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Target Stores Removing Some Pride Merchandise After Anti-LGBTQ Threats to Staff
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LGBTQ Pride 2023

With LGBTQ Pride Month upcoming in June, the current atmosphere in the US regarding the LGBTQ community is intolerant to dangerous... Retailers and manufacturers offering LGBTQ merchandise are being threatened.... White Nationalist groups plan to disrupt Pride events... Attacks on drag queens and drag shows are spreading... LGBTQ books are being banned... Schools are being pressured... Anti-LGBTQ legislation is rampant nationwide...

Target is removing some items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month after intense backlash from some customers who confronted workers and tipped over displays. “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being 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.”

Target offers more than 2,000 products, including clothing, books, music and home furnishings as part of its Pride Collection, Reuters reports. The items include “gender fluid” mugs, “queer all year” calendars and books for children aged 2-8 titled “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3” and “I’m not a girl.” Screenshots and posts on social media show that Target previously sold a slogan sweater with the words “cure transphobia not trans people” and a “too queer for here” tote bag.

“Pride Month at Target is a time of affirmation and solidarity with the LGBTQ community,” the company says on its website. “Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year,” Target said in a statement.

Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores. Target declined to specify which items it was removing but among the ones that garnered the most attention were “tuck friendly” swimsuits for trans women. Target confirmed that it has moved its Pride merchandise from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern stores after confrontations and backlash from shoppers in those areas.

Target’s response to confrontations in its stores is taking place as state legislatures introduce a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ individuals. There are close to 500 anti-LGBTQ bills that have gone before state legislatures since the start of this year, an unprecedented number, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Those efforts focus on health, particularly gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, and education. State legislatures are pushing to prevent discussions in school regarding sexuality and gender identity. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Target’s action comes on the heels of a conservative backlash against Bud Light, after brewer Anheuser-Busch promoted the beer on social media last month with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Target, and other retailers including Walmart and H&M have been expanding their LGBTQ displays to celebrate Pride month for roughly a decade. This year transgender issues (including gender-affirming health care and participation in sports) have been a divisive topic in state legislatures and the backlash has turned hostile.

[Source: AP, CNN, Reuters, May 2023]

Dear Target: Please Ban the Threatening Customers, Not Your Pride Products

Defining LGBTQ Pride

We recognize the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically. In doing so, they are opening hearts and minds, and laying the foundation for a more just and equitable America.

-Proclamation by US President Joe Biden, June 2021

Gay pride or LGBTQ pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBTQ rights movements.

Ranging from solemn to carnivalesque, pride events are typically held during LGBTQ Pride Month or some other period that commemorates a turning point in a country's LGBTQ history. Some LGBTQ pride events include parades and marches, rallies, commemorations, community days, dance parties, and festivals.

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Every June, communities across the world celebrate Pride, also known as “Gay Pride” or “LGBTQ Pride.” For many it’s a celebration of identity, representing freedom of expression and freedom from social oppression. For others Pride represents a time in which they can watch from afar those who have been able to live their lives in an “out and proud” way. For people not in the LGBTQ communities, the month’s events may represent something different.

LGBTQ Pride began as a movement to solidify the rights and existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-1960s (in which Black communities fought for the same legal and civil rights of their white counterparts) spawned its creation.

There are differing stories as to how LGBTQ Pride actually began, yet people commonly think it originated in New York City. Like other activist movements, the modern gay liberation or civil rights movement included violent interactions with police. Most people think of the Stonewall Rebellion (also referred to as riots) as the catalyst for the modern march for civil rights for LGBTQ folks.

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Back in the 1960s, the Stonewall Inn, a now historic site thanks to former President Obama, was a popular hangout for LGBTQ folks in New York City. It represented that safe space in which people with varying sexual and gender identities could come together, celebrate themselves, and live boldly. While New York City has long been a mecca for the “others,” the misfits, and all else, it was still difficult to be an LGBTQ person then.

Riots broke out at the Stonewall Inn when police raided the bar in an effort to accost or arrest its patrons. Violence ensued. After that day, people gathered and marched through the streets of New York City demanding equal rights and treatment from the government and police. The dam of oppression against LGBTQ peoples had been broken for the first time in American history. Those marches served as the precursor to the marches around the world that now typically include lots of dancing, fun, love, and celebration of self and community.

P: Perseverance — Progressing forward in the face of difficulty or oppression
R: Resilience — Toughness, bouncing back from pain, and continuing to press on
I: Inclusion — Embracing the human desire to be a part of something greater than one’s self
D: Determination — Continuing to fight unwaveringly for rights and dignity in the face of hatred, judgment, ignorance, and bigotry
E: Expression — Allowing one’s self to be free to live and exist as one wants

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LGBTQ Pride 2021

Including masking up, following local guidelines, and practicing gratitude for the resilience of Pride, in whatever form it takes.

