Candace Owens: 'You’re gay or you’re a pervert' if you shop at Target over trans-inclusive wear

25 May 2023

The Daily Wire host Candace Owens used a portion of her show Wednesday to spew anti-trans rhetoric in response to the conservative-led backlash Target is currently facing for selling transgender-inclusive items.

Media Matters for America shared a clip of the right-wing pundit's rant, which began with Owens saying, "Just in case you think that conservatives are wrong or are joking when we say this stuff is satanic, Target actually hired a satanic designer. I'm not kidding. This designer identifies as a Satanist."

She continued, "And what I can appreciate, at the very least, about someone like Eric Carnell, is that at least he's acknowledging that transgenderism is, in fact, satanic. It is a perversion of the truth. It is meant to harm people. It is meant to target – pun very much intended – children with this harmful ideology, it is meant to convince them to commit to decisions that will ultimately ruin their lives. You do not get your private parts back once you start to experiment with them. There's no way that you can reverse those sorts of trends, and they are aware of that because people are conscious about that."

The conservative host concluded, "And so, finally, I would say, we have, as I said earlier, found a topic and a subject that we are saying absolutely no to. Conservatives have responded to Target by saying, 'we will not shop there. We are planning to boycott Target.' And guess what's happened? Well, the alarms went off at Targets. The CEO and other directors on their team met because they are concerned that they must get – that they might become Bud Lighted, which is to say that they can completely sink their company because they have committed to this ideology. And now, I am imploring every single person that is watching this to double down. Okay? We have them nervous, we have them cornered, it is very simple for you to commit to never shopping at Target again. There is nothing that Target has that you cannot get somewhere else. Okay? We cannot just be the individuals that lament and complain and try to explain that the world is all going into a horrible direction and yet we do nothing about it in our personal capacity. We cannot continue to be those individuals."

I think that my colleague, Matt Walsh, probably said it best in this tweet. He wrote, 'the goal is to make Pride toxic for brands. If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that they'll pay a price. It won't be worth whatever they think they'll gain. First, Bud Light, and now Target. Our campaign is making progress. Let's keep going.' And he is absolutely right. It is making progress. And it's absolutely right that we have them scared. As I said, we have them backed into a corner, and now is absolutely the time for us to pounce. So do not shop at Target or else you're gay and you're a pervert. And that's all I have to say about that.

According to The Associated Press (AP), Target is offering 'tuck-friendly' swim suits — which are "women's swimsuits that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts" — only to adults, not kids.

Furthermore, AP found a Brooklyn, New York-based store sellsa kids' black swim skirtwith a tag that reads, "Thoughtfully Fit on Multiple Body Types and Gender Expressions."

ABC News reports, "at least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, though judges have temporarily blocked their enforcement in some, including Arkansas," adding, "An Associated Press analysis found that often those bills sprang not from grassroots or constituent demand, but from the pens of a handful of conservative interest groups."

Additionally, National Center for Transgender Equality reports:

It's important to remember that while being transgender is not in itself an illness, many transgender people need to deal with physical and mental health problems because of widespread discrimination and stigma. Many transgender people live in a society that tells them that their deeply held identity is wrong or deviant. Some transgender people have lost their families, their jobs, their homes, and their support, and some experience harassment and even violence. Transgender children may experience rejection or even emotional or physical abuse at home, at school, or in their communities. These kinds of experiences can be challenging for anyone, and for some people, it can lead to anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental health conditions. But these conditions are not caused by having a transgender identity: they're a result of the intolerance many transgender people have to deal with. Many transgender people – especially transgender people who are accepted and valued in their communities – are able to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Watch the video below via Media Matters for America or at this link.

The Associated Press' report is available at this link. ABC News' report is here. National Center for Transgender Equality's report is here.

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