Florida takes aim at Target's 2023 Pride collection in a lawsuit over the retailer's DEI initiatives

• Florida's pension board has sued Target over its DEI practices.
• The complaint argues that Target misled investors about the impact of backlash to its Pride collection.
• The suit blames Target's stock price troubles on DEI, rather than other business challenges.

The state of Florida has joined the growing legal challenges against Target.

The State Board of Administration of Florida, an agency that oversees public pension funds that own Target stock, has sued the retailer, arguing it misled investors about the impact of backlash to its Pride campaign and DEI initiatives.

Florida argues Target's handling of its 2023 LGBTQ Pride collection was uniquely harmful to shareholders.

"The Campaign provoked immense consumer backlash and boycotts that caused Target's sales to fall for the first time in six years and wiped out over $25 billion in Target's market capitalization—leading Target's stock to experience its longest losing streak in 23 years," the complaint says.

Target did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The proposed class action lawsuit is related to an earlier shareholder lawsuit filed in August 2023 against Target, as well as one filed last month by the City of Riviera Beach police pension fund. All three lawsuits were filed in federal court in Ft. Meyers.

Target executives did say during an August 2023 earnings call that traffic and top-line trends were affected by backlash to its Pride collection, but added that "it's not possible to reliably quantify the separate impact."

The company has also recently struggled to compete for inflation-weary consumers against larger rivals like Walmart and Amazon, among other business challenges.

Target may be facing the reverse backlash as well, as numerous employees and customers have told Business Insider they no longer support Target after they feel it has caved to anti-DEI pressure.

Last month, Target said it was retiring several DEI initiatives to remain "in step with the evolving external landscape."

Many other retailers have similarly been retooling their approach to DEI following President Donald Trump's executive order announcing the termination of these practices in the federal government.

The January 22 order directs all government departments and agencies to "take strong action to end private sector DEI discrimination."