'Buffoonery': Far-right Florida AG suing Target over LGBTQ Pride mechanidise
In 2023, Target's Pride Collection became the subject of an intense legal battle between Republicans and Democrats. Seven GOP state attorneys general sent Target a letter attacking the merchandise as "obscene," claiming the company featured "anti-Christian" designs on t-shirts. But 15 state attorneys general, in a letter to Target CEO Brian Cornell, vowed to stand up for the retail chain and its gay-themed merchandise.
The letter read, "As Attorneys General with a strong commitment to protecting the civil rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals, we write to express our resolute and unequivocal support for the LGBTQIA+ community as well as our concern regarding recent events in Target stores involving intimidation and destruction of certain Pride-related merchandise and Target's resulting decision to remove some Pride merchandise from its stores."
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Now, in 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is attacking Target's Pride Collection in a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit, according to Miami New Times reporter Alex DeLuca, accuses Target of "defrauding investors" with the merchandise and accuses the company of "not properly disclosing to investors the risk" of "offensive" products.
"In a 163-page lawsuit filed in federal court last week," DeLuca explains, "the (Florida) State Board of Administration, which manages Florida's pension fund and other investments, alleges that Target — which it describes as the 'self-proclaimed store of the boomer mom who drives a minivan and lives in the suburbs' — 'betrayed' its core customer base of 'working families and investors' by 'making false and misleading statements about Target's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates that led to its disastrous 2023 children-and-family themed LGBT-Pride campaign."
Attorney Ari Cohn, lead counsel for tech policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), is a scathing critic of Uthmeier's lawsuit.
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In a February 20 thread on X, formerly Twitter, Cohn wrote, "This is asinine, performative buffoonery and an attack on the First Amendment Uthmeier has a problem with products (described in my article linked downthread) based on the messages they convey — all of which are First Amendment-protected, and none of which 'sexualize children.'"
Cohn also tweeted, "It's beyond question that these expressive items are protected, as is Target's decision to sell them. That Florida's retirement fund holds shares of Target is irrelevant and meaningless. Government does not gain the power to regulate speech because it's a shareholder."
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Read the full Miami New Times article at this link.
