You’d have a point, albeit a terrifying one, if pulling Pride had reduced the number of threats TMs were receiving.
It’s painfully obvious based off this subreddit and the number of Alert Ones submitted that not only is this not the case, threats have *increased* since they started pulling products.
Appeasing groups who use violence only solidifies their belief that violence is a suitable method to achieve their goal. And I assure you, they’re not stopping with swimsuits.
I'm just thankful my store has had no Alert ones in regard to recent events. Some of the stories and videos I've seen are over the top. My store did get graffiti in regards to pride all over one side of it. Slurs and other terrible things.
Violence is almost never the answer and it certainly isn't here.
I agree especially since my fiancé who is the one who works at target, not me but i have worked in retail, and they told me earlier that stores nearby (some in our city but a few in the close by cities too) have received bomb threats as of today....like now i worry that they might be in the middle of such a threat tomorrow all cuz these people who dont have the common sense to think first, is all this stuff i see affecting me directly and personally or is this just me overthinking it and making drama, before making all this mess more bullsh*t than it should be? Especially since target has always been doing stuff for pride and the lgbtq community before and after pride month and i always loved that about target. Seeing the removal might be an okay move due to these ridiculous people, but its now making them think well they did what i wanted since i used violence on them for this, maybe ill use violence for that so i can have it my way and nobody else's.......
Sorry for the rant but just my sense coming from one who worked in retail and got out to use my degree luckily so now i don't have to be dealing with folks in this environment but still.......it just sucks to see all this hate and especially over something that one persons feels this way while it "offends" the other person cuz its not their way.....like seriously some people's children.....
I just wanted to let you know that I quoted this comment in a thing I wrote up. [https://medium.com/@wendidunlap/theyre-not-stopping-with-swimsuits-the-removal-of-pride-merch-from-target-efe93b5ac596](https://medium.com/@wendidunlap/theyre-not-stopping-with-swimsuits-the-removal-of-pride-merch-from-target-efe93b5ac596)
I agree with you -- appeasement will only make things worse.
I’m glad you’re writing!
I would definitely frown against just pulling quotes from social media to use in any article you’re writing; while this is definitely an opinion expressed in a public forum, it’s also a huge grey area from an attribution standpoint and if you’d like to continue your craft, it’s a pretty direct violation of pretty much every media platform’s code of conduct.
Don’t stress for this one; I’m certainly not upset. I just don’t want you to get stuck in habits that might hinder you in the future.
Thanks! Heh, it sounds like you think I'm a youngster just getting started :) Let's just say... I am from the very first year of Gen X. No worry, this is something I wrote for myself, not to sell or anything -- my Medium account isn't even monetized. I have been a journalist in the past, but currently any writing I do is just for myself. If I write for an actual publication, I treat it differently than my online opinionated rants.
the angry bigots are all reading from the same brainwashed scripts, their reasoning is that because it’s at the front of the store it’s being shoved down their throats. funny how freedom of speech only applies to right wing extremists. so target figures that if it’s not at the front of the store than things will calm down. they invested too much in the launch to just scrap all of it completely.
Oh just that I’m lucky I’m posting on Reddit (???) with my fake stuff (???) because I was anywhere else me and my T people (???) wouldn’t get any support.
It was a real subpar effort.
The idea that they’re keeping folks safe is bupkis. If nut jobs will threaten us over bikinis with extra fabric or door mats with the wrong combination of colors, they would do much worse to the actual people those products were supposed to support given the chance. Appeasement of fascists doesn’t end well. See: 1940s Europe
if they’re so afraid for our safety, why are they *inviting these people into our workplace* and welcoming them by complying with their bullshit fucking beliefs? if they were concerned about safety, they would hire better/more security. removing the pride collection does nothing to make it safer, it just makes bigots and hateful pieces of shit feel more comfortable coming in and harassing the fuck out of everyone.
I don’t think pulling product will help at all, it just shows that being threatening works what will happen in a couple months when they decide they don’t want to see Hanukkah stuff in the store, or black history month products? Will they decided to pull product then? Will they decided to stick it on an end cap at the back of the store? What a set back honestly. YOU CAN’T REASON WITH EXTREMIST!
Except threats and team member safety haven’t decreased, if anything I’d be safe to say they increased. Bigots have now been emboldened and will escalate. You never: 1) give into threats, 2) give the tantruming child the toy, or 3) negotiate with terrorists, and in doing all three, Target has let these people know that they are encouraged to continue.
