Target releases new Pride collection, and people can’t decide if they love or hate it

It’s that time of year when corporations gear up for LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and one well-known brand in particular has garnered a lot of attention on social media.

Target just released its new Pride Month collection, and some of the designs are pretty ... interesting.

There’s clothing, accessories, party supplies and even Pride-themed pet products.

Some rejoiced over the designs, while some cringed.

Live Laugh Lesbian

There’s the “live laugh lesbian” shirt, for starters.

“Target is selling a shirt that says live laugh lesbian,” someone said on Twitter alongside a photo of the shirt in question.

They weren’t the only one who took note of the shirt. It seemed to attract the most attention out of the entire collection, with someone calling it “deliciously unhinged.”

“I just saw someone call the ‘live laugh lesbian’ sweatshirt from the target pride collection ‘cringecore’ and i love that so much,” someone else said on Twitter.

“Lowkey makes me want it more,” someone replied.

“It’s unironically so funny,” the person who wrote the original post said.

“The target pride collection is absolutely unhinged. I will buy it all,” someone said.

‘Is he...you know?’ skeleton shirt

Some items proved more divisive.

“I was like ‘oh target pride isn’t that bad this year’ and then I saw this lol,” someone tweeted about a shirt in the collection that purports homophobia and transphobia “can be cured with education.”

“What on earth,” someone replied.

“It’s finally that time of the year when the target pride collection makes me (a gay person) slightly homophobic,” someone said above a collage of shirts they seemed to be mocking.

Someone else referenced the shirt featuring a skeleton with a “limp wrist” that reads “Is he...you know?” in spooky lettering.

But they appeared to like the design.

“Target pride collection is on to something with this one,” they said. Others shared in the excitement on the post.

“I swear they normally have really cringey stuff imo, but they kinda popped off with this actually,” someone else said on the post.

‘Gay’ green jumpsuit

Then there’s the green jumpsuit that just says the one word — “gay” — on the back.

“Losing my mind over this piece of clothing from target’s pride collection,” someone tweeted.

“This is one of the most lesbian pieces of clothing to exist,” they added. Someone else replied that the jumpsuit “definitely rules.”

But the “gay” green jumpsuit still had its critics.

“Watching target’s pride collection over the years is like watching a kid learn to ride a bike except they never improved and still fall on their face every few feet,” someone tweeted.

“I saw someone on tiktok who hated it and i was like ‘you have NO taste’,” another person tweeted.

“Target pride collection gets better every year idc,” Matt Bernstein, a popular queer TikTok star, said on Twitter..

Bernstein filmed a TikTok video sharing their thoughts on the collection that quickly went viral.

Drag Queen Bird Decorative Figurine

Bernstein also pointed out another item sold at Target — a bird figurine dressed in drag.

And people seemed to either love or hate it.

“Y’all. Y’ALL. Target debuted their pride collection and you know those silly little birds they put out with each season? Little felt things in fun outfits? THERE IS A DRAG BIRD,” someone tweeted with a photo of the fabulous bird.

Hundreds of people shared their excitement over the bird, with thousands of users ”liking”‘ it. Some even said they were having a hard time finding the figurine, both in stores and online.

“Whoever designed this for the target pride collection this year really understood the demographic that’s obsessed with these birds,” someone said.

Not everyone agreed though. Some thought the bird was “vile.”

They shared photos of a display inside a store with the caption “At the Target Pride display feeling hate crimed.”

“Feels like my English teacher some time ago,” one person replied. “He tried to be all lgbt accepting and that… the less said about it the better.”

Honorable mentions: “Better out than in” and “Not a phase”

“Target’s pride collection sure is something this year...” someone said of two more designs that got very mixed reviews. One simply says “better out than in” — and another has caught attention for its choice of words: “not me living my gayest life.”

Whether they love or hate the “better out than in shirt,” many seemed eager to connect it to Shrek.

“’Better out than in’ like as in the quote from shrek? about farting?” they asked.

“Babe wake up Target Pride Merch just dropped,” someone tweeted while sharing their haul, which included both the “better out than in” shirt and one that says “not a phase” with the phases of the moon.

Queer artists, trans solidarity

Even as social media users dragged some of the designs as “silly” or “cringe,” many also praised the retailer for hiring queer artists to submit designs and associating its corporate name with designs that support transgender people.

“There’s some cringe styles in the Target pride thing,” one person tweeted, “but there’s also a lot of things that are like ‘Support Trans Futures’ and ‘Trans people will always exist’ and stuff like that and it’s nice to see that a big corporation wants to put their name beside trans people.”

“Say what you will about corporations and pride but seeing this in target was very nice,” someone said, referencing the “trans people will always exist” shirt.

Some artists filmed videos of themselves taking a trip to Target to see their designs in the store.

A nonbinary illustrator shared their designs for the Target 2023 Pride Collection on Twitter.

“My favorite designs didn’t make the final cut but I hope y’all like these ones!!!!” they said.

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