Sunday, the Charlotte Observer reported in the afternoon
On Tuesday, Target announced that transgender people would be able to use the bathroom and fitting room that aligns with their gender identity in Target stores. By Sunday, more than 400,000 pledges to boycott the big-box retailer had been collected.
The American Family Association is calling for the boycott, echoing arguments used to support controversial North Carolina legislation requiring transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their sex at birth.
“Target’s policy is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims,†AFA President Tim Wildmon said Thursday in a statement on the group’s website. “And with Target publicly boasting that men can enter women’s bathrooms, where do you think predators are going to go? Clearly, Target’s new policy poses a danger to wives and daughters.â€
Wildmon went on to suggest Target provide unisex bathrooms, “for the trans community, and for those who simply like using the bathroom alone.â€
As of 8:15am, the pledge count stood at 486,557. And no, it does not include mine. I generally do not do boycotts. Besides, I’ve mostly had an unintentional boycott for years. Target rarely has anything I want, and it’s easier and closer to go to Walmart. I might hit up the one near Triangle Town Center here in Raleigh now and then for the ready made foods (good salads and sandwiches, but they rarely have the chicken salad bundle with crackers and grapes ready to go. Sigh). I’m just not real big on organized boycotts.
The interesting thing here is that Target is choosing the policy on their own. Such is their choice. Government is not forcing it on them.
@WilliamTeach No word on signs yet, but our policy is: we welcome guests to use the facilities that correspond to their gender identity.
— AskTarget (@AskTarget) April 21, 2016
The even more interesting thing is that this is simply a stated policy per press release, but will not be highlighted in stores. Are they afraid of driving away business from those who aren’t hip to the news? Might a parent with young girls decide that Target is not the best place to shop? Again, this isn’t really about transgenders so much as men taking advantage of the policies. A company with a stated policy is not going to question a man going into the women’s room for fear of that person going to an LBGT interest group, the media, the ACLU, etc, and creating a big stink which will lead to verbal assaults, boycotts, protests, and, in some areas, government action.
In the comments at the article, someone makes a good point
Target could build a 3rd family bathroom that would do the same thing except for two parts – 1) it would cost a lot of money (the reason that businesses would prefer to just allow an intermingling of the gender and confused) and 2) transgenders don’t want a separate bathroom (which seems silly to me).
The second part is the most important. The TG community and their supporters/enablers refuse to compromise. They demand that Everyone Else accommodate them.
