You won’t be able to find the Pride Month collection in many Target stores this June. This week, the company announced that the Pride Month section customers have gotten used to seeing will only be available in certain stores and online.
Target will be “offering a collection of products including adult apparel and home and food and beverage items, curated based on consumer feedback,” the announcement explains. “The collection will be available on Target.com and in select stores, based on historical sales performance.”
According to Target, it’s not going to keep selling Pride Month items in locations where they historically haven’t sold well. But given the absolute chaos that ensued in some Target stores last year—with some shoppers lashing out at store employees over Pride’s representation—the move seems to be aimed at avoiding similar scenes.
Last summer, Target stores in many locations removed Pride items, and some stores moved their Pride sections from the front to the back, with many impacted locations in the South. At the time, much of the backlash seem to be driven by viral social media videos in which users falsely assert that swimsuits labeled as “tuck-friendly” were designed for kids, prompting calls for an all-out boycott of Target.
According to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, only about half of Target’s nearly 2,000 U.S. stores will offer Pride items. Reached by Fast Company, Target declined to provide a list of which locations will sell the items.
The company did maintain that it supports the “LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and year-round,” however, that support will be shown in other ways this year. In addition to offering Pride items online and in some stores, Target will join local Pride events in Minneapolis, the home of its headquarters, and in other parts of the country.
“Our Pride+ Business Council will host internal events and experiences where interested team members can learn, reflect, celebrate, and connect,” the company shared. “Target also spotlights LGBTQ-owned brands in our assortment during Pride Month and throughout the year in our stores and online.”
Last May, as eruptions took place at multiple Target stores across the country, the company responded: “For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month,” it said at the time. “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work. 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 concluded: “Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”