Target has had a rough go of it this Pride month. Average, apolitical Americans decided that they no longer wanted to have woke pandering shoved in their faces as they shopped. The company lost tens of billions of dollars and as a result, moved merchandise to a different part of the store. Progressive activist groups demanded they put the merch back and issue an apology. When that did not work, eleven progressive state attorney generals got involved.

They wrote a letter demanding Target be mindful of the "obligations" the store has to the LGBTQ+ community. Well, they didn't "demand" per se. But these eleven top law officials of states strongly recommended the store be mindful. Unclear is if these attorney generals think there is an amendment to the constitution that an arbitrary group of citizens has the right to have a section of a department store all to themselves.

The AGs expressed their 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." These eleven elected officials were concerned about the company caving to bullies by removing the merchandise. So they wrote a letter that sounds like they are bullying the stores to put the merch back.

Against this backdrop, Pride merchandise like Target’s helps LGBTQIA+ people see that they enjoy considerable support and that loud and intimidating fringe voices and bullies do not represent the views of society at large. We understand Target recently pulled some Pride merchandise from its shelves out of concern for worker and customer safety. While we understand the basis for this action, we are also concerned it sends a message that those who engage in hateful and disruptive conduct can cause even large corporations to succumb to their bullying.

Two things jump out at me. The first is that the letter cites a 2022 Washington Post article to back up its allegations that people bully stores. They -- these eleven elected officials whose job is supposed to be to enforce laws and prosecute criminals -- missed WaPo's 2023 story about GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS calling in bomb threats to terrorize Target stores.

The other is while these eleven attorney generals have taken the time in their official capacity to "strongly encourage" a store, they all forget about doing their day jobs of fixing crime in their states. The lead AG is Minnesota's Keith Ellison, whose way to combat crime is to sue companies that were victims of crime for not doing enough to stop the crime being committed against them.

Maybe these eleven attorney generals should stick to their day jobs. Or, start doing their day jobs. That would be nice.

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Brodigan is Grand Poobah of this here website and when he isn't writing words about things enjoys day drinking, pro-wrestling, and country music. You can find him on the Twitter too.

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