Growing Number of Calls for Boycotting Target Over LGBT Clothes for Children

A Target store in Somersworth, N.H. Alice Giordano/The Epoch Times

Calls to boycott Target have spread on social media after the retailer released another line of LGBT clothing for kids, including for newborn children.

According to Target’s website, it recently released its so-called “Pride Collection” for 2023, including onesies for infants that feature pro-LGBT content coming in sizes of zero to three months. One onesie includes the text “Bein Proud,” while another features what appear to be LGBT rainbows and hearts along with the transgender flag colors.

The Minneapolis-based retailer is also selling child LGBT books, 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.

Broadcaster Megyn Kelly wrote this week that “we don’t need our kids seeing this [expletive] when we walk down the aisle at Target,” while Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren added that “Target has gone full woke and it’s repugnant.”

Conservative commentator Candace Owens was more explicit in her criticism and suggested a boycott of the retailer.

“I cannot state enough how important is for people to choose not to shop at target. There has never been a company that has been more pro-transgenderism than Target,” she wrote. Meanwhile, another conservative commentator, Steven Crowder, simply wrote: “Boycott Target.”

And more controversially, Target is allegedly selling so-called “tuck-friendly” swimwear for children, according to videos posted online from inside a Target location.  “Did you know @Target also sells ‘tuck-friendly’ bathing suits for children in the Pride section? Well now you do,” reads one social media post.

The "Bein Proud" onsie for infants as young as 0-3 months sold via Target's website. Target.com screenshot via The Epoch Times

A spokesperson for Target told The Associated Press that the “tuck-friendly” swimsuits are only offered for adults and the children’s line of clothing doesn’t feature that label. “The ‘tuck-friendly’ swim suits are for adults only,” the spokesperson told the newswire service.

But in response to the controversy, Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh wrote that “what Target is doing is far worse than anything Bud Light did,” referring to the controversy and boycott of Bud Light after it produced a can with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s face on it. “They are selling chest binders and ‘tuck-friendly’ bathing suits for children,” he added.

Responding to the LGBT line clothing, the Gays Against Groomers organization called for consumers to take their business elsewhere.

“The only thing these people understand is money,” the group wrote on social media. “Target deserves the Bud Light treatment.”

Response

During Fortune’s “Leadership Next” podcast a week ago, Target CEO Brian Cornell was asked about backlash against “woke” companies. “I think those are just good business decisions, and it’s the right thing for society, and it’s the great thing for our brand,” Cornell said.

“The things we’ve done from a DE&I [diversity, equity, and inclusion] standpoint, it’s adding value,” Cornell said, referring to the left-wing training materials. “It’s helping us drive sales, it’s building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for our business today.”

“When we think about purpose at Target, it’s really about helping all the families, and that ‘all’ word is really important,” Cornell added. He also said that the focus on “diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years.”

One of the largest retailers in the United States, Target has long faced boycott calls. In 2016, one targeted the company after it released a policy that allowed men who identify as women to use women’s bathrooms.

At the time, the conservative American Family Association urged members to boycott Target for the retailer’s bathroom policy and accused it of potentially exposing women and girls to voyeurs and sexual predators Target’s policy “means a man can simply say he feels like a woman today and enter the women’s restroom ... this is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims,” AFA said on its website at the time.

Emergency Meeting?

On Tuesday, there were reports that multiple Target locations in southern U.S. states held what were described as emergency meetings over the LGBT clothes for kids. They moved some of their Pride products away from the front of the store in a bid to avoid a “Bud Light situation,” alleged Target sources told Fox News.

“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,” a person that Fox described as a “Target insider” said Tuesday.

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

The Epoch Times has contacted Target for comment. The company has not explicitly responded to the calls for a boycott or reports that emergency meetings were called.

Reuters contributed to this report.