The Tennessee state House passed a bill on Monday that would prohibit the flying of any flag other than the American flag and a few other official flags in public school classrooms, legislation that was sparked by the prevalence of pride flags in recent years.
The bill states in part that it is prohibited for to display “a flag other than the following on or in a public school: (i) the U.S. flag; (ii) the official Tennessee state flag; (iii) a flag that cannot be disturbed or altered pursuant to the law relevant to Tennessee heritage protection; (iv) the POW/MIA flag,&#8221; and several other flags that are acceptable to fly in schools.
The bill, introduced by Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso, passed with a 70 &#8211; 24 vote along party lines.
Bulso brought the bill forward as a result of constituent parents who were concerned about the flying of LGBTQ Pride flags in class, reports <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/26/tennessee-house-passes-bill-to-ban-pride-flags-in-public-schools/72744479007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Tennessean</a>.
On the House floor, Bulso rhetorically asked if parents have the right to teach a particular set of values to their own children.
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“If you have parents across the state who want to instill in their children values represented by the pride flag, they are certainly entitled to do that,” he said. “On the other hand, if you have parents who want to instill values in their children that are not consistent with the values represented by the pride flag, they have the ability to do that.”
A companion <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1722&amp;GA=113">bill</a> in the state&#8217;s Republican-controlled Senate is expected to be voted on this week. If it passes, it will head to the desk of Republican Governor Bill Lee.
The bill also gives parents or guardians the right to file a lawsuit if the flag prohibition is breached by the schools.
“However, prior to filing an action, the parent or guardian must first provide written notice of the alleged violation of this amendment to the LEA or public charter school and allow the LEA or public charter school 10 days to remedy a violation,” the bill states.
Democratic members of the state House offered two amendments to the bill, both of which were rejected by Republican members.

Pride Flag

Tennessee Takes Major Step Towards Banning Pride Flags From Classrooms

Education

LGBTQ

Pride

Tennessee

U.S.

The NFL announced it would host &#8220;A Night of Pride with GLAAD&#8221; during the week of festivities in Las Vegas leading up to Super Bowl LVIII on February 7.
In a <a href="https://nflcommunications.com/Pages/NFL-Continues-Commitment-to-LGBTQ-Community-with-%E2%80%9CA-Night-of-Pride-with-GLAAD%E2%80%9D-presented-by-Smirnoff-at-Super-Bowl-LVIII.aspx">press release</a>, the league highlighted its partnership with the Gay &amp; Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to host the third annual event sponsored by Smirnoff. GLAAD has been a vocal supporter of groups like &#8220;Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,&#8221; an LGBTQ-related nonprofit that incorporates religious imagery into its drag performances, where members dress like nuns. Critics say the group mocks the Catholic faith. 
&#8220;A Night of Pride with GLAAD is an evening of music, cocktails and interview-style conversations with <a href="https://glaad.org/">GLAAD</a>, a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change,&#8221; the press release read. &#8220;The NFL family and partners will gather to spotlight advances in the future of LGBTQ inclusion in professional sports as well the NFL&#8217;s commitment to LGBTQ former and current players.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFL</a> will host the third annual “A Night of Pride” during Super Bowl week in Las Vegas on February 7.
“The NFL family and partners will gather to spotlight advances in the future of LGBTQ inclusion in professional sports as well the NFL&#8217;s commitment to LGBTQ former and… <a href="https://t.co/lPDqHf2AYT">pic.twitter.com/lPDqHf2AYT</a>
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1749532611657998820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;GLAAD&#8217;s partnership with the NFL is committed to creating spaces where all fans can celebrate and to growing important visibility for LGBTQ fans at the Super Bowl and all season long,&#8221; GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. &#8220;The third annual &#8216;A Night of Pride&#8217; at Super Bowl LVIII will spotlight LGBTQ leaders in sports as we work to create safe and inclusive sports environments for our community.&#8221;
&#8220;Our Third Annual A Night of Pride with GLAAD is yet another strong step to accelerating acceptance and demonstrating the NFL&#8217;s unwavering support of the LGBTQ community,&#8221; NFL&#8217;s Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity &amp; Inclusion Officer Jonathan Beane said. &#8220;We look forward to continuing and strengthening our efforts to ensure football is for everyone.&#8221;
The NFL also confirmed it would &#8220;host its second annual Pride Flag Football Clinic at Super Bowl Experience, working with a local center that serves LGBTQ youth. Attendees and their families will be celebrated and welcomed by NFL players and members of the National Gay Flag Football League.&#8221;
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GLAAD made headlines last year when it slammed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-dodgers-pitcher-issues-powerful-statement-against-his-own-team-for-inviting-anti-catholic-group">Los Angeles Dodgers</a> after the team rescinded an invitation to &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boycott-the-dodgers-catholic-bishops-finally-fighting-back-against-anti-catholic-hate-group">Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence&#8221;</a> to participate in its Pride Night celebration. The Dodgers were responding to a backlash accusing the group of acts of sacrilege and mocking Catholicism.
&#8220;Let me be clear. This is NOT inclusion,&#8221; Tony Morrison, the Senior Director of Communications for GLAAD, <a href="https://twitter.com/THETonyMorrison/status/1659191458224545792?s=20">wrote</a> on social media at the time.
&#8220;LGBTQ rights and inclusion are rooted in protest and education,&#8221; he added. &#8220;If you claim to stand for queer rights and joy yet fear controversy, get out of the way for others to do it right.&#8221;
In the end, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-i-saw-at-dodger-stadium-ordinary-catholics-standing-up-for-their-faith">Dodgers</a> reversed course and did end up <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/large-group-protests-dodgers-pride-night-sparse-crowd-watches-drag-nuns-get-honored">honoring</a> the group with a Community Hero Award.

