Monday, June 06, 2016

'Don't Target Our Daughters' protests at Target seems to have flopped

Last weekend was supposed to be the big "Don't Target Our Daughters" protests at Target stores nationwide. Coordinated by religious right maven Janet Porter (of Faith2Action), the protests were aimed at shaming Target for its trans-inclusive policies.

I'm really not hearing news of anything, except for at a handful of stores and these were small protests. And in one particular Target,  the protests backfired:

From The Windy City Times:

Claiming that national retailer Target's position of gender identity inclusion for its customers and employees is "allowing biological men into women's restrooms," the Ohio-based religious hate group Faith2Action's planned a nationwide protest of Target Stores June 4 which they termed "Don't Target Our Daughters."
Faith2Action founder and president Janet Porter called the event the "best opportunity to take back ground since Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty took his stand."
On the same day and time as the action was planned, around 50 people encircled the entrance of an Uptown Chicago Target to ensure that there was no ground for Porter and her anti-trans activists to take. Organized by trans activists, the Gay Liberation Network and allies, the counter-protest was designed "to support Target and the trans community regardless of whether or not opponents of equal rights show up."
"It wasn't that long ago that I was out here protesting Target because they had made some anti-LGBT moves," iconic Chicago transgender activist June M. LaTrobe told Windy City Times. "They have come so far. For the broad trans community, a retail establishment supporting us is fantastic."

  . . . "There is a myth that after we won marriage equality first here in Illinois and then the United States that the struggle for LGBT freedom was over," Gay Liberation Network founder Andy Thayer said. "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. The other side never rests. After they lost marriage, the first thing that they saw as their wedge issue was bathrooms. They use it as an attack on all trans rights. We live in a country where trans people's unemployment and violence rates are way off the charts. The bathroom issue is a way to attack trans people for who they are."


The article in its entirety is a good read. And unless other news comes out, I think its safe that the "Don't Target Our Daughters" protests were less than a blip on a radar screen.

You lose again, religious right.

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