In another sign that one of America's hippest retailers isn't as forward-thinking as one might assume, Urban Outfitters has pulled a T-shirt touting same-sex marriage from its shelves.
The shopping blog Racked reported late last week that the Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters removed "I Support Same-Sex Marriage" shirts from its stores after they had been on sale for only a week. The publicly traded clothing chain blamed the removal of the shirts on bad press, but according to Racked, the negative publicity consisted of only one blog post.
The shirts' designer, Tara Littman, told Racked, "With quite a few pro-Obama shirts in their store and even some anti-McCain products, this clearly isn't a company that has a problem being politically aligned, so why?"
Urban Outfitters chairman Richard Hayne is known as a conservative -- he's donated thousands of dollars to right-wing causes, including the campaigns of homophobic former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. When asked in 2003 what his own views were about homosexuality, Hayne told the Philadelphia Weekly, "I have my own opinion, but I am not going to share it."
The same-sex marriage shirts are not the only Urban items to generate scandal. In 2003, Urban began selling "Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl" shirts, which had dollar signs surrounding the text. In 2006, Philadelphia stores featured handgun Christmas decorations, even though the city suffered over 300 gun-related murders that year. (Neal Broverman, Advocate.com)
