Target Faces Rash of Bomb Threats In Wake of Changing Course on LGBT Merchandise
In the wake of the Atlantic publishing an absolute cope job of a piece opining that the threat of white supremacy has become a multi-racial movement, the mainstream media has already become tasked with needing to spin another story that just won't go their narrative's way. Following a backlash against its Bud Light style pro-LGBT+ marketing campaign in the weeks leading up to "pride month," Target went into full damage control by reversing course. Why the retailer was surprised people took offense to their literal satanic merchandise promoting LGBT-aligned sexuality to children is beyond those still possessing the increasingly fleeting human faculty of common sense but as the saying goes: the truth is often stranger than fiction.
In decrying the outrage against Target, critics of the boycott claimed that the protest was tantamount to encouraging violence against the LGBT community. However, it seems the only violence being promoted is coming from the LGBT community itself. In recent days following Target walking back its pro-LGBT merchandise, several stores across the country have received bomb threats by LGBT-aligned extremists hellbent on revenge for the sense of betrayal they feel.
Utah -- a state that has legislated against issues endorsed by the LGBT community such as "gender affirming car" -- bore the brunt of these bomb threats as several stores across the state received bomb threats. Target's located in Salt Lake, Provo, Taylorville, Provo, and Layton each found themselves in the cross hairs of LGBT-aligned extremists after local news stations received emails threatening the locations. One store in Layton, Utah was evacuated after it received multiple bomb threats. Although police investigating the threats deemed there was no credibility to them, their remarks on the threats conveyed that they were made in direct response to Target's decision to pull its LGBT children's merchandise from its shelves.
KUTV 2News, one of the local news stations in receipt of the emails containing the bomb threats, received a statement from Equality Utah, a pro-LGBT rights group based in the state, that was strikingly tone-deaf.
"Efforts to threaten, bully or frighten LGBTQ Americans and our allies will never prevail. We will not be intimidated back into the closet. In a pluralistic society we must find non-violent means to settle our political disagreements. We call on Americans from all walks of life to speak out against extremism and violence. We can and must live together in peace."
While Equality Utah stayed the course on its perpetual victim mentality, the Utah Pride Center did at least have the decency to condemn the acts of violence.
Although Utah finds itself in a rather unique position given its iconoclastic political climate compared the many other progressive legislatures, the rash of violence against Target was not confined to that state alone. Another five stores across Ohio and Pennsylvania also received bomb threats from LGBT extremists. Like local news outlets in Utah, Cleveland 19 News received emails issuing bomb threats against Target stores in the region.
The email stated "Target is full of [redacted] cowards who turned their back on the LGBT community and decided to cater to homophobic right wing, redneck, bigots, who protested and vandalized their store...'We are sending you a message, we placed a bomb in the following Targets...We will continue to bomb your Targets until you stop cowering and bring back your LBGT merchandise." the email continued, concluding: "We will not be erased, we won't go quietly." While police has yet to identify the author of the email, based on its contents, their criminal profile on the assailant should include someone whose sense of irony has become entirely lost upon them.
In issuing its directive to pull LGBT children's merchandise, Target's corporate leadership found itself playing its own victim card by pointing the threats its employees faced in the wake of the outrage against the products.
“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. ”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.”
Ironically, they now face an actual threat from members of the group they thought were in support of them. The latest chapter in this saga serves as a cautionary tale about who to align oneself with whilst navigating an increasingly volatile political and social climates.
That is an endeavor Target has failed with flying colors as the retailer finds itself as a "man without a country" of sorts, living out a Kafkaesque tale where the extremists they are worried about are those peacefully boycotting their corporation while its allies are the groups issuing bomb threats against them.
