LGBTQ news and entertainment
The “Liberal Redneck” – comedian Trae Crowder – is back with a new message for the folks signing on to boycott Target after the super store issued trans-inclusive bathroom policies for employees and customers.
I love that he calls out the so-called “American Family Association.”
To the haters: “Target would love for you to waddle your hateful ass over to Walmart. That’s where all the Duck Dynasty shit is anyway.”
I previously wrote about the Liberal Redneck here.
Target has posted a statement on it’s corporate website underlining the department store’s commitment to inclusivity.
The statement is particularly “targeted” at LGBTs, and makes clear that transgender folks have nothing to worry about when looking for a rest room while shopping.
Recent debate around proposed laws in several states has reignited a national conversation around inclusivity. So earlier this week, we reiterated with our team members where Target stands and how our beliefs are brought to life in how we serve our guests.
Inclusivity is a core belief at Target. It’s something we celebrate. We stand for equality and equity, and strive to make our guests and team members feel accepted, respected and welcomed in our stores and workplaces every day.
We believe that everyone—every team member, every guest, and every community—deserves to be protected from discrimination, and treated equally. Consistent with this belief, Target supports the federal Equality Act, which provides protections to LGBT individuals, and opposes action that enables discrimination.
In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.
We regularly assess issues and consider many factors such as impact to our business, guests and team members. Given the specific questions these legislative proposals raised about how we manage our fitting rooms and restrooms, we felt it was important to state our position.
Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you’ll always be accepted, respected and welcomed at Target.
I want to add that I’m a regular at Target stores. Friends of mine have asked why I don’t go to Walmart or similar stores. In addition to the values I find there, public positions like these make it clear where I should spend my consumer dollars.
Thanks Target!
Ok, this is really hysterical.
You can imagine how – just sometimes – folks on the end of customer service would love to really speak their minds to over the top, outraged customers.
Check this out from Adweek:
That dynamic played out in particularly rogue fashion on Target’s Facebook page this week. As the retailer received a steady stream of nasty comments from people upset about its move toward gender-neutral in-store labeling, Facebook user Mike Melgaard posed as Target with a fake Facebook account—Ask ForHelp, with a bull’s-eye profile pic—and began excoriating the haters with comically sarcastic replies.
He got away with it for about 16 hours, too, commenting on about 50 posts before the fake account was shut down.
I’ve posted two of Melgaard’s responses here. Head over to Adweek for many more. Some funny stuff 🙂
Franklin Graham, who it was recently revealed earns $880,000 a year working for a charity organization, posted this little tirade over Target’s announcement that the department store will no longer identify some items as gender-specific.
How that’s a bad thing, I don’t know.
From the well-heeled charity leader himself via Facebook:
“I think Target may be forgetting who has made their stores strong.
“It’s not gender-neutral people out there—it’s working American families, fathers and mothers with boys and girls they love.
“What’s next? Are they going to try to make people believe that pink or blue baby showers are politically incorrect?
“I have news for them and for everyone else—God created two different genders. Jesus said, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female’ (Matthew 19:4). You can’t get any clearer than that.
“If you agree, share in the comments below—and let Target know what you think. Let them know that you are perfectly willing to shop where the genders God created are appreciated. (1-800-440-0680) Target is way off-target on this one!”
We’re not born with pride. We take pride. Pride in celebrating who we were born to be.
Those are the powerful words we at Target want all guests and team members — of every size, color, gender and sexual orientation — to hear as we head into Pride month this week. But let us be clear: to Target, pride doesn’t just start and end in June, it is a year-round commitment. And this year, we’re going all out, supporting Pride parades, events and merchandise — all grounded by one simple but powerful manifesto:
“We’re not born with pride, we take pride”
“We’re making our message loud and clear: Target proudly stands with the LGBT community, both as a team member and team player through all that we do – from our volunteer efforts to our long-standing partnerships with groups like Family Equality Council and Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, to the very products we carry in our stores and online,” said Laysha Ward, executive vice president and chief corporate social responsibility officer, Target.
The products Laysha mentioned include everything you and your family need to show and celebrate pride this year. Take a look at Target’s new collection of pride merchandise here.
Ok, so first we got the two Canadian dads in the Cheerios commercial, and now we have Amanda Deibert and Cat Staggs, expectant moms-to-be featured in a new ad for Target.
The couple married a few years ago in Central Park and are expecting their first child soon. This is where Target comes in.
