{"id":2405167,"date":"2025-02-21T12:56:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T17:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/target-finds-itself-in-hot-water-after-letting-dei-creep-in-florida-files-suit\/"},"modified":"2025-02-21T12:57:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T17:57:55","slug":"target-finds-itself-in-hot-water-after-letting-dei-creep-in-florida-files-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/target-finds-itself-in-hot-water-after-letting-dei-creep-in-florida-files-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"Target Finds Itself in Hot Water After Letting DEI Creep In, Florida Files Suit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftarget-finds-itself-in-hot-water-after-letting-dei-creep-in-florida-files-suit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2405167&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has \u2064filed a lawsuit against Target, alleging \u200bthat the company&#8217;s marketing practices, which \u200dhe claims sexualized\u200d children, have harmed \u200bthe state&#8217;s \u2064retirement\u200d fund. in a \u2063video declaration, Uthmeier stated that target&#8217;s actions\u200b led to a significant \u200bdrop \u200cin\u200b it&#8217;s stock price, resulting in a loss of ten billion \u2062dollars in market value over ten days, jeopardizing\u2063 retirement accounts\u200d for teachers\u2062 and first responders in Florida.He criticized Target \u200cfor not disclosing the risks associated\u200b with\u2064 its\u2063 LGBTQ+ Pride\u2064 campaign\u200b and claimed that \u2063the company&#8217;s\u2063 focus on a &#8220;leftist agenda&#8221; negatively impacted \u2064investor returns. Florida is the first state\u2063 to take legal action against Target regarding its Diversity, Equity, and \u2064Inclusion initiatives related to the Pride \u200dcampaign.The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christian-college-takes-biden-to-court-over-trans-mandate\/\" title=\"Christian College Takes Biden to Court Over Trans Mandate\">lawsuit raises questions<\/a> about potential repercussions for Target and similar corporations if other \u200cstates choose to follow Florida&#8217;s lead.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has a plan to go after Target, alleging its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amid-calls-to-break-up-big-tech-gop-senators-propose-bill-to-better-manage-antitrust-efforts\/\" title=\"Amid Calls To Break Up Big Tech, GOP Senators Propose Bill To Better Manage Antitrust Efforts\">business practices hurt<\/a> the states&rsquo; retirement fund.<\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier posted a video to social media platform X on Thursday explaining why his office decided to take action.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Today, we filed a lawsuit against Target on behalf of the Florida State Board of Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Target&rsquo;s efforts to sexualize children caused its stock price to plummet, harming Florida&rsquo;s retirement fund and putting the retirements of our teachers and first responders at risk: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UcZq3cSC3p\">pic.twitter.com\/UcZq3cSC3p<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; James Uthmeier (@JamesUthmeierFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesUthmeierFL\/status\/1892608629804572984?\">February 20, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier explained his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/psaki-defends-treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-for-taking-money-from-citadel-wont-commit-to-recusal-in-gamestop-scandal-video\/\" title=\"Psaki Defends Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen For Taking Money From Citadel \u2013 Won\u2019t Commit to Recusal in GameStop Scandal (VIDEO)\">class action lawsuit<\/a> was &ldquo;for misleading holders and pushing a harmful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/government-takes-money-bank-account-mayor-refused-celebrate-pride-month\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">leftist agenda<\/a> at the expense of holder returners.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">&ldquo;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,&rdquo; he said, adding, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll remember Target promoted rainbow sports bras for boys, children&rsquo;s swimsuits with transgender features, and books for kids that asked them to question their biological reality.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier then explained how this campaign hurt Floridians&rsquo; retirements as it caused massive losses for Target.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This radical campaign predictably caused Target&rsquo;s stock price to plummet, wiping out ten billion in market value in just ten days. And those losses put the retirement accounts of Florida&rsquo;s teachers and first responders at unacceptable risk.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our public servants should not suffer diminished retirement security because companies focused on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/candace-owens-and-trace-adkins-say-its-time-to-stand-up-on-this-weeks-episode-of-candace-heres-how-you-can-watch\/\" title=\"Candace Owens And Trace Adkins Say It\u2019s Time To Stand Up On This Week\u2019s Episode Of \u2018Candace.\u2019 Here\u2019s How You Can Watch.\">leftist virtue signaling<\/a> rather than holder returns.&rdquo; he stated.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2025\/02\/20\/florida-sues-target-for-leftist-agenda-that-sexualized-children-harm-to-retirement-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Orlando Sentinel<\/a> reported, Florida is the first state to sue Target over its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/dei-die-operator-crashed-delta-plane-obsessed-removing-men-cockpits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion<\/a> initiatives that created the &ldquo;pride&rdquo; campaign dating to the summer of 2023.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/story\/news\/local\/state\/2025\/02\/21\/target-faces-florida-lawsuit-over-stock-losses-from-pride-backlash\/79349606007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Palm Beach Post<\/a> highlighted the following from Florida&rsquo;s filing:<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Target&rsquo;s CEO Brian Cornell and its Board of Directors did not oversee or disclose the obvious risks of Target&rsquo;s 2023 LGBT-Pride Campaign and the ESG\/DEI initiatives which it advanced, but they told investors that they did<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In doing so, they deceived Target investors as to the true nature of the risks of their investments and caused them to unknowingly support Target&rsquo;s board and management in their misuse of investor funds to serve its divisive political and social goals &mdash; and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">ultimately cost investors billions<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Despite Target backing away from DEI as of last month, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mark-zuckerbergs-meta-continues-dramatic-overhaul-abruptly-blows-entire-dei-department\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">several other companies<\/a>, their past is coming back to haunt them.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/05\/28\/target-loses-10b-following-boycott-calls-over-lgbtq-friendly-clothing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Post<\/a> reported at the time of the campaign the exact losses Uthmeier mentioned in his video.<\/p>\n<p>Floridians worked hard to for their pensions and don&rsquo;t want to see that money sacrificed at the altar of &ldquo;pride&rdquo; and DEI.<\/p>\n<p>With the news that Florida is the first state to take action, what sort of precedent does this set for others?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/judge-issues-painful-ruling-target-holder-lawsuit-2023-pride-campaign-threatens-woke-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Target<\/a> is a massive company with plenty of other investors &mdash; state pensions or otherwise &mdash; that will feel inspired by Uthmeier&rsquo;s work accompanied by the America First Legal Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>The foundation&rsquo;s press release can be <a href=\"https:\/\/aflegal.org\/america-first-legal-and-florida-attorney-general-james-uthmeier-file-class-action-lawsuit-against-target-for-misleading-and-defrauding-investors-over-market-risks-of-lgbtq-activism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">read here<\/a>, which includes a link to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>If other states were to take up a similar cause and file suit, Target might be looking at a day of reckoning.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ]; 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He shared a video on social media platform X detailing his office&#8217;s decision to take legal action. Uthmeier announced that a lawsuit has been filed against Target for the Florida State Board of Administration, accusing the retailer of sexualizing children and causing significant stock losses that jeopardize the retirement security of teachers and first responders in Florida. He criticized Target for misleading investors while engaging in controversial marketing campaigns aimed at children, which he argues led to a substantial drop in their stock value. This lawsuit marks Florida as the first state to challenge Target over its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives linked to its &#8220;pride&#8221; campaign from summer 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2405168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Target.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[47624,16574,5113,4585,4650],"class_list":["post-2405167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-corporate-controversy","tag-dei","tag-florida","tag-lawsuit","tag-target"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Target.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405171,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405167\/revisions\/2405171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2405168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}