The discount retailer Target made waves last week by announcing it would be joining an amicus brief in federal cases disputing the constitutionality of state marriage laws in Wisconsin and Indiana.
To be clear, Target is taking the seemingly extraordinary step of not only “affirming” gay marriage, but to advocate for it in a court of law. The Minnesota-based retailer previously raised hackles with Christians by promoting its marriage registry services to homosexual couples.
Initially, it was applauded by those in the “marriage equality” movement, but it didn’t take long before the mouse announced it needed a glass of milk to go with its cookie. Target hadn’t taken a position in the fight for traditional marriage in Minnesota, and the gay rights lobby wasn’t happy about it.
Our friends at the National Organization for Marriage quickly suggested a boycott of Target, which has been in a little bit of financial trouble the past year as a result of the heavily reported data breach and a horrendously conceived plan to expand into Canada. NOM has previously called for boycotts of Starbucks, General Mills and JP Morgan Chase & Company for similarly advocating against traditional marriage.
When Target got into trouble last year, they canned their CEO and brought in a new one. Brian Cornell, the new guy in charge at Target, used to work at PepsiCo, which was one of nearly 60 corporations that signed onto an amicus brief against Proposition 8 in California.
It’s hard to say what kind of impact NOM’s boycott campaigns have had, but they certainly won’t change the minds of those in control of the companies being boycotted. The list of businesses that have moved from merely affirming gay marriage to advocating for it is growing every day.
NOM hasn’t called for boycotts of these businesses, yet, but here’s the complete list (as of this writing) of businesses that have made the move from affirmation to advocacy on behalf of gay marriage:
AIG
Adobe
Aetna
Alaska Airlines
Alcoa
Allstate
Amazon
American Airlines
Apple Computers
Appleby’s
Bain & Company
The Bank of New York
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
Best Buy
CBS/Viacom
Cablevision
Cisco
Citigroup
Clorox
Coca-Cola
Costco
Cummins
Delta Airlines
eBay
Electronic Arts
Ernst & Young
Expedia
Ford
The Gap
General Mills
General Motors
Gerber Baby Products
Goldman-Sachs
Hilton Hotels
Home Depot
IBM
Intel
JC Penney & Company
JP Morgan Chase & Company
JetBlue Airways
Levi Strauss
Liberty Mutual
Marriot International
Mars Snackfoods
McDonald’s
McGraw-Hill Companies
Microsoft
Morgan Stanley
NCR
Nabisco
Nike
Nordstrom
Olive Garden
Oracle
Orbitz
Panasonic
PepsiCo
Pfizer
Planet Fitness
Proctor & Gamble
Qualcomm
REI
RealNetworks
Red Lobster
RiteAID
Sears Roebuck & Company
Southwest Airlines
Starbucks
State Farm Insurance
Stonyfield
Sun Life Financial
T-Mobile
Target
Thomson Reuters
UPS
United Airlines
Verizon
Vulcan
Walgreens
The Walt Disney Company
Xerox
Admirable as boycott efforts might be, one has to wonder if we can possibly boycott every business that doesn’t align with our core belief system. And if we do, how will that impact those of us who strictly boycott every business we don’t align with?
Do we stop getting gas from the station just down the street because it’s owned by a Muslim, burning gas to go all the way across town to do business with a Christian? What if every company that provides a particular product or service – or has a monopoly on one – that we require in our daily lives fails to align with our core values?
We can be in the world without being of it (John 15:19). Pray for those who persecute us; bless them, do not curse them (Romans 12:14). Show your light in a dark, dark world (Isaiah 60:1-5).
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