While the meaning of LGBTQ Pride is always influx, the past year has transformed the LGBTQ demonstration in ways that would have been unimaginable to those Stonewall Inn demonstrators over 50 years ago. In 2020, celebrations around the world were either canceled or shifted to virtual events to fight COVID-19, with drag performers and LGBTQ artists showcasing skills virtually via Zoom.

As plans altered online, cultural events also intervened. Last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests intersected with June, galvanizing thousands of LGBTQ folks from Los Angeles to New York City to leave quarantine and take to the streets in solidarity against police brutality. Support for Black transgender lives became an even louder rallying cry, as violence against that community escalated even higher in a pandemic year. And not every Pride happening was positive. Party promoters in Atlanta, for example, took advantage of the growing frustration with lockdown to plan unofficial parties in unsafe underground settings.

To say the least, it has been a “challenging” year for LGBTQ gatherings, says Jeff Consoletti, the founder and principal of JJ|LA, a prominent event company behind LA Pride. Amid this upheaval, JJ|LA engaged in its own seismic shifts for survival. The business invested in its ability to create online content and production as gatherings that were once anchored in a ballroom transitioned to digital spaces.

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The results of its efforts demonstrate how there can be diversity, innovation, and fun in digital spaces. At Equality California’s Golden State Equality Awards last fall, for example, JJ|LA created “cinematic, documentary-style” videos chronicling how the organization’s grassroots work changed in a pandemic. Hosted by Pose’s Angelica Ross and featuring honorees Pete and Chasten Buttigieg and Norman Lear, it also expanded the organization’s message and reach. Held statewide for the first time, the fundraiser promoted the election of progressive candidates while raising over $1.7 million.

Another JJ|LA event, Point Honors Los Angeles, was designed like a “video game.” Guests could virtually tour “Point Foundation University” and learn about the foundation’s mission of helping LGBTQ scholars. Angelenos even had at-home meal delivery, a tasteful combination of in-person and virtual experiences.

While the tools have changed, the aim is the same. “An event is really a story,” Consoletti shares.

As vaccinations ramp up and restrictions ease as June nears, real-life gatherings will return in some form. But events will forevermore be different, predicts Consoletti. New pandemic rituals like menu QR codes may become the norm. And Pride, in a new hybrid form, will march on, as it must. “I think that there is a huge need for Pride to come back in some capacity,” he says.

In 2021, many smaller Pride celebrations will undoubtedly be canceled. It’s an ideal time to donate to beloved Pride organizations to sustain them during this arduous time. But larger Pride events, like those in New York and Los Angeles, are persevering with plans that change alongside city guidelines. There will still be virtual celebrations. But this year, it’s possible for several vaccinated friends to gather and experience them together. Notably, Adam Lambert (our cover star) will “curate” Pride’s Stonewall Day, selecting musical performances and special appearances for the streaming June 6 fundraiser.

Some Prides will have an official in-person element, Consoletti predicts. However, don’t expect a return to packed parades. Participants must have “a little more patience” and expect a different, spaced-out experience, like drive-in drag shows and screenings, to avoid a “super-spreader event.” Proof of vaccinations may even be a requirement for some events. But respect for the health of others (and one’s self) is still paramount. Mask up, follow local guidelines, and practice gratitude for the resilience of Pride, in whatever form it takes.

This past year has “allowed us to reflect and learn in different ways,” Consoletti says. “I kind of appreciate Pride again.”

[Source: Daniel Reynolds, Advocate Magazine, May 2021]

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LGBTQ Pride Month

I call upon all Americans to observe LGBTQ Pride Month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exists.

-Proclamation by US President Barack Obama, May 2010

LGBTQ Pride Month occurs in the United States to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBTQ people have had in the world.

Two presidents of the United States have officially declared a pride month. First, President Bill Clinton declared June "Gay & Lesbian Pride Month" in 1999 and 2000. Then from 2009 to 2016, each year he was in office, President Barack Obama declared June LGBTQ Pride Month. Donald Trump became the first Republican president to acknowledge LGBTQ Pride Month in 2019, but he did so through tweeting rather than an official proclamation.

Beginning in 2012, Google displayed some LGBTQ-related search results with different rainbow-colored patterns each year during June. In 2017, Google also included rainbow colored streets on Google Maps to display Gay Pride marches occurring across the world.

At many colleges, which are not in session in June, LGBTQ pride is instead celebrated during April, which is dubbed "Gaypril".