NFL Pride Night

NFL To Host ‘A Night Of Pride’ During Super Bowl Festivities

NFL To Host 'A Night Of Pride’ During Super Bowl Festivities

GLAAD

Super Bowl

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/target" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Targe</a>t is once again under fire for offering over-the-top leftist merchandise in its stores.
The company faced criticism and boycotts earlier this year for its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pride" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pride</a> merchandise, which included “tuck-friendly” female swimwear and children’s merchandise emblazoned with Pride messaging, to name a few. Now, controversy has ensued in the Christmas decor section, and X users are having a field day with the photos.
The account End Wokeness shared images of an ornament of a black Santa Claus in a wheelchair displayed on a Target shelf. “Target outdid itself this year for Christmas,” the post caption says.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Target outdid itself this year for Christmas <a href="https://t.co/F0YpLmOrkt">pic.twitter.com/F0YpLmOrkt</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1724590949899092243?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The account also highlighted a Pride nutcracker figurine wearing a Pride-striped hat and holding a Progress Pride flag. The product <a href="https://www.target.com/p/pride-christmas-decorative-nutcracker-figure-wondershop-8482/-/A-88114341#lnk=sametab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">description</a> encourages buyers to “show your love and support for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LGBTQIA+</a> community” by displaying this decoration. Both items are available for sale on Target’s website as of Wednesday.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-friday-gift-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE</a>
The post replies mocked the items and referenced the company boycotts from earlier this year. Target’s market value declined $14 billion by August following the backlash. The company moved its Pride collections to less prominent areas of the store due to the controversy after previously having the merchandise displayed by the front entrances.
“Who the hell shops at Target still?  I have not stepped inside one since the tuck it underwear debacle. Banned for life,” one account <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkWithSally/status/1724591564675240343" target="_blank" rel="noopener">replied</a>.
“Wow. Just wow,” another <a href="https://twitter.com/bfrye21/status/1724591616533369122" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chimed in</a>. “You would think they would have learned from the last time. When will companies finally start to realize it? Go woke…go broke!”
“They are trying really hard to bankrupt themselves,” another person <a href="https://twitter.com/DonMcLaughlin9/status/1724591711769210937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed</a>.
The backlash against these items comes on the heels of rumors that Target hired Erik Thompson as their Senior LGBTQIA+ Segmentation Strategist and Pride Lead, according to a post he shared on Instagram. Thompson, who goes by “gaycruella” on the social media platform, wrote that he was “honored” to accept the role.
“Time to whip out the Glitter &amp; Hellfire flamethrowers and rip that old world to shreds darlings,” the self-described Target corporate employee <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CznNQjcM0pD/?img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a>. “Let’s flip that script and rewrite that narrative. This time for ~ALL Guests, ALL Humans &amp; ALL Hearts.”

