Filthy "AUK" Conservatives
Frank Arthur wrote:
Conservative Plan to Protest Wal-Mart
Published: 11/21/06, 3:45 PM EDT
By DAVID CRARY
NEW YORK (AP) - Long under fire from the left, Wal-Mart is now a target of
Christian conservatives urging shoppers to boycott the huge retailer's
post-Thanksgiving sales because of its low-key outreach to some gay-rights
organizations.
One group, the American Family Association, is asking supporters to stay
away from Wal-Mart on Friday and Saturday - two of the busiest shopping days
of the year. Another group, Operation Save America, plans
prayer-and-preaching rallies outside many Wal-Mart stores on Friday.
The corporate actions that triggered the protests were little different from
those taken by scores of major companies in recent years - Wal-Mart paid
$25,000 this summer to become a member of the National Gay and Lesbian
Chamber of Commerce and donated $60,000 to Out and Equal, which promotes
gay-rights advances in the workplace.
Conservative leaders viewed these actions as a betrayal of Wal-Mart's
traditions, which have included efforts to weed out magazines with racy
covers and CDs with explicit lyrics.
"This has been Christian families' favorite store - and now they're giving
in, sliding down the slippery slope so many other corporations have gone
down," said the Rev. Flip Benham of Operation Save America. "They're all
being extorted by the radical homosexual agenda."
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. spokesman David Tovar said the company's outreach to
the gay-rights groups was part of a broader effort to best serve its diverse
customer base.
"We take pride that we treat every customer, every supplier, every member of
our communities fairly and equally," Tovar said Tuesday. "We do not have a
position on same-sex marriage. ... What we do have is a strong commitment to
diversity. We're against discrimination everywhere."
I PUNCE
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