Twin Cities Pride Cuts Ties with Target Over DEI Rollback

Minneapolis’s Twin Cities Pride has severed its longstanding partnership with Target after the retailer announced it would be scaling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The decision marks a major break from nearly two decades of sponsorship and underscores growing tensions between corporations and the LGBTQ+ community amid political pressure to abandon DEI efforts.

On January 24, Target announced it would significantly reduce its DEI programs, discontinue participation in external diversity assessments—including the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index—and pull back from initiatives that once positioned the company as a leader in corporate inclusivity. The move, widely seen as a response to right-wing attacks on DEI policies, immediately raised concerns. Twin Cities Pride Executive Director Andi Otto confirmed that Target executives had reached out regarding the changes but failed to provide reassurances about the company’s ongoing commitment to LGBTQ+ support.

“We are working through what this means for the LGBTQ+ community and the long-standing partnership between Target and our organization,” Otto writes in a statement posted to Instagram.

Days later, Twin Cities Pride officially rejected Target’s $50,000 sponsorship for this year’s events. For nearly 18 years, Target’s sponsorship had been a financial cornerstone of Twin Cities Pride’s annual festival and parade, contributing between $50,000 and $70,000 per year. Otto acknowledged that cutting ties with the company would leave a sizable funding gap but made it clear that maintaining integrity mattered more than corporate dollars.

In a January 29 Instagram post, Twin Cities Pride announced its decision and called on the community to help bridge the financial shortfall. The response was immediate—Within 24 hours, a crowdfunding campaign raised $89,000, far surpassing the amount lost from Target’s withdrawal.

Target’s shift away from DEI initiatives follows increasing pressure from far-right activists, who have spent years targeting the retailer for its LGBTQ+ support. The company had faced backlash since at least 2023, when it quietly removed select Pride merchandise from shelves after conservative outrage. By 2024, Target confirmed that its Pride collection would be available only in select markets, signaling a retreat from its once-bold stance on LGBTQ+ inclusion.

For many, this latest move isn’t just about Target—It’s about what it signals to other LGBTQ+ organizations and events that rely on corporate sponsorships. As major brands cave to political pressure, the implications for Pride events, advocacy groups, and queer-owned businesses are hard to ignore.