‘The breaking point’: Twin Cities Pride ousts Target from annual parade, festival

Twin Cities Pride has decided to exclude Target from its annual festival and parade after the retailer’s decision to scale back diversity initiatives.

For years, Target has been a visible — and generous — supporter of Pride events in Minneapolis and around the country, donating between $50,000 and $70,000 each year to Twin Cities Pride, Executive Director Andi Otto said. Target was expected to be a sponsor again this year.

But in a Sunday interview, Otto called the company’s decision to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming “the breaking point” that pushed festival organizers to temporarily cut ties with the Minneapolis-based corporation.

Target’s move comes as federal agencies dismantle their diversity programs after sweeping orders from President Donald Trump.

Target executives have “always been supportive of hearing me out and the impact that their choices have made on the community,” Otto said. “But unfortunately, in a time where it’s been a really, really rough week for our community given everything that has come down from the new administration, this was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Otto said he had reached out to Target to discuss its potential sponsorship when a company representative told him the company was ending some of its diversity initiatives.

A Target spokesman declined requests for comment Sunday.

Twin Cities Pride announced its decision on social media Friday, the same day Target said it was making major changes to its DEI programming.

The company, which said it remains committed to an inclusive workplace, this year will conclude its three-year DEI goals and Racial Equity Action and Change initiatives that it committed to in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

Target will also stop participating in outside surveys regarding diversity and inclusion, including the Human Rights Campaign’s efforts.

“I was absolutely shocked,” Otto said, pointing to the positive relationship he previously had forged with Target executives.

Target has been a sponsor of the festival and parade for at least 18 years, Otto said. The retailer is one of the festival’s largest donors, second only to Delta Air Lines.

Otto said Target’s five-figure donations have helped organizers pay entertainers and lower costs for LGBTQ people and people of color who run festival booths.

Losing Target’s financial support could affect this year’s festivities, which are scheduled for June 28-29 in Loring Park in Minneapolis, he said.

“But what is more important is that we send the message that companies need to do the right thing,” Otto said.

He said he hopes to find other organizations that can fill the financial gap created by Target’s absence.

According to Twin Cities Pride, about 550,000 people attended the festival and parade in 2024.

Target has over the years waffled on LGBTQ issues.

In 2016, the company announced customers could choose whichever bathroom aligned with their gender identity. The move was seen as a show of support to those in the LGBTQ community shortly after North Carolina legislators passed a law restricting public bathroom use to a person’s biological gender.

However, within a couple months, Target decided to instead invest $20 million to add private bathrooms to stores to appease critics.

In 2021, the company began selling Pride month merchandise in all stores. But in 2023, after online complaints from conservative critics and threats to store workers, Target removed some of its Pride products and significantly cut back on its Pride assortment in 2024.

Several artists the retailer tapped to help design its Pride collection last year slammed the company’s product development process, decrying last-minute cuts, drastically altered designs, wasted products and little recognition.

Kat Rohn, the executive director of OutFront Minnesota, said Target has reneged on its commitments to the LGBTQ community in recent years. Target’s decision to halt some DEI programs didn’t surprise Rohn.

“It really represents an abdication of leadership in a moment that is calling on corporate leaders and organizational leaders to step up,” Rohn said.

Despite recent controversies, Target continued its support of the Minneapolis Pride festival. In 2023, the corporation continued to furnish Twin Cities Pride with funds to buy gender-affirming accessories for LGBTQ people, even after it curtailed its Pride merchandise in some stores, Otto said.

Target was also a festival sponsor in 2024 after increasing its sponsorship level from the year before.

Trump frequently targeted DEI initiatives during his presidential campaign, a stretch that coincided with several prominent consumer brands, including Harley-Davidson and John Deere, reducing or phasing out their diversity commitments. McDonald’s and Walmart made similar moves after the election.

Target’s decision to follow suit doesn’t mean Twin Cities Pride will permanently “shut the door” on the company, Otto said: “But when it comes to right now, our community does not want to see someone who has rolled back [DEI] policies in a place where they want to celebrate and feel empowered.”

Seth Ketron, a University of St. Thomas marketing professor, said companies’ decisions often hinge on boosting their bottom line. But he questioned why Target, a retailer that has self-consciously built a brand around inclusivity, would suddenly abandon that posture — and potentially alienate loyal consumers.

“It could be that they’re afraid of ... political blowback of some kind,” Ketron said.

Yohuru Williams, a St. Thomas history professor and director of the school’s Racial Justice Initiative, has spent years consulting companies on their DEI efforts. He called Target’s program “incredibly innovative,” with the retailer not only committed to promoting internal diversity, but highlighting Black and LGBTQ history in its line of products.

“In every way, Target seemed to have made this firm and bold commitment,” Williams said. “I think that’s why it feels like such a betrayal to so many in terms of what’s happening now.”

Williams said some corporations might feel pressure to hew to the language of Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order banning “radical and wasteful” DEI programs in federal agencies. But he questioned why Target cast off its commitments to inclusivity so quickly — especially when the company is headquartered in a city known as ground zero for the racial reckoning of 2020.

Twin Cities Pride’s choice to distance itself from the corporation, he said, is one way activists can hold companies that break promises accountable.

Said Williams: “It’s incumbent on us to rethink where we spend our dollars and how we utilize or don’t utilize our support.”