(LifeSiteNews) — Major box store Target is drawing renewed backlash after recent reports indicated that one of the designers who created merchandise for the corporation’s controversial “pride month” celebration is a transgender-identifying woman who also designs and sells items featuring violent and explicitly satanic imagery. The items, which are not stocked by Target, include pins encouraging violence against people considered to be “transphobes.”
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Target has received blowback from conservatives for its decision to sell sexualized pro-LGBT clothing and accessories for babies, children, and teens. The offerings include clothing items designed to facilitate gender-confused children appearing as members of the opposite sex.
But the controversy surrounding Target hasn’t ended there. Over the weekend, numerous reports brought to light the fact that one of the designers who created products for the “pride” line also sells pins and shirts that openly promote satanism and violence against opponents of radical gender ideology.
Among Target’s “pride” collection are messenger bags and totes with the phrases, “We belong everywhere” and “Too queer for here,” as well as a sweatshirt that reads “cure transphobia not trans people.” The products were designed by a self-professed “gay trans man” who calls herself “Erik” and operates the U.K.-based company Abprallen (a German word meaning “ricochet”).
READ: Target releases disturbing pro-LGBT clothing line for children, infants
“This has been so hard to keep quiet but I can now proudly announce that you can buy Abprallen in US Targets!” the designer said on Instagram. “Part one of the range includes a messenger bag, a tote, and a sweatshirt!”
In addition to its Target offerings, Abprallen sells a wide variety of anti-Christian and pro-LGBT content, including pins and t-shirts featuring a Baphomet-type ram’s head with a multi-gender image on its head and the caption “Satan respects pronouns.”
“Satan Respects Pronouns is a fun way to show your pride,” the designer says on her website. “A lot of LGBT people have found that Christianity hasn’t always been the most welcoming to them and find solace and humour in the idea that Satan would.”
An image posted on Instagram and spotlighted by school board candidate Scarlett Johnson on Twitter shows the designer posing while wearing a “Satan respects pronouns” t-shirt and sporting Baphomet horns on her head.
“Being called a demon is something I can cope with, and the idea of a trans demon is pretty d— cool, most of my work focusses on gothic or dark and satanic imagery juxtaposed with bright colours and LGBT+ positive messages,” she wrote in one Instagram post.
In another Instagram post, “Erik” discussed the use of satanic symbols in her designs.
“Satan loves you and respects who you are,” she wrote. “LGBT+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God’s will, so fine. We’ll hang with Satan instead.”
“[N]aturally, Satan respects pronouns,” the designer said, adding that she “went with a variation on Baphomet for this design, a deity who themself is a mixture of genders, beings, ideas, and existences. They reject binary stereotypes and expectations. Perfect.”
She also argued that “Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty.”
People who espouse satanism often claim that their affiliation with the ideology is ironic and that they don’t actually believe in, let alone worship, the devil. Despite the claim, however, self-professed satanists frequently embrace satanic rituals and other actual evil practices including abortion, transgenderism, and open blasphemy.
LifeSiteNews reached out to Target for comment about its decision to feature products from a designer who openly spotlights satanic imagery. The corporation did not immediately respond.
READ: Satanic Temple to demand ‘religious exemption’ for ‘abortion ritual’ in court if Roe overturned
Meanwhile, Abprallen’s offerings don’t only involve satanic imagery. The brand also promotes the satanic affinity for abortion with a pin reading: “Trans witches for abortion.” Other products feature explicitly threatening phrases and images targeting opponents of radical LGBT ideology.
For example, one image appears to depict a wolf wearing a rams’ head with the phrase: “If I cannot inspire love I will cause fear.” One pin features two axes and the words: “Fight for trans rights,” while another one is an image of a lighter with the quote: “Burn down the cis-tem,” and still another features a medieval-style weapon with the phrase: “We bash back.” One pin depicts a grim reaper and the slogan, “transphobe collector.” “Another pin would describe its wearer as a “transsexual menace.”
Messages posted by the designer also suggest that “[i]n order to keep transphobes at bay we must eradicate them.” Supporters are urged to create “hostile” environments in order to compel opponents to simply “die out.”
“I’m old enough to remember when trans activists thought using the term ‘eradicate’ was violence,” Johnson remarked in her Twitter thread.
Daily Wire Catholic podcaster Michael Knowles sparked controversy in March for saying during a CPAC speech that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” LGBT activists hysterically condemned his words as inciting “genocide” against people who identify as “transgender,” even though Knowles made clear that he was calling for the eradication of the ideology of transgenderism and emphatically not the violent eradication of people who have been drawn in by it.
Unlike Knowles’ remarks, the slogans included on Abprallen’s comments explicitly refer to people labeled “transphobes” as targets of eradication.
On Tuesday, Fox News reported that some Target locations have pushed their LGBT products away from the front of the store in an effort to stave off a “a Bud Light situation.”
As extensively reported by LifeSiteNews, the conservative boycott of Bud Light over its partnership with trans-identifying TikTok activist Dylan Mulvaney has led to staggering losses for the corporation and has been hailed as one of the most successful conservative-led boycotts in recent history.
