Target may pride itself on labeling its products with an “LGBTQ+ Owned” icon to discern which brands are founded or owned by LGBT-identified people, but something feels sickeningly off-kilter about corporations profiting off the backs of vulnerable teens. These children and teens deserve productive therapeutic treatment and room to safely explore, not a marketing ploy that exploits their insecurities. 

Prepare yourself: There’s ample rainbow-washing ahead. We got our first peek into the consumerist goodies available for June’s LGBT Pride Month with the newly released capsule collection from Target. This lineup includes kitschy graphic tees with slogans such as “They She He” (featuring cartoon images of naked people), “Trans Pride Trans Power,” “Trans People Will Always Exist,” and “Queer! Queer! Queer! Queer!” Sure, that just looks like harmless junk for adults, but these items were also designed for and are now marketed to babies, toddlers, kids, tweens, and teens.

Need to pick up a book or two on your Target trip to keep your hyperactive toddler busy? How about the “Bye Bye, Binary” board book with the tagline “Nobody puts baby in a pink or blue corner!” Or “The Pronoun Book,” a board book that one reviewer online says is a “wonderful way to explain different pronouns to babies.” Target isn’t shy about putting propagandistic books on its shelves while removing those that go against its narrative (recall Target removing Abigail Shrier’s well-researched, evidence-based book, “Irreversible Damage,” from stores).

For wearable goods, there’s a “Pride Baby Bien Proud Body Suit” for your newborn. Target even had to make sure its Spanish-speaking consumers were included in its trans indoctrination; the garment’s rainbow lettering reads “¡Bien Proud!”

I’m not convinced a young toddler has any sense of what the phrase “¡Bien Proud!” even references or would pick that out of his own volition. Rather, this feels more like Target wants parents to use their children as walking (or even crawling) billboards to affirm activists’ identities and ideologies.

However, your teen has likely been through our modern school system and, at this point, probably knows all the ins and outs of gender ideology. To signal those newfound values, he or she might want a “Queer All Year” beanie or perhaps a “Super Queer” color-block bucket hat.

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