(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP AGs threaten Target over sales of Pride onesies, LGBTQ+-friendly garments [1] [] Date: 2023-07-08 Conservatives seem awfully worked up about the “sexualization” of children these days. After all, American kids have traditionally learned about sex on the playground, or from their dad’s stash of Hustler magazines, or while playing Skee-Ball at Chuck E. Cheese with a weirdly gregarious Roy Moore. It’s the American way. But a Pride onesie for an infant who can’t read? That could be the straw that finally breaks the yawing back of Western civilization. And Republican attorneys general are standing in the gap in the silliest way possible. A group of seven GOP AGs—from states with so little crime they apparently need to invent it—have sent a threatening letter to Target, warning the retailer to cut it out with the rainbow shit already. These include the crime-free utopias Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and South Carolina. Oh, and Idaho, which has a relatively low homicide rate because everyone’s too busy murdering fashion to bother with people. Apparently, the big-box retailer has run afoul of these states’ anti-LGBTQ+ laws, which exist for a reason: to create countless hours of disingenuous Fox News content off which Republicans can fundraise. RELATED STORY: Idaho's far-right attorney general wants to block ranked-choice voting from the ballot CNN Business: GOP attorneys general from Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina signed the letter, writing they were “concerned by recent events involving the company’s ‘Pride’ campaign.” The letter asserts the states are obliged to “enforce state laws protecting children” from “content that sexualizes them,” including obscenity laws. The letter also suggests Target may be breaching the law by making decisions that are allegedly “unprofitable” and not in the best interests of its shareholders, citing it as a violation of the company’s fiduciary duty. The AGs said they believed the campaign was a “comprehensive effort to promote gender and sexual identity among children,” criticizing items such as “LGBT-themed onesies, bibs, and overalls, T-shirts labeled ‘Girls Gays Theys’; ‘Pride Adult Drag Queen Katya’ (which depicts a male dressed in female drag’); and girls’ swimsuits with ‘tuck-friendly construction.’” What a tragedy. Why can’t we just go back to the good old days, when gay and transgender kids were forced to wear mullets and Toby Keith concert tour T-shirts? Everyone knows if a baby wears an LGBTQ-themed onesie, they’ll obviously become gay or lesbian. That’s just science. Though the AGs do make a good point about Target’s fiduciary responsibility. After all, everyone also knows that the financially prudent thing to do is pick a vicious fight with one of your state’s top private employers over LGBTQ+ rights, prompting the company to pull $1 billion in investments out of your economy. That’s just economics. The letter does not provide specific details regarding potential legal consequences if Target continues to sell the merchandise in question. It follows a wave of bills introduced in various states aiming to ban LGBTQ+ content under obscenity laws, as well as a record-shattering year for anti-LGBTQ legislation, with particular scrutiny on gender-affirming health care access for transgender children and teenagers. Nineteen states have passed laws restricting it. Wait, I thought Republicans were laser-focused on lowering inflation. Almost makes you think they are not serious people. In a statement responding to the letter, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said, “This playbook of lying about LGBTQ+ people, of depicting us as some kind of danger, is a very old line of attack and it does nothing to move us toward a more just and equal society. It also doesn’t make any sense for businesses. LGBTQ+ people are part of the fabric of humanity—of their own workforce. And more than 1 in 5 of Gen Z identify as LGBTQ+—so we’re also their future. Research shows brands that support the community is something consumers and the public want and believe in.” Yes, there’s a reason major retailers and brands are reaching out to LGBTQ+ people. They’re a big part of a profitable future. RELATED STORY: A brief and colorful history of LGBTQ+ marketing Of course, it’s no surprise that Republican AGs are wasting their time fighting culture wars that they’ve already largely lost. Some of the nation’s most ardent culture warriors are bankrolling them, and bigly. The Guardian: An influential group of 28 Republican attorneys general has benefited mightily from at least $9.5m since 2020 from the dark-money Concord Fund, public records reveal. The Concord Fund, the top donor in 2022 and the two prior years to the Republican Attorneys General Association (Raga), boasts strong links to Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo. Leo helped Donald Trump pick three conservative supreme court justices and now helps spearhead a dark money network that has secured $1.6bn from a single donor. So now that a few influential white dudes with a lot of money have wrested reproductive rights away from half the country, they want to make LGBTQ+ people’s lives even harder than they already are. Because that’s patriotism. And if they have to stomp on free markets and personal freedom to protect every American’s inalienable right to be a slobbering bigot, that’s just what they’ll do. Because everyone knows that freedom is only freedom if it includes the right to take away other people’s freedom. That’s just logic. RELATED STORY: Daily Kos celebrates LGBTQIA+ Pride Month 2023 Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE. 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