I'm sharing this email because it contains great information, not to encourage anyone to donate. I personally cannot afford even the three bucks, so I understand. But I can share...
Main point: "Target is enabling those attacks and giving them life. And in doing so, the company is telling its LGBTQ+ staff and customers—who cannot just pull their identities off the shelf—that their safety matters less than the company's bottom line."
Dear MoveOn member,
Just one week before the start of Pride month, Target caved to an orchestrated attack by far-right anti-LGBTQ+ activists and pulled multiple items from their Pride collection, all designed by small queer-owned businesses, off their shelves.1
Two weeks later, despite national backlash, Target is still siding with those bigots.
That's why MoveOn is escalating our pressure to get the merchandise put back and for Target to denounce this coordinated campaign to further marginalize trans and gender-nonconforming people.
Right-wing extremists have said that their goal is to make Pride toxic for companies.2
Our goal is to make it toxic for Target to do the bidding of the far right.
Will you make a $3 donation today to help us increase our pressure campaign on Target so those Pride items are put back on the shelves? We cannot let LGBTQ+ bigots win anytime of the year, but especially not during Pride month.
Why are we going to fight back so hard? Because this type of rhetoric is not meant simply to target businesses for political points. It is meant to push LGBTQ+ people out of public life, increase support for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and roll back all of the progress made over the last few years.
And it very quickly can lead to violence.
A host at the Daily Wire, one of the most-read right-wing blogs in America, said recently, "For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely."3 The MAGA crowd cheered and hooted in response.
This is what we are up against.
And that is why we will not stop pressuring Target to reverse its policy and condemn homophobia and transphobia. Will you make a $3 donation today to help?
Sadly, these attacks on the LGBTQ+ community are part of a multi-faceted campaign to terrorize LGBTQ+ people and deny us our humanity. Just this year, Republicans across the country have introduced 520 violent, abusive, and hateful anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures across the country, and at least 70 of the bills have already passed.4
LGBTQ+ people, especially trans and nonbinary people, are facing rising threats and acts of violence due to constant dehumanization at the hands of these right-wing legislators and activists across the country.5
And yet, Target is enabling those attacks and giving them life. And in doing so, the company is telling its LGBTQ+ staff and customers—who cannot just pull their identities off the shelf—that their safety matters less than the company's bottom line.
That is why we plan to increase the pressure. Tens of thousands of us have already signed MoveOn's petition to Target, and MoveOn members have made thousands of calls to Target's headquarters. Now, we want to to turbocharge our efforts with highly visible ads, protests, and more. Whatever we can afford.
How much we pressure Target to fight back against the far right will literally be based on how much you give today.
Click below to give $3 today. This Pride month, stand with us to fight for LGBTQ+ rights and humanity.
Thanks for all you do.
–Nakia, Erik, Seth, Elsie, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Conservatives are making Pride merch 'toxic.' Their real goal is much worse." MSNBC, May 27, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173189?t=5&akid=353888%2E56276637%2Elc26nI
2. "Target quietly moves Pride merchandise in some stores as conservative activists declare victory," NBC News, May 24, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173190?t=7&akid=353888%2E56276637%2Elc26nI
3. "CPAC Speaker Calls for Eradication of 'Transgenderism' — and Somehow Claims He's Not Calling for Elimination of Transgender People," Rolling Stone, March 6, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173222?t=9&akid=353888%2E56276637%2Elc26nI
4. "Weekly Roundup of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Advancing In States Across the Country," Human Rights Campaign, May 9, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173192?t=11&akid=353888%2E56276637%2Elc26nI
5. "Experts warn against canceling Pride campaigns after extremists threaten Target," ABC News, May 30, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/173193?t=13&akid=353888%2E56276637%2Elc26nI
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