Target & GLSEN receive “violent” death threats over Pride merchandise

Target stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah have recently received bomb threats as right-wingers continue their campaign against the retailer’s LGBTQ+-themed Pride merchandise. “Violent threats” have also been issued against GLSEN, the LGBTQ+ student advocacy organization that has partnered with Target for over a decade.

Bomb threats were made to Target stores in Layton, Salt Lake City, Taylorsville, and Provo, KUTV reported. Layton Police Sgt. John Ottesen said the emailed threats referenced the store’s Pride merchandise, were three sentences long, and came from a “bogus email address,” Ottesen added.

Related Stories Heroic Target employees kick out anti-LGBTQ+ bigot complaining about “Satanic” Pride gear

When asked if she supports Satanism and “Pride propaganda,” the employee nods and says she supports “both.”

Four Ohio-based Target stores in Jackson Township, Boardman, Stow, Niles, and an additional store in Monaca, Pennsylvania also received bomb threats. The threats were sent to the WOIO-TV news station and mentioned the Pride merchandise. The author claimed to be an LGBTQ+ person who pledged to plant more bombs in protest of the retailer’s discontinuation of some LGBTQ+-themed merchandise.

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A Target spokesperson said police investigated the threats and declared the stores safe. “The safety of our team members and guests is our top priority,” the spokesperson added.

GLSEN also reported receiving “an onslaught of hateful messages and threats to our mission and the physical safety of our staff” as right-wing media outlets spread “harmful and vicious lies” about the organization and its work, GLSEN wrote in a May 27 statement.

Fox News, for example, falsely claimed that GLSEN has been “pushing for kids’ genders to be secretly changed in schools without parental consent” and “providing sexually explicit books to schools for free.”

As evidence of their claims, the right-wing media outlet pointed to GLSEN’s guidelines suggesting that schools only disclose a student’s trans or nonbinary identity to their parents with the student’s consent. Fox News also noted that GLSEN’s “Rainbow Library” of free books for classrooms includes Beyond Magenta, a book that includes one trans person’s recollections of child sexual abuse.

“GLSEN’s Rainbow Library provides age-appropriate, inclusive literature — none of which is sexually explicit,” GLSEN wrote in its statement. “Books are selected based on reviews from major journals, such as School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist Reviews, along with feedback from hundreds of educators and school librarians.”

The group added, “GLSEN will always fight back against policies that force educators to jeopardize student safety.” In an Instagram post, GLSEN asked followers to donate money, pledge support to LGBTQ+ youth, and repost their Instagram images combatting Fox’s coverage.

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO, wrote in a statement, “Right-wing media spread dangerous lies about GLSEN yesterday and put a target on them. It is now our duty to join together as a community and show support and love to the hard-working staff and leaders at GLSEN.”

Last week, Target said it would be “making adjustments” to its 2023 Pride collection in response to “violent” customer backlash. The store wrote that, since introducing the collection, the retailer had experienced “threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being.” The backlash included anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives recording their visits to the store and accusing store workers of supporting “Satanism” and pedophilia.

“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 wrote. Store locations in South Carolina, Arkansas, and Georgia relocated their Pride displays and removed Pride apparel from mannequins to reduce their visibility.