Target

Target Mocked For Selling Disabled Black Santa Ornament, Pride Nutcrackers

Business

Christmas

Social Issues

There&#8217;s been a lot of talk lately, and rightfully so, about the many rhetorical excesses of leftism. They keep coming up with new terms and acronyms and so-called neo-pronouns, as well as new genders and sexual orientations and phobias and so on, almost like it&#8217;s an addiction. For whatever reason, it&#8217;s apparent that liberals feel compelled to have their own language that&#8217;s totally divorced from the rest of the English language. Maybe it&#8217;s so they can distinguish themselves from the unenlightened out-group. Maybe they&#8217;re just bored and neurotic. Who knows. In any event, conservatives have called out this phenomenon, ad nauseam, for quite some time.
What you rarely hear discussed, though, is that amid this great linguistic revolution we&#8217;re all living through, liberals have abandoned as many terms as they&#8217;ve invented. It was just about a decade ago, for example, that &#8220;female genital mutilation&#8221; was a major point of concern among the Left. On college campuses all over the country, female genital mutilation in faraway countries like Somalia was considered one of the foremost human rights abuses on the planet. 
But since the rise of transgenderism, the Left has had a change of heart on this whole topic, as you might imagine. Now they endorse female genital mutilation. It&#8217;s one of the great switcheroos in politics that no one ever talks about. As The Post Millennial reported back in 2020, leftists were <a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/bill-to-ban-fgm-blocked-in-wyoming-by-radical-trans-activists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">furious</a> about a bill in Wyoming that promised to ban female genital mutilation in the state. They went from protesting against it, to protesting in favor of it.
We&#8217;ve seen this kind of about-face in several other areas, as well. It wasn&#8217;t so long ago that corporate media outlets and Left-wing activists <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-fuels-munchausen-by-proxy/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> they were very concerned about a mental health disorder called &#8220;Munchausen by Proxy.&#8221; This disorder typically involves parents — almost always the mother — who pretend that their children are suffering from some kind of medical ailment. Usually the mother invents a medical condition so that they — that is the mother — can get attention. In 2014 — less than a decade ago — CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-fuels-munchausen-by-proxy/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had this to say</a> about the disorder: &#8220;Dr. Marc Feldman, a psychiatrist and forensic consultant &#8230; said he believes the Internet has contributed to the number of Munchausen by Proxy cases. &#8230; &#8216;There are instantly accessible and endlessly supportive groups out there that will pray with you and cry with you if you purport your child to be ill,&#8217; Feldman said.&#8221;
Less than a decade later, those &#8220;accessible and endlessly supportive groups&#8221; have all the power. They won&#8217;t simply affirm your delusions about your child. They&#8217;ll organize a mob to destroy the life of anyone who challenges those delusions. And corporate media outlets have no problem with it, whatsoever. They&#8217;ll cheer it on. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1249-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Consider the case of Dempsey Jara, who&#8217;s been in the news lately. A couple of months ago, Dempsey Jara&#8217;s parents explained why their boy was actually a girl. It&#8217;s a long clip that can be found on YouTube, but it&#8217;s important you see all of it. You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5ucxh1b0tI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch it here</a>.
What you&#8217;ll see is a boy who liked the color pink and stuffed animals. He put pajama pants on his head. He liked princesses and ponies. And as a toddler, he didn&#8217;t like getting a haircut, much like literally every toddler who has ever lived on planet earth. So this child decides on that basis — at the age of 5 — that the doctors had, &#8220;made a mistake.&#8221; This 5-year-old boy has overruled the medical doctors. He&#8217;s come to the conclusion — independently, without any input from his parents whatsoever — that he&#8217;s really a girl, and he needs to &#8220;transition.&#8221; And his parents, it goes without saying, affirm that delusion, and leftist media outlets cheer.
It makes no sense whatsoever, of course, but let&#8217;s think through some of the implications. 
Imagine being a feminist with any integrity whatsoever — a hard thing to conceive of. And then you listen to that news report, which reduces womanhood to liking the color pink, and hating the fact that — at the ripe old age of 5-years-old — you need to go to the barber. Has any modern political movement ever been so humiliated, so thoroughly? It&#8217;s hard to think of anything that comes close.
Of course, anyone who&#8217;s ever had a child — as well as anyone with a rudimentary understanding of human psychology — understands exactly what&#8217;s going on here. This 5-year-old didn&#8217;t decide to &#8220;transition&#8221; on his own. He learned that concept from his parents, who planted this delusion in his head and then encouraged him to pursue it. And the media is on board because this serves their political ends.
The parents of this child made that very clear. <a href="https://youtu.be/s5ucxh1b0tI?si=RBw86OIq5DhO7DNY&amp;amp;t=389" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch as they explain</a> how they plan to flee the country if Ron DeSantis becomes president:
&#8220;We have our passports updated,&#8221; says the mother, whatever that means. Presumably it means that she has a current passport, which we&#8217;re supposed to think is interesting in some way. Then she says, &#8220;We&#8217;re going to have to leave the country.&#8221; Ron DeSantis is going after black people, she insists. This is meant to be taken seriously, like when Cher <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cher-leave-us-trump-white-house-2024-almost-ulcer-last-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> she&#8217;d leave the U.S. after Donald Trump got elected. These are threats that, tragically, are never followed through.
But more importantly, this is child abuse, and in a sane society, no one would put up with it. This is a young boy, who&#8217;s not even a teenager, who&#8217;s being force-fed propaganda — about both gender and politics — so his parents can get on television and pretend to be heroes. They&#8217;re threatening to move their child out of the country based on complete fabrications. But we don&#8217;t live in a sane society so instead, this child&#8217;s delusions — really, his parent&#8217;s delusions — are being celebrated. 
That finally brings us to this past Saturday, when this 11-year-old, using the name Dempsey Jara, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12659073/Trans-11-dempsey-jara-orlando-pride.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">served</a> as the &#8220;grand marshal&#8221; of the Orlando Pride Parade. 
As The Daily Mail reported, using this 11-year-old&#8217;s fake pronouns, &#8220;Dempsey Jara became the youngest grand marshal in the event&#8217;s history as she paraded in an open top car through the streets of the Florida city at one of the world&#8217;s biggest Pride events. Wearing pink heart-shaped sunglasses and a floral gown, she blew kisses to the crowd while clutching a puppy wrapped in blue bow, as her parents beamed in the back seat. &#8216;She&#8217;s just always gravitated toward girl things, girls&#8217; toys,&#8217; schoolteacher mom Jaime Jara, 45, told the Orlando Sentinel. &#8216;She&#8217;d say, &#8216;I&#8217;m a girl in my heart and my brain&#8217;. She&#8217;s been on this journey since she was five and she&#8217;s living her best life.'&#8221;
So they paraded this cross-dressing young boy as a mascot at a sexualized festival for adults, and for the most part, the media <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/10/22/trans-orlando-pride-marshal-dempsey-jara-florida/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cheered</a> the whole thing. Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s interesting about all of this, aside from the sheer depravity of it. If you read that Daily Mail article, or look at &#8220;Dempsey Jara&#8217;s&#8221; various <a href="https://linktr.ee/jaidonna19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media feeds,</a> you&#8217;ll find that the mother is prominent and the father is completely absent. He takes a back seat. For example, he wasn&#8217;t on stage a few months ago, when GLAAD awarded this young child some kind of award. Instead, only the mother was there. And she spoke, at length, mostly about herself. You can <a href="https://youtu.be/5daFxWf2iKs?si=1nNNITuQQUu8QDUh&amp;amp;t=202" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch it here</a>.
The best part is hearing the thunderous applause she says. And truer words have never been spoken. Of course, as the mother drones on and on, the 11-year-old boy doesn&#8217;t say a word. It&#8217;s just the mother, basking in the applause, as if she&#8217;s some kind of Oscar-winning actress. This is her moment. And the big applause line, of course, is that her son is &#8220;transgender.&#8221; The speech goes on for several minutes after that. It devolves into DeSantis bashing. She claims her son is somehow in danger because of Ron DeSantis. But the politics of this situation are nowhere near as interesting as the psychology of it all. 
A few years ago, in October 2017, the scientific journal Child Abuse &amp; Neglect <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213417302636" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> an article entitled, “The perpetrators of medical child abuse (Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy) — A systematic review of 796 cases.&#8221; According to the researchers who wrote the article, &#8220;nearly all of the abusers were female (97.6%) and about the same percentage were the victims&#8217; own mothers (95.6%).&#8221;
This used to be an issue the Left talked about. They don&#8217;t anymore. But the fact remains that Munchausen by Proxy is one of the most serious mental disorders on the planet because it affects young children who can&#8217;t protect themselves. The impact of this disorder is often very uncomfortable to talk about, so most media outlets have decided to avoid the topic entirely.
Here&#8217;s one case that hasn&#8217;t gotten much attention. The Daily Wire just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woman-who-orchestrated-the-murder-of-abusive-mother-speaks-out-survivor-of-relentless-child-abuse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on the case of a woman who was abused by her mother, who suffered from Munchausen&#8217;s. 
<blockquote>&#8220;Gypsy was raised by her mother, Dee Dee, who forced her daughter to endure numerous medical treatments due to her own Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a mental disorder that causes a caregiver to fabricate or exaggerate medical conditions in another person. Dee Dee began making claims about her daughter’s health when Gypsy was about three months old. &#8230; At that time, Dee Dee was convinced Gypsy suffered from sleep apnea and began taking her to the local hospital. Rod said doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her daughter despite numerous tests and a sleep monitor.&#8221;
Nevertheless, &#8220;Dee Dee persisted that her daughter was sick, coming up with new problems, including a chromosomal defect and muscular dystrophy. &#8230; After a minor motorcycle accident that resulted in an abrasion to Gypsy’s knee, Dee Dee began claiming that doctors gave her daughter a wheelchair. From then on, Gypsy was largely confined to the chair if she appeared in public. Dee Dee would also bring an oxygen tank and feeding tube to complete the illusion that Gypsy was severely disabled.&#8221; There are other horrifying details, including how Dee Dee administered treatments that caused her daughter&#8217;s teeth to, &#8220;decay to the point that most of her front teeth were extracted and replaced by a bridge.&#8221;</blockquote>
As recently as ten years ago, in the eyes of media outlets and even Left-wing activists, Dee Dee would be in the exact same category as Jaime Jara, the mother of the 11-year-old boy who&#8217;s being paraded around Florida right now. Both of them would be regarded as abusers who used their children to satisfy their own deep-seated mental compulsions. 
In the past few years, the Left has come to embrace Munchausen parents, in many contexts, because they&#8217;ve discovered they can use them — and their children — as a weapon against politicians they don&#8217;t like. They can turn the pain and confusion of children as young as five years old into a political weapon. And without any hesitation whatsoever, that&#8217;s exactly what they&#8217;re doing. They have no concern for what happens to these children, and neither do their parents. They just want adulation, and right now they&#8217;re getting it. Until that changes, many more young children — kids who aren&#8217;t even teenagers, in many cases — will suffer the consequences. And by the time they realize what their parents have done to them, they&#8217;ll be in the same position as Dee Dee&#8217;s daughter. They will be broken and powerless. And no one — especially not the adoring crowds in Orlando, or at GLAAD — will lift a finger to help them.
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Gay rainbow flag at  gay pride parade with blurred participants in the background

