No, it’s not just the cursive sign hanging in the home of longtime girlfriends that are a little too into Rae Dunn – It’s the unofficial sapphic centerpiece of Target’s absolutely batshit 2023 Pride collection.


Launched on Sunday, May 7 ahead of June’s Pride Month celebrations, the big-box retailer’s latest collection is more than just a yearly grift designed to get those sweet, sweet LGBTQ+ dollars – come on guys, Target allegedly stopped donating to anti-gay lawmakers like, 10 years ago (#progress). No. Best described as a Queer Eye mega stan’s meme-iest, rainbow-hued fever dreams, the retailer’s 2023 Pride line is an exercise in absurdism, boldly testing the limits of post-irony – in both rainbow capitalism and consumer culture as a whole.



The aforementioned baby pink “Live. Laugh. Lesbians.” tee. A Kelly green jumpsuit with the word “gay” splashed on the back in bold yellow letters. A decorative drag queen bird figurine that is now going for almost $80 on eBay. A shirt boasting the phrase “better out than in,” a quote any Shrek stan worth their salt would instantly recognize as stemming from DreamWorks’ finest.


Yet since hitting the web in all of its campy, sometimes inadvertently cartoon ogre-y glory, the collection has sparked shopping trips, critiques, and a whole host of posts celebrating just how “deliciously unhinged” this collection has become, as Twitter user @sestrongman so aptly described it.

@mattxiv

it’s finally here

♬ original sound - matt bernstein


But beyond aesthetics, Target’s offerings, like all pride merch, brought with it some larger existential questions about what, exactly, is the role of rainbow capitalism in 2023.


“Rainbow capitalism is not going to save us and ultimately, Target’s goal is to just be as profitable as possible,” influencer Matt Bernstein explained in a viral TikTok on the topic.


Yet even working within the confines of rainbow capitalism, a convention that has led Target to famously offer several “hits and misses” over the years, a historical phenomenon Bernstein described as the corporate version of a famous tweet featuring a girl whose parents bought her a bunch of Ellen merch when she came out as gay,” some of their stuff is still pretty fucking cool.


“That being said, I do think it’s a little cool that one of the largest retailers in the world is giving at the very least, a large platform to messaging like this,” he said, an image of the retailers’ “Support Trans Futures” tee behind him.



Hey, if it’s good enough for Andy Sachs, it’s good enough for us.