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Wikipedia: Pride Parades

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Pride Month: Celebrating LGBTQ Joy

Imagine your high school baseball team banning you from playing. Your local DMV barring you from changing the name on your driver's license. Your neighbors darting their eyes away from you in public. The transgender community faces hardships like these on a daily basis – not to mention a wave of discriminatory legislation. Trans people are like Sisyphus, forever barreling a boulder up a never-ending hill.

But what if that hill wasn't so intimidating after all, and they were given encouragement, smiles and support along the way? In the face of trauma, trans people (and the LGBTQ community at large) often persevere and find joy. Experts say the two are inextricably linked, and putting emphasis on LGBTQ joy this Pride month is especially crucial given the wave of persecution against the community.

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"It is not only important but essential to celebrate," says Sara Warner, director of Cornell University's LGBTQ studies program. "Our pleasure is our resistance to the hate, homophobia/transphobia, and fearmongering aimed at LGBTQ individuals and communities."

Joy will help the community thrive, but first they must survive – especially younger people. According to The Trevor Project, 42% of LGBTQ young people "seriously considered" suicide this past year. More than half of them were transgender and nonbinary.

At least 28 transgender or gender nonconforming people have been killed in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Black and Latina transgender women are most at risk.

"Our survival depends on us finding ways to create joy for ourselves, ways to laugh together and sharing insights that can only come from truly knowing ourselves," says Alex Schmider, GLAAD's associate director of transgender representation.

June, which is Pride Month, is as good a time as any to explore joy. Pride started as a protest outside the Stonewall Inn in 1969 in New York. The word "protest" may not evoke joyful images – but it should.

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"We know that when the first brick was thrown at Stonewall, that was also portrayed as angry, or antagonist, or resistance and rising up. But that also was an act of joy," says SA Smythe, an assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA.

Warner adds: "When police, outfitted with tactical gear, stormed the Stonewall Inn, patrons – many of them homeless youth and trans women of color – fought back with the most potent weapons they had: their sense of humor. Some linked arms in a chorus line and sang dirty songs, while others led police on a wild goose chase through the byzantine streets of the West Village." Pride provides a time to celebrate and sit with this history, surrounded by fellow LGBTQ people.

"This is exactly the time where we find queer kinship and queer causes and celebrate that collectively," Smythe says. "Because we don't just then get joy, we also get to figure out what it is that we're about, how we move in solidarity with each other. And that's a super-joyous exercise."

The idea of finding joy amid trauma is linked to the civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter. "For Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ people of color, oppression is compounded by the violence of white supremacy, systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism," Warner says.

Wikipedia: Pride Parades

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It's important to see LGBTQ joy represented in TV, movies. Don't let the rainbow flags fool you: Joyful representations of queer people in entertainment are scarce. TV series and movies focusing on transgender people historically home in on tragedy – think "Boys Don't Cry" and "Dallas Buyers Club." The same can be said for the greater LGBTQ community, as with "Brokeback Mountain."

"I would love to see more programming that celebrates gaiety, joy and pleasure," Warner says. "With so many publishing outlets, television, channels, subscription series and public modes of broadcast, this is happening."

Series like "Saved by the Bell" on Peacock and "First Day" on Hulu are challenging this negative narrative, according to Schmider. "When facing a world that makes it so unnecessarily challenging to be ourselves, seeing trans joy, laughing together, appreciating who we are, can help lead us through these times," Schmider says. "Inviting people to connect with our experiences and laugh with us, not at us, which has historically been the case."

"Grey's Anatomy" star Jake Borelli watched all of "RuPaul's Drag Race" during the pandemic and is always looking for LGBTQ entertainment to consume. He also starred in the Freeform's movie "The Thing About Harry" last year.

"That, to me, was the perfect amount of joy," Borelli said of the film. "It was the perfect queer story, in the sense that it was about queer people, but then it didn't deal with shame and didn't deal with coming out. It dealt with love. And I hope that more movies like that get made or more larger story arcs on television shows. That would be wonderful."

As in real life, joy and heartbreak intertwine in complicated knots. "Joyful queer content can contain pain and trauma. It is important to acknowledge our history," Warner says. "The issue is how we address injury and how we celebrate our flourishing in spite of this."

Schmider agrees and says more diversity behind the scenes will only push that notion further.

Watching a trans kid hit a home run onscreen could fuel further acceptance offscreen.

"Trans people, and everyone, need to see us living our lives and thriving despite the harm being propelled onto us, showcasing our resilience and our refusal to bow and bend to the pressures of being inauthentic to ourselves," Schmider says.

[Source: David Oliver, USA Today, June 2021]

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Pride is much more than an event. It is a way of life.

