Montana transgender lawmaker scolds Target: 'Make sure you’re standing up alongside us'
Transgender Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr discusses the Target controversy on 'The View.'
Montana transgender state lawmaker Zooey Zephyr addressed the Target controversy Thursday after several stores moved their pride merchandise and warned corporations to stand up "alongside us."
"The View" co-host Sara Haines asked Zephyr, D., for her reaction to corporations such as Target, who "removed some merchandise celebrating Pride month from some of their stores after social media backlash from conservatives."
"If you’re a corporation, and you’re seeing a sliver of what it's like for LGBTQ people who can't decide to take our identities off the shelf, it’s why it’s more important now than ever to make sure you’re standing up alongside us throughout this," Zephyr told the hosts of "The View."
Co-host Sunny Hostin agreed and said, "Be a good corporate citizen, it's not that hard."
Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr joined the hosts of "The View" on Thursday. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
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Zephyr was barred from the Montana State House floor in April after being accused of presenting "hate-filled testimony" while debating a bill that would ban transgender medical care for minors.
"So when the bills come before the legislature, they always get talked about as if they’re very narrowly focused. ‘This is just about sports. This is just about youth. This is just about a book.’ But what we see in moments like this, the people who support anti-trans legislation and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation aren't just after that. They don’t want to see LGBTQ+ people thriving in our stores, in our communities, and will get very angry at the sight of us on a Sports Illustrated issue," Zephyr added on Thursday.
Some Southern Target outlets moved their Pride merchandise from the front of their stores following customer "outrage."
A Target insider told Fox News Digital that many locations, mostly in rural areas of the South, have relocated Pride sections to avoid the kind of backlash Bud Light has received in recent weeks after using a transgender influencer in a promotional campaign.
Some Target outlets moved their Pride merchandise from the front of their stores following customer "outrage." (Google Maps)
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"We were given 36 hours, told to take all of our Pride stuff, the entire section, and move it into a section that’s a third the size. From the front of the store to the back of the store, you can’t have anything on mannequins and no large signage," the Target insider said last month.
"We call our customers ‘guests,’ there is outrage on their part. This year, it is just exponentially more than any other year," they continued. "I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation."
Many Target locations across the country feature massive June Pride month displays on an annual basis. (Brian Flood/Fox News)
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Zephyr sent a strong message to those who voted for the bill banning transgender medical care for minors during remarks in April.
"The only thing I will say is if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands," Zephyr said.
Fox News Digital's Brian Flood and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
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