Target, one of the earliest major corporations to aggressively embrace LGBT activism, is retreating from its woke programs, including by ending its ‘diversity, equity and inclusion goals’ and distancing itself from the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign.
(LifeSiteNews) -- National retail chain Target, one of the earliest major corporations to aggressively embrace LGBT virtue-signaling, is retreating from its so-called “woke” programs as part of an ongoing shift away from cultural politics in the corporate world.
On January 24, Target announced a series of adjustments to its approach to “creating a sense of belonging for our team, guests and communities through a commitment to inclusion.”
Specifically, it is “concluding” its “three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals” and “Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives”; “evaluating our corporate partnerships to ensure they are directly connected to our roadmap for growth”; “(s)topping all external diversity-focused surveys, including (Human Rights Campaign’s) HRC’s Corporate Equality Index”; and rebranding its “Supplier Diversity” team to the “Supplier Engagement” team.
“Throughout 2025, we’ll be accelerating action in key areas and implementing changes with the goal of driving growth and staying in step with the evolving external landscape,” the company declared. “We will continue to monitor and adjust as needed.”
The plan is a sharp contrast from Target’s years of catering to the LGBT lobby in particular, an issue that was reignited in 2023 when it publicly declared its support for LGBT lobbying group GLSEN (which advocates for comprehensive integration of pro-LGBT themes in public education, including sexually explicit books) and began selling LGBT-themed apparel for children, including infants, sparking a conservative boycott.
The company pulled a few of the most extreme items from shelves in response to pressure but did not cut ties to LGBT activists. A federal lawsuit on behalf of a Target shareholder that year accused the company of “misleading representations about its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates, and for causing Target shareholders to lose billions of dollars.”
In May 2024, Target announced after conservative boycotts that it would be limiting its LGBT products to only a handful of its almost 2,000 stores based on “historical sales performance,” although it continued to emphasize other ways it supported LGBT ideology.
Target now joins Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s, John Deere, Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, Toyota, Jack Daniel’s, and Coors, all of which have dropped woke corporate policies or rhetoric over the past several months in response to public pressure.
In recent years, left-wing activists have used DEI and ESG standards to encourage major U.S. corporations to take favorable stands on political and cultural issues such as homosexuality, transgenderism, race relations, the environment, and abortion.
Political and customer backlashes to such activism have translated to business woes for companies such as Disney and Bud Light. President Donald Trump’s victory in November over Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House has also been seen by many as further evidence of the general public rejecting woke ideology, further signaling to corporations and activists alike the lack of popular receptiveness to such projects.
