TALLAHASSEE — In his first major official act, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued corporate retail giant Target on Thursday, claiming its Pride Month campaign in 2023 promoted a “leftist agenda that sexualized children,” which caused stock prices to plummet and harmed the state’s retirement fund.
“While the company told investors it would keep the company out of controversy to protect the stock price, the retailer engaged in a marketing campaign targeting and sexualizing children,” Uthmeier said in a video posted on his official Attorney General X account. “You’ll remember Target promoted rainbow sports bras for boys and swimsuits with transgender features and books that asked them question their biological reality.”
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Fort Myers, making Florida the first state to sue Target over its diversity, equity and inclusion practices and its decade-long support of the LGBTQ community. It was filed on behalf of the Florida Board of Administration, which oversees state pension funds that are invested in Target and other stocks.
Lawyers for Target did not return requests for comment.
Assisting Uthmeier— newly appointed to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis and sworn in Monday — were lawyers from America First Legal Foundation, a conservative nonprofit public interest group founded by Trump advisor Stephen Miller. The foundation has provided the Trump administration with a list of companies, Target among them, it thinks are engaged in “illegal DEI” activities.
The lawsuit alleges that Target and its corporate leaders committed stock fraud by downplaying the risk of its DEI practices and by making false and misleading statements in its financial reports and proxy statements. The company downplayed the consumer boycotts that followed the launch of its PRIDE campaign focused on children and families in May and June of 2023, the lawsuit says.
“It featured extensive marketing and products directed to children as young as newborns and highlighted products by a ‘Satanist-inspired’ designer,” the lawsuit claimed. “It embroiled Target in the culture war and caused Target to experience record stock declines and foregone sales, costing investors billions.”
Target said it warned shareholders repeatedly of the potential backlash by conservative and religious groups to its Pride Month campaigns.
After being targeted by conservative groups in 2023, Target decided to drastically cut back its marketing campaign to the LGBTQ community, selling LGBTQ merchandise only in select stores and discontinuing gay-themed children’s clothing in all stores. It still sells clothing for children with LGBTQ-themed slogans online, and said it never marketed trans clothing to children.
The company’s share price fell after the removals began, while Walmart’s share prices nearly doubled, Reuters said. Its share price dropped 50% from November 2021, including 22% last November that wiped out $15.7 billion of market value, Reuters reported.
On January 24, Target said it will end DEI initiatives this year, Reuters said, joining Walmart, Amazon and other companies whose similar policies have come under attack by President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis and other conservative politicians.
“Those losses put retirement accounts of Florida teachers and first responders at unacceptable risk,” Uthmeier said in his video. “Our public servants should not suffer diminished retirement security because companies focus on leftist virtue signaling rather than shareholder returns.”
Two other lawsuits filed in the same court, Craig vs. Target Corp. and The City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund vs. Target Corp., make similar claims.
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