august 2010, the lgbt community started boycotting target and their stores due to their massive contributions to anti-gay, conservative politicians - including some who support the execution of gay americans. this boycott was furthered when target abruptly ended their meeting with hrc and moveon.org, showing no remorse or interest in amending the situation for their gay customers.
since that time, target's stock fell, their q4 earnings missed their projections and stars such as lady gaga and ricky martin have terminated their contracts with the corporation in favor of lgbt rights. the "boycott target" campaign has become a main focus of both hrc and moveon.org, inspiring protests outside of many target locations.
so, what's a massive, bigoted corporation to do? file a lawsuit and sue the gay rights groups, of course. the lawsuit, filed last week, claims that the mere presence of lgbt members on their premisses are "driving away core customers" because they represent something other than "family values," which is the only customer base they can really hope for now that the gay community have pulled their funds. sadly, the corporation doesn't even have the balls to claim that these boycotts have effected business and make a valid point - instead, they are furthering the bullshit.
it will be very interesting to see how this plays out. last month, the supreme court of the united states declared that the westboro church is constitutionally protected by the first amendment to continue protesting lgbt funerals and spreading their hurtful message of hate. does that same first amendment protection apply to gay groups protesting major corporations, or do the laws somehow shift when a lot of money and corporate influence is involved? or is homophobic sentiment still strong enough in our government that they are willing to protect the hat speech but not the gay community that it is being spewed at?
so, keep it up everyone. keep boycotting target and their bullshit ways. the boycotts are obviously having an effect on their bottomline and they are trying to weasel their way out of a tight spot. corporations should never underestimate the power of the expendable gay dollar. and even if the prostest and boycot are dubbed "illegal" - fuck them - this is a protest. it's about standing up for what it right and influencing the way target does business. no one ever said it would be easy or "legal".
just remember the montgomery bus boycott. in a capitalistic society, the true path to equality lies in the dollar we are or are not spending.