11-Year-Old Boy Used As Mascot At Pride Parade

Children

Matt Walsh

Readers Pass

Transgender

An 11-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">boy</a> who identifies as a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">transgender</a> girl was selected as grand marshal of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida">Orlando</a>&#8216;s Come Out With Pride Festival.
Dempsey Jara, the youngest person ever chosen for the role, rode in an open-topped car leading the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pride">parade</a> on Saturday. The child donned a gown, heart-shaped sunglasses, and waved to the crowd while holding a puppy. Dempsey’s parents were smiling while riding in the backseat. 
“She&#8217;s just always gravitated toward girl things, girls&#8217; toys,” the child’s mom, Jaime Jara, <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/10/21/trans-girl-11-leads-orlando-pride-parade-its-about-being-true-to-yourself/">told</a> the Orlando Sentinel. “She&#8217;d say, &#8216;I&#8217;m a girl in my heart and my brain.&#8217; She&#8217;s been on this journey since she was five and she&#8217;s living her best life.”
Dempsey told reporters at the event that “being transgender is not about a choice.”
“It&#8217;s about being true to myself. It&#8217;s about embracing who I am even when the world tries to tell me otherwise,” the pre-teen insisted. “It&#8217;s about standing tall in my identity even when it&#8217;s really hard.”
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There were mixed reactions online, including many who criticized parade organizers for selecting a minor for that role. 
Dempsey’s mom told The Daily Mail during a previous <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7673229/Mother-accused-CHILD-ABUSE-raising-daughter-transgender.html">interview</a> that she started believing Dempsey might be transgender from a very young age.
“Dempsey has been gender non-conforming since the age of eighteen months old, basically since she was able to express herself. She always gravitated to dolls, dresses and sparkly objects,” Jaime told the outlet.
“Knowing that these items were what she wanted, we bought them because we knew how happy they made her,” she added. “Once I began sharing our daughter&#8217;s journey publicly, I started receiving a flood of messages and calls from friends, acquaintances and absolute strangers in similar situations asking for help and guidance with their transgender or gender non-conforming children. This continues to present day.”
Florida is one of several states that has issued bans on “trans-affirming” surgeries and experimental puberty blockers for minors. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill (SB) 254 in May.

Dempsey Jara

Trans-Identifying 11-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Grand Marshal At Orlando Pride Parade

Florida

Parade

Target announced plans to shut down nine stores across four different U.S. states after ongoing reports of violence, theft, and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of shoppers and employees.
The company said effective October 21, three stores in the San Francisco-Oakland area, three more in Portland, two locations in Seattle, and one store in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City will permanently close.
“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” Target said in a <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2023/09/Target-Closes-Select-Stores-to-Prioritize-Team-Mem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>.
Before making the decision, Target officials said the retailer corporation invested “heavily” in efforts to prevent and stop organized retail crime in its stores, including ramping up internal security team members and third-party guard services, but struggled to combat the uptick in retail theft from organized smash-and-grab robberies involving large groups of thieves.
Target’s CEO Brian Cornell <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-veers-off-target-reaps-rewards-of-pride-collection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last month the company has been battling an “unacceptable amount” of retail theft that has become increasingly violent and dangerous for workers.
Store theft that included “violence or threats of violence” surged 120% during the first five months of the year, Cornell said, adding that Target’s full-year profitability is expected to reduce by more than $500 million compared to the previous year.
Cornell reportedly said the company intended to keep locations open after releasing its rising shrink reported in the fiscal second-quarter earnings in mid-May.
“We do not want to close stores. We know how important our stores are. They create local jobs, they generate taxes, they’re very important for those local shoppers, and they play a critical role in communities across the country,” Cornell said. “We’ll continue to do everything in our power to keep our doors open,” he added. “At the same time, we’ll be closely monitoring the safety of our team and guests as well as the financial impact to our business as we determine the right path forward at Target.”
Organized retail theft has spiked in cities around the country, with videos from some incidents showing hooded figures in dark clothes darting in and out of stores with merchandise, often expensive luxury items.
Critics blame progressive prosecutors, who they say allow criminals to get off without serious consequences — if they face consequences at all.
Earlier this year, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/01/30/2023/grassley-cortez-masto-bill-bolsters-federal-response-to-organized-retail-theft#:~:text=The%20Combating%20Organized%20Retail%20Crime,trends%20in%20organized%20retail%20theft." target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> legislation to target the rise in flash mob robberies sweeping the nation, which they estimated costs retailers $720,000 for every $1 billion in sales — a 50% increase since 2015.
The bill, which Target officials advocated for in its announcement on Tuesday, would create a multi-agency federal task force at the state and local levels to promote inter-agency efforts and cooperation to crack down on theft and organized retail crime.
CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/target-says-it-will-close-nine-stores-citing-violence-and-theft-.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&amp;par=sharebar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that over the last two years, at least nine states have passed similar laws to impose harsher penalties for those involved in organized retail crime.
Target’s latest announcement comes after the company revealed a dismal quarterly report showing its sales sank 5.4% for the first time in six years after facing national backlash over its Pride Month collection.
Mairead Elordi contributed to this report.