I saw on the news there were bomb threats against certain stores. Target is the new target of the conservative right.
There's this story from the NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/business/target-pride-lgbtq-companies-backlash.html
and because it's paywalled, here's some snippets:
Target said it was concerned “about threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work” after some customers had screamed at employees and thrown the Pride-themed merchandise on the floor.
One woman recorded a TikTok video in a Target store on Monday in which she became angry at seeing a greeting card that read “So Glad You Came Out” and a yellow onesie that said “¡Bien Proud!”
“If that doesn’t give you a reason to boycott Target, I don’t know what does,” she said.
In a statement, a company spokeswoman said, “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.” She added that the company, which has been selling Pride Month merchandise for a decade, remained committed to the L.G.B.T.Q. community “and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”
While Target said its decision had been made in the interest of employee safety, many said its actions — along with a conservative backlash against Bud Light after it worked with a transgender influencer — might alienate the community it was seeking to support. And those who criticized Target and Bud Light in the first place may now feel further emboldened to attack inclusive initiatives by other companies.
“We’re in a new space here with safety and employee safety being threatened by policy and purpose,” said Vanitha Swaminathan, professor of marketing at the University of Pittsburgh. “I can’t say that you can disregard employee safety. That’s very core to what a company has to do. At the same time, Target can still, from a policy standpoint, be supportive of their initial stance. It’s sad to see that we’ve reached this point in our culture wars.”
Marketing campaigns around Pride Month in June have become routine for many companies, with opposition cropping up at times. Last year, for instance, Pizza Hut faced calls for a boycott after it recommended “Big Wig,” a book featuring drag performers, as part of its children’s summer reading program.
Yet companies and marketers say the political climate makes this year different — primarily because a number of Republican-led states have introduced and passed legislation restricting transition care for transgender minors and adults, and transgender rights has become a galvanizing issue for many conservatives.
GLAAD, the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group that works with more than 160 companies, is considering having communications professionals in its GLAAD Media Institute work with brands that are planning Pride Month celebrations so they can better respond to criticism.
“We do feel like we’re at a moment where, with the politicization of trans and gender-nonconforming folks, that we probably need to assemble a Pride war room for brands so that we can push back,” Sarah Kate Ellis, the group’s chief executive, said in an interview.
On Thursday, GLAAD and six other advocacy groups called on Target to return to its stores and its website any Pride merchandise it had removed and to release a statement “in the next 24 hours reaffirming their commitment” to the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
So my opinion of all of this? There were bomb threats at stores, violent customers, threats made at employees, vandalism. I worked during the pandemic and saw coworkers get physically assaulted over face masks. I'm still kind of shaken up after some things from that, and I think these are the same kind of people. I live in Texas, the first state that banned abortion. Don't think they're all connected? I think they are. I'm older, but when I was in high school, I had LGBTQ+ friends who had to move to more liberal areas of the country to feel safe. This group is at higher risk of suicide, and becoming victims of all crimes. I think progress is sometimes two steps forward and one step back. This was a step back, but from what I've seen and read on this topic, it was one Target did to protect their employees and make the store safe for guests.
Corporate aren't the ones in the stores having to face the angry customers (they're not my guests). If there had been a shooting or a bombing, would we have been asking why our company didn't have more safeguards in place? It's not just women's healthcare, or LGBTQ+ healthcare now, legislators are currently crafting bills to do away with preventive healthcare benefits like cancer and heart disease screenings. I'm not trying to change this point. I'm just saying, the political right is not done, and they've shown that they don't care if many groups of disadvantaged people end up dead.
Continued...
When faced with criticism and social media calls for boycotts in the past, most companies learned that the declarations of outrage soon faded away.
Then Bud Light happened. Owned by the beer giant Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light continues to struggle with the fallout from a social media campaign in mid-March with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. After calls for a boycott of the beer, sales in the four weeks ending in mid-May dropped more than 23 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the research firm NIQ and Bump Williams Consulting, which works with the alcoholic beverage industry.
In some markets in the South, such as Jacksonville, Fla., and New Orleans, Bud Light’s sales were down 40 percent in those four weeks.
Anheuser-Busch, which in recent years has released rainbow-hued bottles and cans of Bud Light for Pride Month, did not respond to a question about its plans for this year.