Parades might get canceled. But pride never will be.

The first Pride event wasn’t a parade. It was a riot and a rebellion that led to a revolution. LGBTQ Pride Month is celebrated in June to commemorate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York. The uprising is considered by many to be the turning point in the gay rights equality movement. While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of regularly scheduled festivities around the world, from New York and San Francisco to London and Toronto, you can’t cancel Pride, because Pride is within all of us. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of this year’s celebrations around the country have been reimagined for safe social distancing measures. There won’t be rainbow floats in the streets, but Pride will still happen — online.

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With hundreds of gay pride celebrations around the world canceled or postponed due to COVID-19, event organizers are teaming up for virtual alternatives. Facing a wave of cancellations amid the global pandemic, LGBTQ activists are scrambling to reimagine gay pride events, some of which are among the biggest in-person gatherings in the world. With more and more in-person pride events being canceled and postponed daily, organizers are forced to be innovative and are exploring other options.

The LGBTQ community is creative and strong, with a long history of turning tragedy and struggle into triumph and affirmation. Look no further than the anti-racism demonstrations across the country in recent days as evidence that making history oftentimes means making people uncomfortable. This year is no different. Activists, artists, drag performers, politicians, filmmakers, community members, fitness gurus and more have all found ways to reimagine Pride as a virtual gathering that leaves no one behind. And the silver lining is that you don’t need to be a local to represent like one.

This year’s Pride festivities will look a whole lot different than the colorful crowds of parades past, but the annual celebration of the LGBTQ community and commemoration of the Stonewall Riot continues. Virtual events in June bring the joyous spirit of Pride into your living room through Zoom dance parties and archival film. Although there won’t be any elaborate floats this year, many cities are sponsoring a slew of virtual events kicking off on June 1. This year’s Pride will look much, much different. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s just no way to facilitate in-person festivals for the foreseeable future.

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L.A. Pride is taking to the streets. Previously, Los Angeles's annual Pride celebration had canceled all nondigital events in response to the pandemic. However, the protests against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd have galvanized its organizer, Christopher Street West, to hold a solidarity march, scheduled for June 14. And marchers will be wearing facemasks.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in L.A., making the demonstration even more significant, said Estevan Montemayor, president of CSW's Board of Directors. “Fifty years ago Christopher Street West took to the streets of Hollywood Blvd in order to peacefully protest against police brutality and oppression,” Montemayor said in a statement. “It is our moral imperative to honor the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who bravely led the Stonewall uprising, by standing in solidarity with the Black community against systemic racism and joining the fight for meaningful and long-lasting reform.”

This is not the first time that L.A. Pride modified its annual event to respond to a concurrent crisis. In 2017, L.A. Pride shifted from a corporate-sponsored parade to a Resist March in response to the presidential election of Donald Trump, who has pushed racist and anti-LGBTQ views and policies from the nation's highest seat of power.

[Source: Daniel Reynolds, Advocate Mag, June 2020]

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LGBTQ Pride Parades

Pride parades (also known as pride marches, pride events, and pride festivals) are events celebrating and affirming lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) culture and raising awareness of LGBTQ issues and concerns. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage. Most pride events occur annually, and many take place around June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, a pivotal moment in modern LGBTQ social movements.

Many parades still have at least some of the original political or activist character, especially in less accepting settings. The variation is largely dependent on the political, economic and religious activity of the area. However, in more accepting cities, the parades take on a festive, or even Mardi Gras-like, character. Many have a party-like atmosphere. Some parades may include elements that are not entirely appropriate for minor children.

Large parades often involve floats, dancers, drag queens, and amplified music. They also include marchers carrying flags, signs, and banners and participants throwing beads into the crowd. Some include celebrities, marching bands, motorcycles, skaters, and acrobats. But even such celebratory parades usually include political and educational contingents, such as local politicians and marching groups from LGBTQ institutions and organizations of various kinds.

New York City Pride Parade (2020)
Los Angeles Pride Parade (2019)
Berlin Pride Parade (2020)
Toronto Pride Parade (2019)
New York City Pride Parade (2018)
London Pride Parade 1 (2019)
Boston Pride Parade (2018)
Chicago Pride Parade (2017)
London Pride Parade 2 (2019)

Tokyo Pride Parade (2019)
San Francisco Pride Parade (2018)
Sydney Pride Parade (2019)
Washington DC Pride Parade (2017)
Oslo Pride Parade (2019)
San Francisco Pride Parade (2019)
Taiwan Pride Parade 2019
Edmonton Pride Parade (2018)
Chicago Pride (2019)

Other typical parade participants include local LGBTQ bars and clubs, organizations that provide specialized services to the LGBTQ community (support groups, clinics, LGBTQ centers), LGBTQ-friendly businesses, local LGBTQ-friendly churches (Metropolitan Community Churches, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Churches), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), LGBTQ student organizations from local colleges, and LGBTQ employee associations from large businesses.