Hurricane Idalia Barrels North as Florida Girds for Disaster

Target Cites Violence And Theft As Reasons For Closing Nine Stores Across US

Target Cites Violence And Theft As Reason Nine Stores Across US Will Close

Flash Mob

Liberalism

Organized crime

Theft

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/charlotte" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charlotte</a> Pride now says no one will be awarded the 2023 Harvey Milk award for exceptional “LGBT+” advocacy after the announced winner&#8217;s past as a convicted child sex offender came to light.
“We do not give every single award out every year. Charlotte Pride was originally going to do Harvey Milk, but upon further discussion, decided not to give out that award this year,” the leading Charlotte, North Carolina, LGBT organization <a href="https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/charlotte-pride-removes-2023-harvey-milk-award-recipient-website/FEKOU3KJMNCKVMCWZNVM4LXVEM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> local outlet WSOC on Friday.
The group did not detail what led to the decision not to give out the Harvey Milk Award after all.
Chad Sevearance-Turner, a former music minister who <a href="https://sexoffender.ncsbi.gov/details.aspx?SRN=008345S1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">served years</a> in prison for sexually abusing a minor boy, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlotte-pride-lists-child-sex-offender-as-lgbtq-award-recipient" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was originally slated</a> to receive the award this year.
Charlotte Pride had <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230805194403/https://charlottepride.org/champions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> him as an “influential advocate for LGBT+ issues,” Reduxx first <a href="https://reduxx.info/north-carolina-charlotte-pride-awards-child-sex-offender-with-2023-harvey-milk-award/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Sevearance-Turner, 45, is president and chief executive officer <a href="https://www.clgbtcc.org/our-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at the</a> Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit that “supports LGBT+ and allied businesses” in North and South Carolina.
He was <a href="https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/1998/09/26/music-director-charged-fondling-teens-kidnapper-sentenced-assault-masked-gunman-li39l-food-store/29604171007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> by three minor boys of sexual abuse in 1998 when he was 20, all three of whom he met through his position as music director for New Harvest Church of God in Gaffney, South Carolina, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160313221333/http://www.goupstate.com/article/20000720/NEWS/7200320?p=2&amp;tc=pg&amp;tc=ar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a 2000 report from GoUpstate.com.
The three boys’ accusations were tried in three separate cases.
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The first case involved a 14-year-old boy who testified that he spent the night with Sevearance-Turner at one of the other victims’ houses and awoke to Sevearance-Turner fondling his genitals. The boy also testified that Sevearance-Turner invited him to spend the night at his house, and when he did, Sevearance-Turner asked him how he would feel about a man performing oral sex on him.
“I thought he was joking,” the boy told the court at the time.
The child said Sevearance-Turner’s questions about sexual acts were upsetting because of his position in the church.
The second boy, who was 15 at the time of the alleged incident, testified that Sevearance-Turner invited him to his house and showed him a pornographic video of sex between a man and woman. The boy went to sleep in the same bed as Sevearance-Turner and awoke to Sevearance-Turner fondling him, the child said.
“He told me if I ever told the pastor, he’d make me look like a fool and a liar,” the boy said.
The third boy, who was also 15 when he said the incident happened, said Sevearance-Turner made the same advances to him when he stayed at the boy’s home for three weeks and fondled him multiple times.
Sevearance-Turner’s defense attorney Thomas Shealy accused the boys at the time of a “Salem witch hunt” against their alleged abuser.
Sevearance-Turner was eventually convicted in 2000 of performing a lewd act on a minor under 16 and <a href="https://sexoffender.ncsbi.gov/details.aspx?SRN=008345S1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sentenced</a> to ten years in prison. He served just two years before being released on parole.
He is currently <a href="https://sexoffender.ncsbi.gov/details.aspx?SRN=008345S1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed</a> on the North Carolina sex offender registry.
Charlotte Pride quickly scrubbed Sevearance-Turner&#8217;s name from its website page listing this year&#8217;s &#8220;Champions of Pride&#8221; award winners after his child sex offense conviction came to light.
However, an archived version of the page <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230805194403/https://charlottepride.org/champions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a> him listed.
This is not the first time Sevearance-Turner’s child sex offender status has been unearthed while in a position of influence.
In 2016, Sevearance-Turner <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article64943682.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned</a> as president of Charlotte’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce after his child sex offender conviction became known. He <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article64943682.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time that his past had not stopped him from being successful.
At the time, Sevearance-Turner <a href="https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/charlotte-lgbt-chamber-head-steps-down/275-75015312" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was at the forefront</a> of a push for North Carolina to allow trans-identifying men to use women’s bathrooms.

UK – Culture – Gay and lesbian Pride Parade through central London

Charlotte Pride Says No One Will Win 2023 Harvey Milk Award After Convicted Pedophile Winner’s Past Unearthed

Charlotte Pride Says No One Will Win 2023 Harvey Milk Award After Convicted Pedophile Winner's Past Unearthed

Child Abuse

Crime

North Carolina

Sex Offender

Target revealed this week that it has reaped the rewards of its Pride Month collection with a dismal quarterly report that showed the company&#8217;s sales falling for the first time in six years.
Target’s quarterly sales sank 5.4% in the second quarter, which ended July 29, compared to the same period last year, the company said in its second quarter earnings <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2023/08/Target-Corporation-Reports-Second-Quarter-Earnings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, released on Wednesday.
The depressing result is that Target has now lowered both its overall sales and profit expectations for the whole year, admitting the cause is “recent sales trends,” which were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/16/investing/target-stock-earnings/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impacted</a> by the “strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment.”
The rest of the data doesn&#8217;t look great either. Online sales fell 10.5%. The number of transactions and the average dollar amount of a transaction also dropped. Meanwhile, Target’s total revenue of $24.8 billion was 4.9% lower than last year.
The Minneapolis-based retail behemoth&#8217;s travails are a sobering reminder to other major companies that not everyone is on board with an LGBT agenda being shoved down their throats when they are trying to pick up milk or buy their kids new shoes.
Back in May, Target faced backlash over its “Pride” collection, which <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-target-lgbtq-1203e875adcc7c86f62252d4ace1a738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> a kids swimsuit with a tag reading “thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions.”
Also featured were LGBT-themed books aimed at young <a href="https://www.target.com/p/the-pronoun-book-by-chris-ayala-kronos-board-book/-/A-83978505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">children,</a> <a href="https://www.target.com/p/bye-bye-binary-by-eric-geron-board-book/-/A-84212143" target="_blank" rel="noopener">such as</a> “The Pronoun Book” and “Bye Bye Binary,” a story about a “joyful baby” who “refuses to conform to the gender binary and instead chooses toys, colors, and clothes that make them happy.”
Target offered an adult “Pride” collection as well, which <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-target-lgbtq-1203e875adcc7c86f62252d4ace1a738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> “tuck-friendly” swimsuits for men who identify as women to tuck their genitals, a t-shirt with the words “Queer Queer Queer Queer,” and a hoodie reading “Not A Phase.”
The discovery that the designer of some of Target&#8217;s “Pride” collection items has also apparently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-faces-backlash-over-pride-collection-designer-behind-satan-respects-pronouns-shirts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created</a> products with Satanic imagery sent customers over the edge.
Customers quickly demanded a boycott, causing Target&#8217;s stock price to fall <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/14/target-shareholder-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 20%</a>. It has not recovered.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1790-conservatives-can-win-and-target-s-earnings-prove-it-member-exclusive">WATCH: Ben Shapiro: &#8220;Conservatives CAN Win, and Target&#8217;s Earnings Prove It&#8221;</a></h4>
Eventually, Target <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/24/target-lgbtq-clothing-controversy-boycott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled</a> some of its “Pride” merchandise threats to employees’ safety and moved “Pride” displays to the back of some of its stores.
On Wednesday, Target came right out and admitted that the &#8220;Pride&#8221; collection was a significant negative for the company.
“Traffic and top line trends were affected by the reaction to our Pride assortment,” Target’s CFO Michael Fiddelke <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/17/walmart-profits-soar-as-target-takes-hit-over-woke-items/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in an earnings call after the second quarter report was released.
The Pride collection prompted a “negative guest reaction,” CEO Brian Cornell admitted.
However, &#8220;Pride&#8221; is also not Target&#8217;s sole trouble, Cornell said.
Target is also battling an “unacceptable amount” of retail theft, including organized retail crime, that has become increasingly violent and dangerous for workers, according to the company&#8217;s CEO.
Store theft that included “violence or threats of violence” surged 120% during the first five months of the year, Target&#8217;s CEO said.
Organized retail theft has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-stores-are-taking-extreme-security-measures-to-fight-petty-theft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spiked</a> in cities around the country, with videos from some of the incidents showing hooded figures in dark clothes darting in and out of stores with merchandise, often expensive luxury items.
Critics <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/zero-cash-bail-blame-brazen-smash-grab-robberies-la-police-union-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blame</a> progressive prosecutors who they say allow criminals to get off without serious consequences, if they face consequences at all.
Inflation is also contributing to Target&#8217;s woes, the company <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/16/target-tgt-earnings-q2-2023.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, with shoppers buying fewer nonessentials like clothing and home decor, opting instead to save their money for food and bills.
Target saw a huge bounce in sales during the pandemic with stock prices <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/TGT/target/stock-price-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peaking</a> in November 2021, but the company has struggled to maintain that momentum, and the &#8220;Pride&#8221; collection certainly did not help.
Of course, Target is not the only company suffering from &#8220;Pride&#8221; backlash this year.
The brand with the most LGBT woes is probably Bud Light, which faced a massive boycott this year over the company’s partnership with trans-identifying influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has lost about $395 million in U.S. sales since the boycott. Bud Light has also been bumped out of its spot as the nation’s top-selling beer by Modelo.
Meanwhile, however, other retailers soared in their second quarter sales.
Walmart&#8217;s store sales jumped 6.4% in the second quarter, well above the 4% experts expected, the company <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/media-library/document/q2-fy24-earnings-release/_proxyDocument?id=0000018a-0045-d2a1-a1ab-ddc7cb770000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Thursday. E-commerce spiked a whopping 24%, mostly thanks to pickup and delivery orders.
Walmart has now raised its annual profit forecast for the second straight quarter after the positive second quarter report this week.
This week, Target concluded that the &#8220;Pride&#8221; backlash is a &#8220;signal for us to pause, adapt and learn.&#8221;
So far, the company appears to be taking that signal seriously. Target <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/16/investing/target-stock-earnings/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plans</a> to make some changes to its “Pride” collection, which could include changing the timing of the products, the placement in stores, and which brands are for sale.
Next year, Target and other companies could potentially opt for more muted &#8220;Pride&#8221; celebration to protect their bottom lines, given the fed up message many of their customers sent them this year.
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In this photo illustration, the American retail corporation

Target Veers Off Target, Reaps Rewards Of Pride Collection

Bud Light

LGBT

Pride Month

Stock Market

Target&#8217;s sales have declined after backlash to its Pride Month collection earlier this year, the company announced Wednesday.
Target&#8217;s quarterly sales sank for the first time in six years, falling 5.4% in the second quarter, which ended July 29, compared to the same period last year, the company said in its second quarter earnings <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2023/08/Target-Corporation-Reports-Second-Quarter-Earnings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>.
Online sales fell nearly twice as much, 10.5%, Target said. The company also said that the number of transactions and the average dollar amount of a transaction fell this past quarter. Target&#8217;s total revenue of $24.8 billion was 4.9 percent lower than last year, Target said.
The Minneapolis-based retail behemoth said that because of &#8220;recent sales trends&#8221; it has lowered its overall sales and profit expectations for the whole year.
Back in May, Target faced backlash over its &#8220;Pride&#8221; collection, which <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-target-lgbtq-1203e875adcc7c86f62252d4ace1a738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> a kids swimsuit with a tag reading “thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions.”
Target also featured LGBT-themed books aimed at young <a href="https://www.target.com/p/the-pronoun-book-by-chris-ayala-kronos-board-book/-/A-83978505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">children,</a> <a href="https://www.target.com/p/bye-bye-binary-by-eric-geron-board-book/-/A-84212143" target="_blank" rel="noopener">such as</a> “The Pronoun Book” and “Bye Bye Binary,” a story about a “joyful baby” who “refuses to conform to the gender binary and instead chooses toys, colors, and clothes that make them happy.”
Target also featured an adult &#8220;Pride&#8221; collection, which <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-target-lgbtq-1203e875adcc7c86f62252d4ace1a738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> &#8220;tuck-friendly&#8221; swimsuits for men who identify as women to tuck their genitals, a t-shirt with the words “Queer Queer Queer Queer,” and a hoodie reading “Not A Phase.”
The &#8220;Pride&#8221; merchandise quickly sparked calls for a boycott of Target on social media.
Eventually, Target said it would <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/24/target-lgbtq-clothing-controversy-boycott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pull</a> some of its &#8220;Pride&#8221; merchandise over backlash that was threatening employees&#8217; safety. The company also moved the &#8220;Pride&#8221; displays to the back of some of its stores.
“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior,” Target spokeswoman Kayla Castañeda said in late May.
Adding to the company&#8217;s troubles was the discovery that the designer of some of its &#8220;Pride&#8221; collection items has also apparently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-faces-backlash-over-pride-collection-designer-behind-satan-respects-pronouns-shirts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created</a> products with Satanic imagery.
The company&#8217;s stock price fell <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/14/target-shareholder-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 20%</a> after the calls for a boycott and has not recovered.
Sales were impacted by the &#8220;strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment,&#8221; Target’s chief growth officer Christina Hennington said Wednesday.
“The reaction is a signal for us to pause, adapt and learn,” Hennington said.
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Next year, Target <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/16/investing/target-stock-earnings/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plans</a> to make some changes to its &#8220;Pride&#8221; collection, which could include changing the timing of the products, the placement in stores, and which brands are for sale.
Despite the dismal sales numbers, Target&#8217;s latest earnings report showed the company saw higher profit margins than expected since it offered fewer discounts and reduced inventory costs.
Other companies also experienced backlash to their &#8220;Pride&#8221; merchandise this summer.
Bud Light&#8217;s parent company Anheuser-Busch has lost about $395 million in U.S. sales after a boycott over the company&#8217;s partnership with trans-identifying influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Bud Light was also bumped out of its spot as the nation&#8217;s top-selling beer by Modelo.

