J.D. Vance says Target ‘decided to wage war’ on customers with Pride Month collection

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) suggested on Friday that Target “decided to wage war” on its customers by releasing its annual Pride Month collection.

“Target could have decided to stay out of the culture wars, instead it decided to wage war on a large share of its customer base,” Vance tweeted. “I no longer shop at Target, and it seems many families are doing the same.”

Conservatives have called for a boycott of the company over its LGBTQ merchandise, with several Republican lawmakers expressing support.

“Why support woke corporations that hate you?” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said on Twitter Monday. “Target won’t be getting another dollar from me.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) compared the situation to the conservative backlash that Bud Light faced last month after partnering with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

“What they don’t realize is the guys, who quit Bud Light, wives shop at Target. Or at least they used to,” Greene tweeted on Thursday.

Target announced this week that it would be removing certain items from stores and that it had moved Pride merchandise to the back of some Southern stores, after customers knocked down Pride displays, angrily confronted workers and posted threatening videos on social media, according to The Associated Press.

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said in a statement to The AP. “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.”

The company has been selling merchandise for Pride Month, an annual celebration of the LGBTQ community, for a decade, according to The New York Times.