged.

“Creating fear among the workers and forcing the corporations to sell the things you want, not sell the things you don’t. So I think it’s very worrying,” the professor asserted.

The LGBTQ legislative caucus is now looking for ways to force companies to align with the gay and transgender communities.

“We need a strategy on how to deal with corporations that are experiencing enormous pressure to throw LGBTQ people under the bus,” California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), a member of the LGBTQ legislative caucus, declared according to Yahoo! Entertainment.

“We need to send a clear message to corporate America that if you’re our ally — if you are truly our ally — you need to be our ally, not just when it’s easy but also when it’s hard,” he railed.

When Target moved some items further back in its stores and removed others altogether, it claimed it did so to ensure the safety and well-being of its employees. That followed protesters allegedly knocking over Pride signs and confronting workers in stores.

“Look, one of two things is true,” Wolfers said. “It could be that they’re cowards and used that as protection and a smokescreen so they could make a cowardly decision, or it could be that they’re actually genuinely concerned about the well-being of their employees and have had credible threats.”

A Target insider told Fox News Digital that many locations have relocated Pride sections to avoid the kind of backlash Bud Light has received in recent weeks.

“We were given 36 hours, told to take all of our Pride stuff, the entire section, and move it into a section that’s a third the size. From the front of the store to the back of the store, you can’t have anything on mannequins and no large signage,” the Target insider claimed.

“We call our customers ‘guests,’ there is outrage on their part. This year, it is just exponentially more than any other year,” the Target insider added. “I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation.”

This year alone, almost 500 so-called anti-LGBTQ+ bills have allegedly been introduced in state legislatures around the country. Also enraging the activists is the fact that at least 18 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Then there are the spreading bans on minors attending drag shows or any public display, including Pride events, that are not considered appropriate for children. Pride month begins Thursday.

“We are forced to think differently about how we handle security at our events and whether or not we can post our staff’s names and emails on our website,” commented Janson Wu, who is the executive director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, a nonprofit legal rights organization based in Boston.

The executive director of Pride Northwest, in Portland, Oregon, Debra Porta, remarked that there have been discussions of a possible boycott against Target over caving to parents and conservatives. A letter-writing campaign and other actions have been directed at Target, but plans for an organized protest haven’t yet solidified.

“Because the news is fairly new, more actions may be announced, especially as Pride month gets here,” Porta said.

Bud Light is also feeling the heat, not only from the right but from the left as well. They are being crushed by both sides in the culture war after crawling into bed with transgender Dylan Mulvaney.

In May, a number of gay bars in Chicago stopped selling Anheuser-Busch products in protest of the company allegedly trying to placate conservatives.

Chicago’s 2Bears Tavern claimed that the company’s response “shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country.”

“Since Anheuser-Busch does not support us, we will not support it,” the company proclaimed.

Sidetrack, which is the largest gay bar in the Midwest, followed suit, claiming that Anheuser-Busch “wrongfully validates the position that it is acceptable to acquiesce to the demands of those who do not support the trans community and wish to erase LGBTQ+ visibility.”

“Now’s not the time to back down,” remarked Brian K. Bond, who is the executive director of PFLAG, an organization founded in 1973 to advocate for LGBTQ+ people and their families.

“I think both business and us as citizens need to look within ourselves into new strategies. The old models aren’t necessarily working,” he contended.

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles