CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Religious groups representing millions of evangelical Christians are calling for a boycott of retail giant Target to protest its recent decision to prohibit the Salvation Army from collecting charitable donations with their signature red kettles outside Target stores. The company said it decided that it could no longer make the Salvation Army the sole exception to its rule against solicitation at stores. But the far-right groups are claming that the Minneapolis-based retailer has bowed to pressure from gay rights groups that are upset with the Salvation Army's refusal to offer benefits to employees' domestic partners. The boycott "puts us in a weird position," Maj. George Hood, a spokesman for the Alexandria, Va.-based Salvation Army, told The Washington Post. Although nearly one tenth of the $90 million the Salvation Army earned last year during its holiday appeal came from kettles at Target stores and although it is an evangelical Christian organization, Hood said the group does not support the boycott. "We do not want to be the facilitator or be the source of any boycotts of Target or any negative assault against Target," Hood told the Post. "They've made a business decision that we have to respect and move on." But such groups as the Concerned Women for America, the American Family Association, the Christian Defense Coalition, and the National Clergy Council have taken up the cause and are calling on their members to abstain from shopping at Target this Christmas season. "It's wrong to kick them out," Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, a 2.3 million-member Mississippi organization that has led boycotts against companies advertising on racy TV shows, told the Post. "This is a tragedy." The National Clergy Council recently asked its 5,000 clergy members and 30,000 lay members to call on their congregations and others to stop shopping at Target, an effort it has dubbed "Operation Teach-Scrooge-a-Lesson." Protests have been organized at Target stores, and a few ministers have taken to their pulpits to preach against the retailing chain, which operates 1,313 stores nationwide. Lena Michaud, a spokeswoman for the retailer, said the company was getting increasing requests from other groups that also wanted to solicit money at the stores. "It's not that we don't support" the Salvation Army, said Michaud, who noted that Target donates about $100 million a year to charities. "We just want to support them in a way that doesn't involve solicitation on store property."
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
31 Period Films of Lesbians and Bi Women in Love That Will Take You Back
December 09 2024 1:00 PM
18 of the most batsh*t things N.C. Republican governor candidate Mark Robinson has said
October 30 2024 11:06 AM
True
After 20 years, and after tonight, Obama will no longer be the Democrats' top star
August 20 2024 12:28 PM
Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
September 13 2024 2:28 PM
Melania Trump cashed six-figure check to speak to gay Republicans at Mar-a-Lago
August 16 2024 5:57 PM
Latest Stories
L. A. pizzeria that hosts monthly 'Trans Pizza Party' burns down in wildfires
January 13 2025 3:39 PM
Scott Bessent, Trump’s gay treasury secretary nominee, to divest from vast $700 million portfolio
January 13 2025 12:17 PM
These 12 major companies caved to the far right and stopped DEI programs
January 13 2025 1:52 PM
True
Ed Sedarbaum, veteran Queens, N.Y., gay activist, has died at 78
January 13 2025 12:21 PM
Rachel Maddow returns to host nightly MSNBC show for Trump’s first 100 days
January 13 2025 12:08 PM
Amazon removes 'equity for Black people' and 'LGBTQ+ rights' from company policies
January 13 2025 1:00 PM