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Even the most festive parades usually offer some aspect dedicated to remembering victims of AIDS and anti-LGBTQ violence. Some particularly important pride parades are funded by governmental agencies and corporate sponsors, and promoted as major tourist attractions for the cities that host them. In some countries, some pride parades are now also called Pride Festivals. Some of these festivals provide a carnival-like atmosphere in a nearby park or city-provided closed-off street, with information booths, music concerts, barbecues, beer stands, contests, sports, and games.

The 'dividing line' between onlookers and those marching in the parade can be hard to establish in some events. However in cases where the event is received with hostility, such a separation becomes very obvious. There have been studies considering how the relationship between participants and onlookers is affected by the divide, and how space is used to critique the heteronormative nature of society.

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"The gay pride parade is one of the biggest events of the year for the LGBTQ calendar. Founded in 1970 for the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, gay pride parades are a symbol of LGBTQ people’s unwillingness to remain in the closet any longer. And they aren’t all jockstraps and drag queens either. For their entire history, gay pride parades have always been a site of civic engagement, with a marked uptick in corporate participation in recent years."

-Advocate Magazine

Today Gay Pride parades occur on weekends in June throughout the United States, as well as in many other countries around the world. It is unusual for folklorists to be able to say exactly when and where a tradition began, but this is a rare case when history does record the events. The tradition of Gay Pride parades grew out of a conflict between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer New Yorkers and police. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, homosexual behavior, cross-dressing, and other expressions of gender nonconformity were treated as crimes in most parts of the United States. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, to arrest LGBTQ patrons. Protests and conflicts with police lasted several days, and have come to be called the Stonewall riots.

Stonewall was a galvanizing event in the quest for Gay rights. A short time after the events at Stonewall Inn, new Gay rights organizations began springing up, particularly in New York, California, and Chicago. And publications were created to help spread the movement.

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On June 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots was marked with the first “Gay Pride” or “Gay Freedom” parades in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In the 1970s, women’s rights and African American rights were already making headlines and securing allies throughout American society, and Gay rights joined them. The San Francisco marchers used “Gay Freedom” in their parades through 1994, but “Gay Pride” was the phrase that caught on in most of the rest of the country. The concept of “Gay Pride” was patterned on a successful effort in the African American Civil Rights movement to use “Black Pride” to expand the conversation from protests alone to a positive expression of identity.

One characteristic of Gay Pride events is the use of humor to get serious points across. Aware that one of the issues they needed to confront was fear, demonstrators made humor a standard in the expression of Gay Pride early on. Inclusiveness is also a strong feature of these events: all supporters of the cause are welcomed.

The use of the rainbow flag as a symbol of LGBTQ unity and pride is also bound up in the creation of the Gay Pride parades. A visible symbol that unified the various groups represented in the parades was needed. The first rainbow flag was used in the Gay Freedom Day march in San Francisco on June 25, 1978. The original eight-color design by Gay activist Gilbert Baker has since been simplified to six colors, but the original one is still sometimes used. As seen in these photos of a 2012 Gay Pride parade in San Francisco, the flag colors now show up in costumes and accessories as well as flags. As Gay Pride events spread internationally, so did the rainbow flag.

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To identify oneself as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender carries a risk that should not be forgotten in the celebratory atmosphere of Gay Pride events. Early in the movement marchers prepared for the possibility of arrest by police or violence from opposing groups or onlookers. Many who “came out” also risked the loss of ties with family members and friends. The tragic mass shooting in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016 is a reminder to all Americans that violence towards the LGBTQ community continues to be of serious concern. The determination of participants in Gay Pride events to carry on this year in spite of the danger speaks to the continued courage and dedication of this generation’s marchers to the issue of LGBTQ equality.

We should also remember that great progress has been made in the struggle for Gay rights. Gay Pride marches celebrate not only progress toward fair treatment of LGBTQ citizens, but the American ideals of inclusiveness and strength in diversity as well.

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LGBTQ Pride Songs

This collection of titles and artists are popular songs in the LGBTQ community. You may hear them in LGBTQ clubs as dance music or at LGBTQ Pride parades, parties, and other events as celebration music.

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

This is My Fight Song by Rachel Platten

Believe by Cher

People Like Us by Kelly Clarkson

Born This Way by Lady Gaga

We Are Family by Sister Sledge