Target Corp. Reported A 4 percent increase in second-quarter profits

Target Sales Sink After Pride Backlash

Charlotte Pride, a leading LGBT pride organization in Charlotte, North Carolina, has listed a child sex offender as the recipient of its 2023 Harvey Milk Award for exceptional &#8220;LGBT+&#8221; advocacy.
Chad Sevearance-Turner, a former music minister who <a href="https://sexoffender.ncsbi.gov/details.aspx?SRN=008345S1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">served years</a> in prison for sexually abusing a minor boy, will receive the award this year, with the group <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230805194403/https://charlottepride.org/champions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praising</a> him as an &#8220;influential advocate for LGBT+ issues,&#8221; Reduxx <a href="https://reduxx.info/north-carolina-charlotte-pride-awards-child-sex-offender-with-2023-harvey-milk-award/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Sevearance-Turner and several other honorees, who were dubbed &#8220;Champions of Pride&#8221; on Charlotte Pride&#8217;s website, will be honored <a href="https://charlottepride.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as part</a> of this year&#8217;s Charlotte Pride festival, scheduled for the weekend of August 19 and 20.
Sevearance-Turner, 45, is president and chief executive officer <a href="https://www.clgbtcc.org/our-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at the</a> Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit that &#8220;supports LGBT+ and allied businesses&#8221; in North and South Carolina.
He was <a href="https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/1998/09/26/music-director-charged-fondling-teens-kidnapper-sentenced-assault-masked-gunman-li39l-food-store/29604171007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> by three minor boys of sexual abuse in 1998 when he was 20, all three of whom he met through his position as music director for New Harvest Church of God in Gaffney, South Carolina, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160313221333/http://www.goupstate.com/article/20000720/NEWS/7200320?p=2&amp;tc=pg&amp;tc=ar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a 2000 report from GoUpstate.com.
The three boys&#8217; accusations were tried in three separate cases.
The first case involved a 14-year-old boy who testified that he spent the night with Sevearance-Turner at one of the other victims&#8217; houses and awoke to Sevearance-Turner fondling his genitals. The boy also testified that Sevearance-Turner invited him to spend the night at his house, and when he did, Sevearance-Turner asked him how he would feel about a man performing oral sex on him.
“I thought he was joking,” the boy told the court at the time.
The child said Sevearance-Turner&#8217;s questions about sexual acts were upsetting because of his position in the church.
The second boy, who was 15 at the time of the alleged incident, testified that Sevearance-Turner invited him to his house and showed him a pornographic video of sex between a man and woman. The boy went to sleep in the same bed as Sevearance-Turner and awoke to Sevearance-Turner fondling him, the child said.
“He told me if I ever told the pastor, he’d make me look like a fool and a liar,” the boy said.
The third boy, who was also 15 when he said the incident happened, said Sevearance-Turner made the same advances to him when he stayed at the boy&#8217;s home for three weeks and fondled him multiple times.
Sevearance-Turner&#8217;s defense attorney Thomas Shealy accused the boys at the time of a &#8220;Salem witch hunt&#8221; against their alleged abuser.
Sevearance-Turner was eventually convicted in 2000 of performing a lewd act on a minor under 16 and <a href="https://sexoffender.ncsbi.gov/details.aspx?SRN=008345S1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sentenced</a> to ten years in prison. He served just two years before being released on parole.
He is currently <a href="https://sexoffender.ncsbi.gov/details.aspx?SRN=008345S1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed</a> on the North Carolina sex offender registry.
Charlotte Pride called the registered sex offender a &#8220;highly accomplished leader in human resources&#8221; whose career has been &#8220;driven by a deep commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).&#8221;
As of Thursday, however, Sevearance-Turner&#8217;s profile has been <a href="https://charlottepride.org/champions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed</a> from the website page listing this year&#8217;s honorees. An archived version of the page <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230805194403/https://charlottepride.org/champions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a> him listed.
Charlotte Pride did not respond to a request for comment about whether Sevearance-Turner&#8217;s award will be rescinded or whether the group was aware of his child sex offender status when it decided to honor him.
Last week though, Sevearance-Turner posted about his award on LinkedIn.
&#8220;I am also humbled to be listed with these amazing humans who do so much great work for our region,&#8221; Sevearance-Turner wrote.
His employer congratulated him as well.
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Sevearance-Turner has been recognized frequently for his LGBT advocacy work. He was appointed by Charlotte&#8217;s mayor to serve on the city&#8217;s business advisory committee this year, according to Charlotte Pride. LGBT newspaper QNotes <a href="https://qnotescarolinas.com/person-of-the-year-2015/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">named</a> him their &#8220;Person of the Year&#8221; in 2015. He has also mingled with North Carolina&#8217;s political brass — Democrat Governor Roy Cooper was <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/north-carolina-governor-attends-lgbt-gala-hosted-by-registered-sex-offender/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photographed</a> standing next to Sevearance-Turner at a gala in 2019.
The Harvey Milk Award, named for the famous gay activist in 1970s San Francisco, is presented every year &#8220;to honor exceptional leadership, service to the community, and those who champion LGBTQ causes that impact the Charlotte community and beyond,&#8221; <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230805194403/https://charlottepride.org/champions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Charlotte Pride.
The 2023 Charlotte Pride festival <a href="https://charlottepride.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has sponsorships</a> from Amazon, McDonalds, Bank of America, Bud Light, Lowe&#8217;s, NASCAR, and Krispy Kreme, among other major companies.
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This is not the first time Sevearance-Turner&#8217;s child sex offender status has been unearthed while in a position of influence.
In 2016, Sevearance-Turner <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article64943682.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned</a> as president of Charlotte’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce after his child sex offender conviction became known. He <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article64943682.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time that his past had not stopped him from being successful.
At the time, Sevearance-Turner <a href="https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/politics/charlotte-lgbt-chamber-head-steps-down/275-75015312" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was at the forefront</a> of a push for North Carolina to allow trans-identifying men to use women&#8217;s bathrooms.
“No one who is a convicted sex offender should be leading a campaign to allow men to be in women’s bathrooms and showers,” the leader of the NC Values Coalition, who sounded the alarm about the child sex offender, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article64943682.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time. “It’s just common sense.”

TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-SOCIAL-GAY-PARADE-PROTEST

Charlotte Pride Lists Child Sex Offender As ‘LGBTQ’ Award Recipient

Charlotte Pride Lists Child Sex Offender As 'LGBTQ' Award Recipient

Child Sex Abuse

General

South Carolina

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/target" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Target</a> investor has sued the retail chain, saying that it misled investors over risks related to its LGBT marketing and diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
A lawsuit filed on Tuesday by America First Legal (AFL), co-counsel Boyden Gray PLLC, and Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC on behalf of investor Brian Craig in Florida <a href="https://aflegal.org/america-first-legal-sues-target-corporation-on-behalf-of-shareholder-for-making-misleading-statements-regarding-managements-reckless-esg-and-dei-mandates-that-cost-shareholders-over-12-billi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that Target cost shareholders lost billions of dollars because of its LGBT, ESG, and DEI policies.
The lawsuit <a href="https://media.aflegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/08204301/Complaint-filed-stamped-copy.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accuses</a> Target and its board of directors of betraying “both Target’s core customer base of working families and its investors by making false and misleading statements concerning Target’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates that led to its disastrous 2023 children-and-family themed LGBT-Pride campaign.”
Craig <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/target-sued-by-investor-over-backlash-to-lgbtq-merchandise.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">owns</a> over 200 Target shares and says that the corporation’s board of directors and management misled investors about risk management over social and political messaging. The lawsuit says that Target did not consider potential criticism from more conservative customers when rolling out ESG and DEI mandates.
Target market value has <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/target-hit-with-shareholder-lawsuit-after-pride-backlash-damaged-stock-price" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declined</a> $14 billion in value after backlash mounted to its June “Pride” month displays. During the controversy, Target was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lets-make-a-deal-host-wayne-brady-reveals-he-is-pansexual" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> for offering for sale “tuck-friendly” and “extra crotch coverage” female swimsuits.
In addition to the female swimwear designed to accommodate male genitalia, the Target &#8220;Pride&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-releases-latest-pride-collection-complete-with-kids-books-and-rainbow-items-for-babies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collection included</a> small shirts with phrases like “Just Be You And Feel The Love,” Pride-themed onesies, as well as rainbow-colored leggings, tutu skirts, and jumpers.
Target removed some products and moved &#8220;Pride displays&#8221; to less prominent positions in some stores after scrambling following some conservative commentators urging a boycott of the popular retail store.
The lawsuit says the displays “embroiled Target in the culture war and caused Target to experience the biggest stock decline in the company’s history, costing investors billions.”
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AFL Vice President Gene Hamilton said that Target’s board and management did not follow federal law making publicly-traded companies issue certain statements to investors on risk management.
“As alleged in our complaint, Target failed to execute its duty to its shareholders by making statements that led them to believe that political and social risks were being assessed &#8212; when in reality, the only thing Target’s Board and Management cared about was how effectively they fulfilled the desires of various metrics advanced by leftwing ‘stakeholders,’” Hamilton said.
Back in June, Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk predicted that Target would face a lawsuit over the dramatic loss of value.
“Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value,&#8221; Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1664618300041469952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted on X</a>.

After Target Lowers Sales Forecast, Shares Plummet

Investor Sues Target Over ‘Disastrous’ 2023 Pride Campaign After Company Loses Billions In Market Value

Investor Sues Target Over 'Disastrous' 2023 Pride Campaign After Company Loses Billions In Market Value

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Wokeness

An amusement park in the United Kingdom said it would no longer participate in Pride events after children witnessed an explicit drag performance by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/drag-queens-debate-matt-walshs-famous-query-what-is-a-woman-on-tim-pools-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drag queen</a> named Crystal.
The owner of Adventure Island in Southend on Sea, Essex, has &#8220;humbly&#8221; apologized to his loyal customers for hiring the performer that left parents &#8220;horrified,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12310799/EXCLUSIVE-Family-theme-park-apologises-drag-queen-act-left-parents-horrified-Boss-confirms-not-future-Pride-celebrations-Ru-Pauls-Drag-Race-UK-star-used-angle-grinder-crotch-show.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail</a> reported.
In a statement to the outlet, Philip Miller, executive chairman of Adventure Island, said there had been &#8220;confusion&#8221; as to &#8220;what we would allow or not.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Drag queen simulates sex acts in front of children at an “all ages family-friendly” drag show in Essex, UK <a href="https://t.co/XjY8L232ZQ">pic.twitter.com/XjY8L232ZQ</a>
&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1681092876313214976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The grinding act was most definitely a nonstarter as we are ostensibly a family park and that is just not family entertainment,&#8221; Miller&#8217;s statement added.
&#8220;Rest assured we will not be rebooking this act or participate in any future PRIDE celebrations it&#8217;s just not for us, we tried to be inclusive but it has backfired on us.&#8221;
The apology comes after footage of an &#8220;all ages family friendly&#8221; drag show on Saturday surfaced online.
The video shows Crystal, who performed on the first season of the BBC&#8217;s Ru Paul&#8217;s Drag Race, scantily clad wearing fishnet tights, a leotard and high heels reportedly &#8220;wielding an angle grinder.&#8221;
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The drag queen, performing to the tune of the Scissor Sisters&#8217; hit Filthy/Gorgeous, can be seen making pelvic thrusting motions with his hips. According to the Daily Mail, Crystal &#8220;ran his hand up and down the angle grinder&#8221; then strikes it against his metal plate fixed to his crotch and made sparks fly.
One mother-of-two told the Daily Mail she loved the place, but would not return after seeing the clip.
&#8220;I won&#8217;t be going back and I won&#8217;t be taking my kids there,&#8221; she reportedly told the outlet.
&#8220;That is a line you don&#8217;t cross,&#8221; she added. &#8220;That tells me everything you need to know about how they value children.&#8221;
The drag queen in the video rejected the idea that his performance was inappropriate, telling the outlet, &#8220;My act is no different to what you might see on Britain&#8217;s Got Talent, from Lady Gaga on MTV, or from a street performer in Covent Garden.&#8221;
&#8220;This is deemed &#8216;sexual&#8217; solely because I was performing in drag,'&#8221; Crystal added, noting it was his third year booked at the park for its Pride events.

Drag Performer

Amusement Park Says It Will No Longer Host Pride Events After Drag Performance ‘Backfired’

Amusement Park Says It Will No Longer Host Pride Events After Drag Performance 'Backfired'

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