Twin Cites Pride officials have reacted to Target’s recent curtailing of its diversity programs, announcing that the Minneapolis-based retailer would be allowed no role in the organization’s festival or parade.
“We are deeply disappointed in their announcement,” Andi Otto, executive director of Twin Cities Pride, said on social media on Friday. We are committed to continuing conversations with them about the impact it has on our community and those in our community who are their employees.”
Otto had previously spoken of a “long-standing partnership” between Target and organization.
Target said Friday it was scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives of the sort that have come under attack from conservative activists and, as of this week, the White House with Donald Trump newly installed as president.
The Minneapolis-based retailer said changes to its “Belonging at the Bullseye” initiatives would include ending programs to help Black employees build meaningful careers, improve the experience of Black shoppers, and promote Black-owned businesses following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Target, which operates nearly 2,000 stores nationwide and employs more than 400,000 people, said it already had planned to end the racial program this year. The company said Friday that it also would sunset certain DEI goals it had set in three-year cycles.
The goals included hiring and promoting more women and members of racial minority groups, and recruiting more diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, veterans and people with disabilities.
Target has long claimed to be a fierce corporate advocate for the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people. In a memo to employees, Kiera Fernandez, Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, described the DEI decisions as a “next chapter” in the company’s decades-long process to create “inclusive work and guest environments that welcome all.”
But steering clear of a backlash from conservative customers and organizations is something that Target has tried to navigate for a while. As transgender rights became a more prominent issue in 2016, the company declared that “inclusivity is a core belief at Target” and said it supported transgender employees and customers using whichever restroom or fitting room “corresponds with their gender identity.”
But after some customers threatened to boycott Target stores, the company said that more stores would make available a single-toilet bathroom with a door that could be locked.
In 2023, Target removed some of its Pride Month merchandise after online complaints and in-store confrontations that the retailer said threatened employees’ well-being. The company decided last year not to stock Pride Month products at every U.S. store.
The Twin Cities Pride Festival is June 28 and 29.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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