Pride before Target’s fall?

It’s only May. We haven’t even reached the beginning of 2023’s “Pride Month,” during which, each June, corporations and communities celebrate and center on the LGBTQ identities. What began as advocacy for the equal treatment of gay and lesbian Americans in 2000 under President Clinton, became an official recognition of LGBT Pride Month in 2009 under President Obama. In the 2010s, equality evolved into advocacy, with nearly every major business and brand promoting LGBTQ causes in a ubiquitous sea of Pride flags in their storefronts and logos. 

By 2023, “Pride” is a full-blown religion. 

It’s an unholy trinity of corporate activism, political progressivism, and social totalitarianism, each separate yet fully integrated entities wielding their respective influence on cultural consciousness. Its adherents worship SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) as the defining element of their identities. Its apologists proselytize the public with fervor and fury. It even has a moral system of merits and infractions called the Corporate Equality Index doling out verdicts on everything from Disney’s 16-year winning streak as the best place to work, to Bud Light’s failure to stick by their trans spokesperson following a consumer backlash. Nothing less than dogmatic devotion characterizes the disciples of gender ideology.

But one company has solidified its status as an apostle of LGBTQ corporate activism. Target, the country’s 8th largest retailer, is hardly a new convert. In 2016, the company announced employees and guests could use its bathrooms and fitting rooms according to their preferred or stated gender. And in 2017, Target debuted a product line of gender-neutral children’s clothing. Public outcry over those decisions came and went.

This year might be different.  

Target is set to debut exclusive apparel for all ages by nonbinary designers. And the company leaves no question as to where its devotion lies. Corporate collaborations include drag queen and clothing designer, “BibleGirl666.” The children’s swimwear that is “tuck friendly” with “extra crotch room” for little boys was designed by another drag queen. And the pastel hued “We Belong Everywhere” and “Too Queer for Here” messenger bags, together with the “Cure Transphobia” sweatshirt are the creations of self-declared Satanist “Abprallen.”

Abprallen’s designs for Target are far tamer than the products he posts on other platforms. Those include pastel “pride pins” such as two axes with the slogan “Fight for Trans Rights,” a headstone declaring “Bury Cis Feelings,” the drawing of occult deity Baphomet stating “Satan Respects Pronouns,” and a pink guillotine labeled, “Homophobe Headrest.” Also on Abprallen’s website: an apologetic for the Church of Satan: “Satan loves you and respects who you are. … Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love. So, naturally, Satan respects pronouns. He loves all LGBT+ people. The Church of Satan openly accepts LGBT+ people … and the more recent Satanic Temple accepts them too, with open arms.” 

Thankfully, the public pushback since Abprallen’s Target debut has led to the removal of his products from the company’s stores and website, along with other Pride products. The multi-billion-dollar company still has a bottom line to protect and protective parents threatening to boycott still works.

It’s hard to believe Target didn’t anticipate the indignation these collaborations would cause. It’s far more likely that they just didn’t care. They know to whom and to what they’ve introduced their customers. They know the communities they would alienate by promoting these partnerships. But profits be damned. They have given over their allegiance, sacrificing themselves on the altar of gender ideology and becoming its obedient servant.

Yet Target has unwittingly done the public a great service. The corporate giant has confirmed the true source of this gender-confused age. Ephesians 6:12 reminds that our struggle is not against humanity, but against the spiritual forces of evil at work in our present day. Satan hates God so Satan hates God’s image-bearers. And he’ll stop at nothing to convince them that defying their Creator and harming themselves is the pathway to peace.

To the individual with gender confusion, we owe patience, kindness, and gentleness. But to the institutions aiding and abetting their deception we owe opposition. This struggle is not for cultural preeminence or social power; it is for the liberation of people who are blinded, enslaved, and oppressed by the evil one. But note well, Christians are to struggle against evil. If we are to be the salt of the earth, we must confront moral decay and call it what it is. If we are to be the light of the world, we must be willing to shine in the darkness. 

The religion of gender ideology is taking captive an entire generation of souls who are searching for hope and peace. But it’s also giving the people of God an unrivaled opportunity to proclaim the Risen Lord in whom hope and peace are found.

While we can’t change everything, that doesn’t mean we can’t change something. And while we may not have much influence individually, we can vote with our dollars and where we choose to spend them. Target has put a bull’s eye on the hearts and minds of spiritually enslaved people, further indoctrinating them in the cult of identity confusion. Where will your allegiance lie in the struggle?