A transgender couple says they were harassed in a Montana Target store as a man threw Pride merchandise on the floor and told them to “enjoy it while you can.”
An older white male, who approached Octavia Jimenez and her non-binary partner, April Dean, was escorted out of the section at the store in Missoula by a Target employee.
Target has been widely criticised for its decision to remove some LGBT+ merchandise from stores across the country saying that they were protecting staff who have faced backlash.
“He does look very pathetic, just kind of like throwing a temper tantrum,” Ms Jimenez said of the man.
Video of the incident was posted to Twitter by @paulkim, who stated: “Angry white guy destroys a pride display at the target in Missoula after verbally accosting a trans person just going about their day. Homophobes, emboldened by a radical state legislature, are a dangerous blight on Montana.”
The couple, who are both students at the University of Montana and moved to the state from Texas, say they were confronted by the man as they shopped on Thursday.
“This guy just kind of comes up to us while we’re looking at the stuff and just says, ‘Enjoy it while you can,’ and he’s got this weird look in his eyes,” Jimenez told The Missoulian. “He kind of just starts throwing the merchandise on the floor.”
Dean said that the anti-trans attitude was no surprise given the Republican rhetoric in the Montana statehouse.
angry white guy destroys a pride display at the target in missoula after verbally accosting a trans person just going about their day. homophobes, emboldened by a radical state legislature, are a dangerous blight on montana pic.twitter.com/hUWUZ7mX1T
— paul kim 김석인 (@paulsgkim) May 25, 2023
“This kind of attitude towards trans people gets extended into the public sphere as people see this harassment being done by their elected officials,” they said. “It sends a message that this kind of thing is okay.”
Ms Jimenez says that she did not bother filing a police report, telling the newspaper that she is “not a big believer in criminal stuff, anyway.”
Target kicked out an Info Wars fan who relocated all the pride items to the back of the store. The man harassed employees and customers and yelled, “your kids can’t be gay” while exiting the store. pic.twitter.com/pixyVT2Unp
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) May 29, 2023
Meanwhile, Patriot Takes posted a video of a supposed “Info Wars fan” who moved Pride items to the rear of a Target store, seemingly in southern California.
“The man harassed employees and customers and yelled, ‘your kids can’t be gay’ while exiting the store,” stated the group which monitors right-wing extremism.
