Mainstream Americans, including many Christians, are speaking out against retail giant Target’s recently released LGBTQ+ clothing line that celebrates so-called Pride month in June.

The Minnesota-based company has faced a barrage of boycott calls since releasing its “Pride Collection” for 2023. The collection includes onesies for infants that feature pro-LGBTQ content, coming in sizes 0 to 3 months. One onesie includes the text “Bein Proud,” while another features what appears to be LGBT rainbows and hearts along with the transgender flag colors.

The retailer is also selling children’s books with the LGBTQ theme, including “Bye-Bye Binary” and “What Are Your Words,” which tells kids how to use transgender pronouns. Some products for kids also appear to feature drag queens, according to products sold on the company’s website.

Even more controversially, Target is selling “tuck-friendly” swimwear for transgenders who are biological males, though a spokesman says those are marketed to adults.

“After years of declaring war on gender distinctions and fostering radical transgender activism, they have upped the ante now by allegedly targeting children with their obscene ‘tuck’ bathing suit line,” said Christian apologist Michael Brown on askdrbrown.org.

“Yes, these are female bathing suits that allow males who think they are females to ‘tuck’ in their privates,” he said.

Target also came under fire for featuring the products of an overtly-satanic, radical LGBTQ+ supplier, Brown said.

The giant retail company suffered immediate financial losses. An article at ChristianHeadlines.com reported Tuesday that the company has lost $11 billion since the boycott over its pride merchandise. Prior to the controversy, Target’s stock closed at $160.96 a share, giving it a market capitalization of $74.3 billion, according to the New York Post. On Tuesday, it was trading at $135 a share and had a market capitalization of $62.5 billion. Under alleged threats against its employees, Target announced it has decided to remove a limited amount of LGBTQ+ Pride Month items.

But the company appears unflinching in its alignment with LGBTQ activists.

“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,” their official statement said, in part. “Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”

The statement does not mention the millions of offended customers, “the vast majority of whom are presumably fair-minded, non-fanatical, decent people, there is no mention of them,” Brown says.

“No wonder Americans in droves are saying enough is enough. Good for them. The pushback continues! As for the millions of people who identify as gay or lesbian or trans or queer and are just seeking to live their lives without conflict, I say to each of you:

“‘You are not my enemy, I do not despise you, I do not look down on you, and I offer you the same divine love that transformed me more than 50 years ago. It is the radical activism that I will wholeheartedly confront.’” 

Christian blogger Katie J. McCoy said in a May 25 column for World magazine: “To the individual with gender confusion, we owe patience, kindness, and gentleness. But to the institutions aiding and abetting their deception, we owe opposition.”

Although Target did not directly sell apparel from the online LGBTQ retailer Abprallen, which celebrates the pagan deity Baphomet in its designs, many Americans were alarmed that the corporation would even partner with such a company in designing some of its products. The Abprallen website says:

“Satan loves you and respects who you are. You’re important and valuable in this world and you deserve to treat yourself with love and respect.”

The brand’s creator, Erik Carnell, said in a social media post that satanists don’t really believe that the Devil even exists.

“Satan’s priority has always been to convince people that they are in charge of themselves,” Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical worldview and strategic engagement at Family Research Council, said in response to Carnell’s post. “This designer may deny belief in Satan, but [he] is working on his behalf nonetheless, even if unintentionally.”

As conservative media outlets jumped into action exposing the Pride merchandise found in the children section, Target quickly severed ties with Abprallen.

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,” Target said in a statement. “Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”

Even though Target ended their partnership with Abprallen, conservative leaders, shoppers, and influencers continued to ring the alarm.

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) caught wind of Target’s partnership with Abprallen and responded in a tweet, saying, “Even by the standards of woke corporations, Target’s partnership with a satanist to push the trans agenda on children is remarkable.”

Others blatantly encouraged citizens to boycott the company altogether.

“I can’t say I’m a huge boycotter type of person, but I’m in to boycott Target,” pro-life advocate and speaker Abby Johnson wrote in an Instagram post. “They have been pushing this perversion on our children for far too long.”

Johnson’s call to boycott was met with an active response from Americans. In just 10 days, Target was reported to have lost nearly $10 billion as their stock value plunged.

“The plunge in sales seems to indicate that Americans do have some boundaries,” Backholm said. “The public seems to be generally indifferent to what adults do, seeing it as an issue of liberty even when it is socially destructive. But what middle America is clearly not interested in is those who target their children in what is effectively an evangelistic effort on behalf of the sexual revolution.”

Photo: Alamy.com