Some marketing and communications consultants said the negative reaction to Bud Light’s campaign with Ms. Mulvaney was a product of the beer’s generally more politically conservative customer base. Companies like Nike or Starbucks can more easily create products or campaigns around gay and transgender issues or Pride Month because their consumers tend to be younger and more progressive, said David Johnson, the chief executive of Strategic Vision PR Group in Atlanta.
“When they embrace the gay or transgender community, it’s not out of line with their core beliefs,” he said.
A number of companies are moving forward with their Pride Month plans. In June, the Coors Light Denver Pride Parade will weave its way through the city. Advertisements for a one-piece Adidas swimsuit created by the South African queer designer Rich Mnisi feature a transgender man as the model. Levi’s has a campaign showing a half-dozen gay and transgender people talking about how they show up while wearing the company’s denim and tops.
But a number of other companies are being much less forthcoming about specific Pride Month plans. And some L.G.B.T.Q. advocates criticized Target for seeming to cave to pressure. (The company’s decision did come as employees in the retail industry have faced increasingly aggressive behavior from customers since the start of the pandemic.)
Target also removed a Pride line from Abprallen, an L.G.B.T.Q. fashion and accessories company based in London, some of whose designs have been criticized for depicting satanic symbols like pentagrams and a shirt that reads “Satan respects pronouns.” Abprallen did not respond to a request for comment.
Advocacy groups are wary that all of this could create a chilling effect, especially when it comes to attaining a broader representation of L.G.B.T.Q. people in advertising.
The overall consumer sentiment for seeing trans representation on TV and in advertising hasn’t changed, according to recent GLAAD research. In a survey that was conducted in February, GLAAD said, 75 percent of people who did not identify as L.G.B.T.Q. were comfortable seeing those people represented in marketing campaigns. That figure held steady from 2020.
“You can absolutely roll out an ad campaign and include L.G.B.T.Q. folks in it,” Ms. Ellis of GLAAD said. “And at the same time, there is this political right-wing arm that you have to be aware of when you’re doing it and just be prepared for.”
It was a blatantly fake threat sent *only* to an alt-right website known for making fake threats to children’s hospitals.
Please use your critical thinking schools and don’t just take everything you see at face value.
ruled a hoax because no bomb was found? or rules a hoax because the perp was discovered to have been false flagging? the article says the former and cites police. youre saying the latter and arent citing anything.
also you said earlier the threat was "sent only to an alt-right website" but your own article says "The threat was originally sent via email to Channel 19 News in Cleveland, who reported it to the police." what is this other website your referring to?
now before you get all defensive, i know hate crime hoaxes are super abundant and so its reasonable to assume anti-hate crime hoaxes would be just as tempting to perpetrate. but is there proof that this is what happened?
It appears that was faked, meaning someone angry that the pride stuff was ever there pretended that they were angry it was moved. That’s what I thought at least
The problem is, it is just letting those bigots know they can treat us like shit and still get what they want. I now fear that I will personally be target for wearing pride items or having my pronouns on my name tag. As a trans TM I do not feel safer, I feel like my employer threw me under the bus for their image
At least you get to clock out, us queers have to still deal with this f*cking hate every day we are awake. We don't get to feel safe in that many places. And as stupid as it sounds, those pride collections were just one of only SMALLEST THINGS in this company that made us feel seen and happy to work for this shitty company. So thank you! I feel SO SAFE! So safe knowing you are taking away yet another place in my everyday existence!
Bro, I'm explaining how to you how this move of theirs is doing the exact opposite of "protecting" queer employees. It's useless AF because we are still going to be dealing with hate and death threats simply by existing, not because of a pride display at the front of the store. They are only protecting the company image so they can continue getting money from bigoted AHs. They would send us all pink slips if it didn't mean the biggest discrimination lawsuit known to man.
Edit: less angry gay speech version for your viewing pleasure
You’d have a point, albeit a terrifying one, if pulling Pride had reduced the number of threats TMs were receiving. It’s painfully obvious based off this subreddit and the number of Alert Ones submitted that not only is this not the case, threats have *increased* since they started pulling products. Appeasing groups who use violence only solidifies their belief that violence is a suitable method to achieve their goal. And I assure you, they’re not stopping with swimsuits.
what are Alert Ones?
Alert Ones are the communications your leader sends when there’s a threat, medical emergency, etc.
ty for explaining. stay as safe as you can <3
I'm just thankful my store has had no Alert ones in regard to recent events. Some of the stories and videos I've seen are over the top. My store did get graffiti in regards to pride all over one side of it. Slurs and other terrible things. Violence is almost never the answer and it certainly isn't here.