From Instinct:
“A friend of ours knew the casting director was looking for expecting couples and she emailed me and asked if I would be interested in sending our stuff over,” Amanda said.
“We both thought it would be amazing to have so much of our nursery needs taken care of (kids are expensive!) and also loved the idea of showing an authentic lesbian family in a mainstream commercial. Obviously, Target dug that too.”
Both moms-to-be hope their little bundle of joy combines their talents, quick wit and love of space exploration. Sound like fun moms to me.
Predictably, anti-gay Bryan Fischer of the ironically named “American Family Association” (but he’s not enamored of this family it seems…) is already howling at the moon over this.
New Target ad for their “Made To Matter” line features two gay dads making art with their child.
Sweet!
The ironically named National Organization for Marriage has launched a boycott of Target department stores due to the company’s recently announced support for same-sex marriage.
In the past, NOM has called for similar boycotts of companies like Starbucks, General Mills, and J.P. Morgan Chase for their support of LGBT causes.
Brian Brown writes for the NOMblog:
On Tuesday, the retail giant Target signed on to an amicus brief for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in two pending cases challenging the definition of marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin. Target joins with a number of other companies in signing the brief, including the Starbucks Coffee Company. But it is the spirit behind the brief, and its language, which are most noteworthy.
The brief uses extremely charged language to refer to laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It calls them “the states’ bans [on same-sex marriage]” and, even more radically, “marriage discrimination” laws! Without providing any rationale at all, the brief states bluntly that “Same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples,” and refers to Indiana and Wisconsin’s traditional marriage laws as “an unproductive, inequitable, and unjust status quo.”…
Target and other companies need to be forced to realize that it is their alignment with the radical cause of redefining marriage that is “bad for business”–not states’ marriage laws that uphold and protect the common-sense idea that kids do best with a mom and a dad! So I’m announcing a new boycott today, against Target, for insulting consumers like you and me. The brief they signed in court this week insinuates that people like you and me, who would vote to uphold traditional marriage, as akin to segregationists and racial bigots. Would you want to shop at a place that viewed you in that way?…
Target and its peers in the corporate world need to realize that the countless Americans who believe in marriage as the union of a man and a woman will not stand for being insulted and demeaned.
It should be noted that in the past these boycotts have had exactly the opposite effect NOM is looking for.
For instance, Starbucks’ stock has risen more than 42% since NOM began it’s failed “boycott.”
Companies must be lighting candles in prayer that NOM will boycott them…
Target announced Tuesday that it has signed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief in support of marriage equality in two cases currently before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The cases, Baskin v. Bogan, out of Indiana, and Wisconsin’s Wolf v. Walker, are both on appeal after federal district courts struck down same-sex marriage bans in those states.
Executive Vice President Jodee Kozlak explained the company’s position in this statement:
As our leadership team discussed signing on, we took time to consider the bigger questions at hand. This brief is important, as the issues it addresses have significant impact on businesses. But it is more than that and we agreed that now is the right time to more directly share our views on this issue.
It is our belief that everyone should be treated equally under the law, and that includes rights we believe individuals should have related to marriage.
Without getting into the specifics of a court case, this brief evaluates the issues created by states that both prohibit same-sex marriage and also refuse to recognize marriages that were conducted legally in other states. This position is particularly challenging for a large organization that operates nationally, such as Target. At Target, we have long offered comprehensive, competitive benefits to our LGBT team members and their families, often above what is legally required. We continue to do so today because we believe doing so is right for our team and for our business. But current laws — in places like Wisconsin and Indiana that are addressed in this brief – make it difficult to attract and retain talent. These disparate laws also create confusing and complicated benefits challenges across multiple states.
We believe that everyone – all of our team members and our guests – deserve to be treated equally. And at Target we are proud to support the LGBT community.
As a response to recent stories of gun advocates swaggering into retail stores with assault weapons strapped to their back and legs, Interim Target CEO John Mulligan has issued a statement asking Target customers to please refrain from bringing such weapons to their stores:
“The leadership team has been weighing a complex issue, and I want to be sure everyone understands our thoughts and ultimate decision.
“As you’ve likely seen in the media, there has been a debate about whether guests in communities that permit ‘open carry’ should be allowed to bring firearms into Target stores. Our approach has always been to follow local laws, and of course, we will continue to do so.
“But starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law.
“We’ve listened carefully to the nuances of this debate and respect the protected rights of everyone involved. In return, we are asking for help in fulfilling our goal to create an atmosphere that is safe and inviting for our guests and team members.
“This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create.”
