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Target store display; Florida state AG James Uthmeier
The Ron DeSantis appointee said the retailer's policies crashed its stock price and hurt Florida's pension fund.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the state will sue Target for promoting products for LGBTQ+ youth.
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The Republican, a recent appointee of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the company’s pro-LGBTQ+ practices led to a stock price drop, which resulted in a loss for Florida’s public retirement funds.
“While Target told their investors they would keep the company out of controversy to protect the stock price, the retailer engaged in a marketing campaign targeting and sexualizing children,” Uthmeier alleged in a video posted on social media.
“You'll remember, Target promoted rainbow sports bras for boys, children's swimsuits with transgender features and books for kids that asked them to question their biological reality. This radical campaign predictably cause Target stock price to plummet, wiping out $10 billion in market value in just 10 days.”
Uthmeier endorsed the same logic behind a Florida police pension fund’s lawsuit against the company, blaming the retailer’s stock price plummet on diversity, equity and inclusion policies and the carrying of Pride-themed products.
But Uthmeier’s new suit comes after the retail giant publicly scaled back its Pride Month inventory and nixed its DEI programs.
The price of Target’s stock was at its peak in August 2021, when prices reached higher than $260 a share, but the stock dropped to just over $108 earlier this month. The stock was about $130 per share as of the close of the market on Wednesday and about $128 a share at the time Uthmeier announced the lawsuit.
Uthmeier said the state was filing the lawsuit with America First Legal, a far right-wing group led by President Donald Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
The Florida Attorney General said Target’s “harmful leftist agenda” should not hurt public employees’ pocketbooks.
“Our public servants should not suffer diminished retirement security because companies focused on leftist virtue signaling rather than shareholder returns,” he said.
“On a personal level, I'm a dad of three young kids, no company should be celebrating and marketing the sexualization of our children. This is a fight worth having, and we will fight to hold Target financially accountable for these wrongful practices and force them and other corporate giants to get back to the business of doing business. We're not afraid of a fight in Florida, and you can bet that we won't back down to corporate bullies who are willing to sacrifice returns in order to indoctrinate children.”
