Twilight star Rachelle Lefevre says she’ll no longer take her non-binary child to Target
Rachelle Lefevre speaks out against Target Pride 2023 display removal. (Getty/Instagram/@rachellelefevre)
Twilight star Rachelle Lefevre has accused Target of “trying to erase” the LGBTQ+ community after it moved its Pride collection due to conservative backlash.
With Pride month just around the corner and companies such as staple US beer brand Bud Light and retail giant Target coming under fire for platforming the LGBTQ+ community, actor Rachelle Lefevre has shared why the LGBTQ+ celebration is more important than ever.
Presented in collaboration with LGBTQ+ artists, Target’s Pride 2023 capsule collection includes colourful LGBTQ-supportive clothing such as “tuck-friendly” women’s swimsuits.
Unfortunately, since dropping their Pride 2023 collection on 9 May, the megastore chain has seen physical and verbal assaults from right-wing campaigners, including alt-right internet personality Ethan Schmidt, accusing the store of “grooming”.
In response to the ongoing backlash, on 22 May, Target made the controversial decision to “remove items that have been at the centre of the most significant confrontational behaviour” and hide displays at the back of the store for the “safety and wellbeing” of their staff and customers.
Artists who collaborated with Target, as well as prominent LGBTQ+ celebrities such as Lil Nas X, have since slammed the decision as caving to anti-LGBTQ+ demands, with Lefevre now accusing the retailer of “trying to erase” LGBTQ+ people.
The 44-year-old actor, best known for playing vampire Victoria in the Twilight saga, posted an emotional video from her local Target to Instagram on Sunday (28 May), calling them out for moving their Pride display due to the negative impact on her non-binary child.
“So I just walked into Target and right behind me where you see all these lovely swimsuits, that’s where the Pride display used to be,” she began.
“I came in here two days ago and my seven-year-old – who is non-binary – saw it and said ‘look Mom, it’s Pride, look. They’re gonna celebrate me.’
“And because some people complained and threw some stuff to the ground or I don’t know what happened, they have moved their Pride section to the back of the store.”
Lefevre then tearfully said that she would not longer be able to bring her child here for the whole month of June.
“If they walk in and all the other people who walk in go ‘where’d it go?’, [they] are gonna realise that they [homophobic bigots] are being successful in trying to erase them,” she added.
“We could do so much better than this. We’re not supposed to negotiate with terrorists. We can do so much better than this.”
In the caption, Lefevre wrote: “Congratulations Target, your performative allyship just went to the next level. And don’t anyone come back at me with ‘it was a security issue’ because this is a billion dollar company – if they really care, they can hire extra security but instead they chose to send the message that LGBTQ+ people aren’t worth protecting or fighting for.”
Predictably, Lefevre’s post attracted backlash from right-wing bigots, who suggested that she was “grooming” her child for allowing them to freely express their gender identity. Lefevre didn’t back down, later adding a an epic response to those criticising her.
“If you came here and posted hateful, ignorant garbage, please just unfollow me. I’m sorry for whatever happened to you to make you susceptible to such lies and made your heart so hardened with hate, I truly am.
“And I suggest you use your precious life force to find joy and fill your days with more love and more joy because you clearly aren’t finding it here.”
Target have yet to respond to the ongoing backlash against their decision to scale back their Pride displays.
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