This is how I broke the news that we can no longer shop at Target to my wife. Suffice to say, it bummed her out quite a bit.

http://thedonkeyedge.com/2010/08/09/tarjay-hates-the-gay-an-open-letter-to-my-wife/

The right isn't anti-gay, the religious right has problems with gays and marrying, but the religious right has become more and more insignificant.

And to suggest that only the GOP is in bed with big corporations, well you better pull down the sheets a little further because there has been a big tree way going on with both Dems and GOP.....

Most corporations are incredibly conservative and give massive amounts of money to right wing politicos, like BP's donations to Obama; get used to it hipsters.

Why can’t the Tea Party-Republican-Rightists and gays get along? Based on the news over the years, there are plenty of closet gays in the right wing leadership posts.

This article here documents a gay man coming out as a Tea Partier.

Very FUNNY.

http://www.dailygoat.com/?p=2100

LOL

I will join the boycot of Target and not so much for the gay issue but because I don't think companies should be using their profits to influence politics. While some may say this has always been done but I think the Supreme Court's recent decision made it a bigger problem than it ever was before. This ruling was totally wrong and should be overturned. Until this decision is overturned I will oppose any company that uses this decision to their benefit.

As you know, in January of this year the Supreme Court ruled that any corporation or group can give an unlimited amount of money to any candidate they see fit. This has far reaching implications and I feel that was the end of our government as we know it. This allows our government to be sold to the highest bidder. Can you imagine that? Oil companies can get together and pick a candidate, or party, that promises to protect their interests and give them a billion dollars and that wouldn't even make a dent in their profits. BP alone made a $6.1 billion profit in the first quarter of this year, so a billion to essentially "buy" the presidency of the United States is not farfetched and a relatively small investment on their part. Representative democracy has long been a farce in this country but the Supreme Court finally put the nail in the coffin with this ruling and no one barely even noticed.

Why the fuck would you arbirtrarily boycott Target though? Cause you're a fucking sheep. Millions of other companies you use do the same shit.

I think I clearly stated my position and why. Plain and simple government offices shouldn't be for sale. Giving a politician a $150,000 donation over another is too much influence and will in all likelihood be the determining factor in that election. So after Tom Emmer wins do you think he will dare oppose Target in any way, even if he feels it might hurt his constituents? Maybe if Target feels a backlash and it hurts their bottomline, they, and other companies, will reconsider.

Our only power, as consumers, against corporations buying up elections is through our purchasing dollars. So I choose to not give Target my money so they understand that this is unacceptable. If enough of us do the same it might send a message to this corporations.

So I guess I am a sheep, baaaaaa!

I think his point was, why choose Target in particular (if not specifically for the gay rights issue). Will you also boycott every other corporation that gives money to political candidates you don't agree with?

Also, if you're going to boycott Target not because of the particular issue, but because you "don't think companies should be using their profits to influence politics", does that mean you will also boycott (on the same principle) corporations that donate to politicians you DO agree with? They're still influencing politics, right?

Yes. Corporations should not be able to "buy" elections by giving unlimited amount of funds to any candidate. At the very least I'll try to boycot whatever corporation I am aware of that is doing it as flagrantly as Target is, in this particular case. $150,000 to a candidate is pretty excessive.

But if it comes down to two companies and one is supporting a candidate that is against my beliefs and the other supports a candidate I support then of course I will choose the lesser of two evils and go with the corporation supporting my candidate. However, I would rather that corporations stick to their business and leave the voting process to the people. If companies insist on getting involved with politics then where I choose to spend my money will become part of my voting process. Right now I choose not to vote for Target.

Wait, the candidate is against gay marriage and abortion and illegal immigration?! The nerve! Why, that puts him in line with the majority of people in this country!! We cannot allow this to stand! Self-righteous rage and extra exclamation points of liberal wrath!!!!!

Nice try. From fivethirtyeight.com:

Support for gay marriage, however, is strongly generational. In a CBS news poll conducted last month, 64 percent of voters aged 18-45 supported either gay marriage or civil unions, but only 45 percent of voters aged 65 and up did.

OK, 45% is a "minority" but certainly not by very much. On top of that, the percentage of people supporting gay marriage has gone from 29% in 1994 to 42% in 2009.... in other words, people are increasingly accepting of gay marriage (if math isn't your forte, which it doesn't seem to be).

As for abortion, only 19% in a recent Gallup poll (http://www.gallup.com/poll/157... think abortion should be illegal.

Illegal immmigration polls mostly focus on whether people think it's a problem so just saying someone is "against" illegal immigration is disingenuous at best.

I'm in favor of gay marriage (or more truthfully, I'm against govt having to "recognize" any marriage, gay or straight), but those are some strangely selective stats you've used. What about people aged 45-65? How many people are in each age range?

Just asking...personally I think the stats regarding whether a majority of people support it or otherwise are not important in this case.

Those are just the stats I found... I don't know why that sentence left out the middle number, but if you want to look at the whole thing, it's here (link doesn't seem to be loading for me at the moment though):

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/gay-marriage-by-numbers.html

That smarmy sanctimonious woman in video is cringe inducing.

All she did was to harass store's employees. No loss for Target if she really decides to boycott them. I bet her name is now on file along with those who pass bad checks, compulsive shoppers who return stuff next day etc.

Also I believe Target extends health benefits to partners of their gay employees.

Target being anti-gay is like Wal-Mart being anti-redneck.

Seriously. If it wasn't for the gays, I wouldn't even know the place existed.

Boycotting Target. But Iran's dictator, who puts homosexuals to death, is paying a visit to the US and all is quiet on that front.

I for one stopped buying my housewares at Iran years ago.

lol!

But seriously, this is disappointing. I know that I personally have been involved with Target vs. Walmart debates (i.e. Target = good, Walmart = bad) on this very site. While one donation to one right-wing politician is not much in the grand scheme of things, it still does make me wonder (I would be a hypocrite if I didn't).