Dear MoveOn member,

Did you know that Target recently gave in to the demands of right-wing
extremists?

Caving to a coordinated campaign organized by anti-LGBTQ+ bigots, Target
pulled multiple items from their 2023 Pride merch collection from stores
nationwide—which featured items produced by small businesses owned by
queer and trans creators, designers, and artists—just as Pride Month was
set to begin.^1

Not only is this decision by Target executives despicable, but it's also
dangerous. Target's shameful move will only embolden these far-right
extremists, who are laser-focused on eradicating the LGBTQ+ community from
public life entirely.

In response, MoveOn launched an emergency campaign to hold Target
accountable for abandoning the LGBTQ+ community. Since the news broke,
nearly 60,000 MoveOn members have signed our petition—and have made
thousands of phone calls in a 24-hour period—demanding that Target stop
caving to bigots, homophobes, and transphobes and reinstate Pride merch.



[ [link removed] ]If you believe equality is more than a slogan, will you
rush $3 to support MoveOn's campaign and help us exert
maximum pressure on Target?



Corporations like Target participate in "rainbow capitalism," selling
their products to the LGBTQ+ community to make money during Pride Month
but failing to stick up for the LGBTQ+ community in the face of right-wing
backlash.^2

Make no mistake: This recent attack orchestrated by these right-wing,
anti-LGBTQ+ zealots is just the latest example of what we're seeing across
the country: a rise of targeted, vile attacks against the LGBTQ+
community, and particularly trans youth, from waves of harmful legislation
to threats and acts of violence.

This year alone, Republicans have introduced a RECORD-BREAKING 520
violent, abusive, and hateful anti-LGBTQ+ bills, many of which
specifically target trans kids, in state legislatures—and it's only
June.^3

LGBTQ+ people deserve to be visible. To feel safe and supported.
Everywhere. Not abandoned when it becomes inconvenient.

If Target really cared about the LGBTQ+ community, it would stop caving to
anti-LGBTQ+ bigots, reinstate the Pride merch to support our communities
and queer, trans, and nonbinary creators, and do more to support our
community by rising up against anti-LGBTQ+ bills—particularly those
targeting trans youth—passing across the country.

John, it's up to us to stand in solidarity and support the
entire LGBTQ+ community, especially Black, brown, and Indigenous LGBTQ+
people who are disproportionately impacted.

By calling out Target and demanding they reinstate their Pride merch,
we'll send a powerful message to all corporations that they can't cave to
anti-LGBTQ+ bigots and get away with it.



[ [link removed] ]Please, John, click here to chip in $3 to
help us ramp up our campaign to fight back against anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and
force Target to take accountability.



Thanks for all you do.

–Nakia, Erik, Seth, Elsie, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Target quietly moves Pride merchandise in some stores as conservative
activists declare victory," NBC News, May 24, 2023
[link removed]

2. "Target Pride backlash exposes 'rainbow capitalism' problem, designer
says," Reuters, May 31, 2023
[link removed]

3. "Roundup of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Advancing In States Across the
Country," Human Rights Campaign, May 23, 2023
[link removed]




Want to support MoveOn's work? Book bans have skyrocketed thanks to
right-wing state laws which have forced teachers to remove books from
their classrooms. In response, MoveOn is launching a "Banned Bookmobile,"
filling it with books that the far right has banned, and driving it around
to hand out those books, for free, in highly trafficked areas that will
attract media attention. To keep the Banned Bookmobile up and running into
2024, we need your help.

Will you chip in to power our critical work?





[ [link removed] ]Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAID FOR BY MOVEON POLITICAL ACTION, [ [link removed] ][link removed]?.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. MoveOn Political
Action - PO Box 96142, Washington, D.C. 20090-6142.



You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]