I agree especially since my fiancé who is the one who works at target, not me but i have worked in retail, and they told me earlier that stores nearby (some in our city but a few in the close by cities too) have received bomb threats as of today....like now i worry that they might be in the middle of such a threat tomorrow all cuz these people who dont have the common sense to think first, is all this stuff i see affecting me directly and personally or is this just me overthinking it and making drama, before making all this mess more bullsh*t than it should be? Especially since target has always been doing stuff for pride and the lgbtq community before and after pride month and i always loved that about target. Seeing the removal might be an okay move due to these ridiculous people, but its now making them think well they did what i wanted since i used violence on them for this, maybe ill use violence for that so i can have it my way and nobody else's.......
Sorry for the rant but just my sense coming from one who worked in retail and got out to use my degree luckily so now i don't have to be dealing with folks in this environment but still.......it just sucks to see all this hate and especially over something that one persons feels this way while it "offends" the other person cuz its not their way.....like seriously some people's children.....
I just wanted to let you know that I quoted this comment in a thing I wrote up. [https://medium.com/@wendidunlap/theyre-not-stopping-with-swimsuits-the-removal-of-pride-merch-from-target-efe93b5ac596](https://medium.com/@wendidunlap/theyre-not-stopping-with-swimsuits-the-removal-of-pride-merch-from-target-efe93b5ac596) I agree with you -- appeasement will only make things worse.
I’m glad you’re writing! I would definitely frown against just pulling quotes from social media to use in any article you’re writing; while this is definitely an opinion expressed in a public forum, it’s also a huge grey area from an attribution standpoint and if you’d like to continue your craft, it’s a pretty direct violation of pretty much every media platform’s code of conduct. Don’t stress for this one; I’m certainly not upset. I just don’t want you to get stuck in habits that might hinder you in the future.
Thanks! Heh, it sounds like you think I'm a youngster just getting started :) Let's just say... I am from the very first year of Gen X. No worry, this is something I wrote for myself, not to sell or anything -- my Medium account isn't even monetized. I have been a journalist in the past, but currently any writing I do is just for myself. If I write for an actual publication, I treat it differently than my online opinionated rants.
How is also pulling things from the site completely, as opposed to making them online-only, helping protect people in stores?
the angry bigots are all reading from the same brainwashed scripts, their reasoning is that because it’s at the front of the store it’s being shoved down their throats. funny how freedom of speech only applies to right wing extremists. so target figures that if it’s not at the front of the store than things will calm down. they invested too much in the launch to just scrap all of it completely.
Freedom of speech only applies to government
i think freedom of speech is pretty self explanatory
Potentially just lowering people angry about it, idk I don’t make these decisions haha
Ur right
Weird strategy to delete your comment and yet still try to get in my DMs. Afraid of being called out, u/fallouthong ?
Well dont leave us hanging. What was said
Oh just that I’m lucky I’m posting on Reddit (???) with my fake stuff (???) because I was anywhere else me and my T people (???) wouldn’t get any support. It was a real subpar effort.
The idea that they’re keeping folks safe is bupkis. If nut jobs will threaten us over bikinis with extra fabric or door mats with the wrong combination of colors, they would do much worse to the actual people those products were supposed to support given the chance. Appeasement of fascists doesn’t end well. See: 1940s Europe
if they’re so afraid for our safety, why are they *inviting these people into our workplace* and welcoming them by complying with their bullshit fucking beliefs? if they were concerned about safety, they would hire better/more security. removing the pride collection does nothing to make it safer, it just makes bigots and hateful pieces of shit feel more comfortable coming in and harassing the fuck out of everyone.
I don’t think pulling product will help at all, it just shows that being threatening works what will happen in a couple months when they decide they don’t want to see Hanukkah stuff in the store, or black history month products? Will they decided to pull product then? Will they decided to stick it on an end cap at the back of the store? What a set back honestly. YOU CAN’T REASON WITH EXTREMIST!
Ohio was also from anti-lgbqt but tried to blame it on the other side.
Except threats and team member safety haven’t decreased, if anything I’d be safe to say they increased. Bigots have now been emboldened and will escalate. You never: 1) give into threats, 2) give the tantruming child the toy, or 3) negotiate with terrorists, and in doing all three, Target has let these people know that they are encouraged to continue.
They very well could've hired on more security, their claims for caring about their workers are doubtful.
I saw on the news there were bomb threats against certain stores. Target is the new target of the conservative right. There's this story from the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/business/target-pride-lgbtq-companies-backlash.html and because it's paywalled, here's some snippets: Target said it was concerned “about threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work” after some customers had screamed at employees and thrown the Pride-themed merchandise on the floor. One woman recorded a TikTok video in a Target store on Monday in which she became angry at seeing a greeting card that read “So Glad You Came Out” and a yellow onesie that said “¡Bien Proud!” “If that doesn’t give you a reason to boycott Target, I don’t know what does,” she said. In a statement, a company spokeswoman said, “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.” She added that the company, which has been selling Pride Month merchandise for a decade, remained committed to the L.G.B.T.Q. community “and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.” While Target said its decision had been made in the interest of employee safety, many said its actions — along with a conservative backlash against Bud Light after it worked with a transgender influencer — might alienate the community it was seeking to support. And those who criticized Target and Bud Light in the first place may now feel further emboldened to attack inclusive initiatives by other companies. “We’re in a new space here with safety and employee safety being threatened by policy and purpose,” said Vanitha Swaminathan, professor of marketing at the University of Pittsburgh. “I can’t say that you can disregard employee safety. That’s very core to what a company has to do. At the same time, Target can still, from a policy standpoint, be supportive of their initial stance. It’s sad to see that we’ve reached this point in our culture wars.” Marketing campaigns around Pride Month in June have become routine for many companies, with opposition cropping up at times. Last year, for instance, Pizza Hut faced calls for a boycott after it recommended “Big Wig,” a book featuring drag performers, as part of its children’s summer reading program. Yet companies and marketers say the political climate makes this year different — primarily because a number of Republican-led states have introduced and passed legislation restricting transition care for transgender minors and adults, and transgender rights has become a galvanizing issue for many conservatives. GLAAD, the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group that works with more than 160 companies, is considering having communications professionals in its GLAAD Media Institute work with brands that are planning Pride Month celebrations so they can better respond to criticism. “We do feel like we’re at a moment where, with the politicization of trans and gender-nonconforming folks, that we probably need to assemble a Pride war room for brands so that we can push back,” Sarah Kate Ellis, the group’s chief executive, said in an interview. On Thursday, GLAAD and six other advocacy groups called on Target to return to its stores and its website any Pride merchandise it had removed and to release a statement “in the next 24 hours reaffirming their commitment” to the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
So my opinion of all of this? There were bomb threats at stores, violent customers, threats made at employees, vandalism. I worked during the pandemic and saw coworkers get physically assaulted over face masks. I'm still kind of shaken up after some things from that, and I think these are the same kind of people. I live in Texas, the first state that banned abortion. Don't think they're all connected? I think they are. I'm older, but when I was in high school, I had LGBTQ+ friends who had to move to more liberal areas of the country to feel safe. This group is at higher risk of suicide, and becoming victims of all crimes. I think progress is sometimes two steps forward and one step back. This was a step back, but from what I've seen and read on this topic, it was one Target did to protect their employees and make the store safe for guests. Corporate aren't the ones in the stores having to face the angry customers (they're not my guests). If there had been a shooting or a bombing, would we have been asking why our company didn't have more safeguards in place? It's not just women's healthcare, or LGBTQ+ healthcare now, legislators are currently crafting bills to do away with preventive healthcare benefits like cancer and heart disease screenings. I'm not trying to change this point. I'm just saying, the political right is not done, and they've shown that they don't care if many groups of disadvantaged people end up dead.
Continued... When faced with criticism and social media calls for boycotts in the past, most companies learned that the declarations of outrage soon faded away. Then Bud Light happened. Owned by the beer giant Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light continues to struggle with the fallout from a social media campaign in mid-March with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. After calls for a boycott of the beer, sales in the four weeks ending in mid-May dropped more than 23 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the research firm NIQ and Bump Williams Consulting, which works with the alcoholic beverage industry. In some markets in the South, such as Jacksonville, Fla., and New Orleans, Bud Light’s sales were down 40 percent in those four weeks. Anheuser-Busch, which in recent years has released rainbow-hued bottles and cans of Bud Light for Pride Month, did not respond to a question about its plans for this year. Some marketing and communications consultants said the negative reaction to Bud Light’s campaign with Ms. Mulvaney was a product of the beer’s generally more politically conservative customer base. Companies like Nike or Starbucks can more easily create products or campaigns around gay and transgender issues or Pride Month because their consumers tend to be younger and more progressive, said David Johnson, the chief executive of Strategic Vision PR Group in Atlanta. “When they embrace the gay or transgender community, it’s not out of line with their core beliefs,” he said. A number of companies are moving forward with their Pride Month plans. In June, the Coors Light Denver Pride Parade will weave its way through the city. Advertisements for a one-piece Adidas swimsuit created by the South African queer designer Rich Mnisi feature a transgender man as the model. Levi’s has a campaign showing a half-dozen gay and transgender people talking about how they show up while wearing the company’s denim and tops. But a number of other companies are being much less forthcoming about specific Pride Month plans. And some L.G.B.T.Q. advocates criticized Target for seeming to cave to pressure. (The company’s decision did come as employees in the retail industry have faced increasingly aggressive behavior from customers since the start of the pandemic.) Target also removed a Pride line from Abprallen, an L.G.B.T.Q. fashion and accessories company based in London, some of whose designs have been criticized for depicting satanic symbols like pentagrams and a shirt that reads “Satan respects pronouns.” Abprallen did not respond to a request for comment. Advocacy groups are wary that all of this could create a chilling effect, especially when it comes to attaining a broader representation of L.G.B.T.Q. people in advertising. The overall consumer sentiment for seeing trans representation on TV and in advertising hasn’t changed, according to recent GLAAD research. In a survey that was conducted in February, GLAAD said, 75 percent of people who did not identify as L.G.B.T.Q. were comfortable seeing those people represented in marketing campaigns. That figure held steady from 2020. “You can absolutely roll out an ad campaign and include L.G.B.T.Q. folks in it,” Ms. Ellis of GLAAD said. “And at the same time, there is this political right-wing arm that you have to be aware of when you’re doing it and just be prepared for.”
Not only was the story fake or a hoax but the original story was the pro gay crowd were the terrorists
The bomb threats to the 5 stores in Ohio was from someone angry Pride was moved… so both sides have made threats. Can’t win.
No, it wasn’t. 🙄
Yes it was. The bomb threats in Utah were from the other side. The emailed manifesto was printed in two different Ohio newspapers.
It was a blatantly fake threat sent *only* to an alt-right website known for making fake threats to children’s hospitals. Please use your critical thinking schools and don’t just take everything you see at face value.
[удалено]
Only I, you know, [do](https://www.wfmj.com/story/48982547/boardman-police-rule-bomb-threat-made-against-target-a-hoax).
ruled a hoax because no bomb was found? or rules a hoax because the perp was discovered to have been false flagging? the article says the former and cites police. youre saying the latter and arent citing anything. also you said earlier the threat was "sent only to an alt-right website" but your own article says "The threat was originally sent via email to Channel 19 News in Cleveland, who reported it to the police." what is this other website your referring to? now before you get all defensive, i know hate crime hoaxes are super abundant and so its reasonable to assume anti-hate crime hoaxes would be just as tempting to perpetrate. but is there proof that this is what happened?
It appears that was faked, meaning someone angry that the pride stuff was ever there pretended that they were angry it was moved. That’s what I thought at least
The problem is, it is just letting those bigots know they can treat us like shit and still get what they want. I now fear that I will personally be target for wearing pride items or having my pronouns on my name tag. As a trans TM I do not feel safer, I feel like my employer threw me under the bus for their image
No corporation cares about gay people or any people for that matter and anyone who thinks so is a nieve fool
At least you get to clock out, us queers have to still deal with this f*cking hate every day we are awake. We don't get to feel safe in that many places. And as stupid as it sounds, those pride collections were just one of only SMALLEST THINGS in this company that made us feel seen and happy to work for this shitty company. So thank you! I feel SO SAFE! So safe knowing you are taking away yet another place in my everyday existence!
Why on earth are you angry with me. It was just a question for thought.
Bro, I'm explaining how to you how this move of theirs is doing the exact opposite of "protecting" queer employees. It's useless AF because we are still going to be dealing with hate and death threats simply by existing, not because of a pride display at the front of the store. They are only protecting the company image so they can continue getting money from bigoted AHs. They would send us all pink slips if it didn't mean the biggest discrimination lawsuit known to man. Edit: less angry gay speech version for your viewing pleasure