Homosexual Pressure May Have Forced Target's Salvation Army Eviction

(AgapePress) - Pro-family groups based in Washington, DC, and in Illinois say homosexuals are behind a new policy at Target stores that has resulted in banning Salvation Army kettle drive activities on the retail chain's premises nationwide.

The familiar Salvation Army bell ringers and their red kettles have been barred from Target stores this Christmas season, and the official reason given by the retailer has to do with its policy prohibiting all nonprofit soliciting at Target locations. However, Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute is suspicious of the company's explanation.

While it is true that Target has maintained a long-standing policy against soliciting in front of its stores, the company has, until this year, consistently made an exception for The Salvation Army. Knight questions the sudden policy change and says although Target officials claim they just want to make their "no solicitation" policy uniform, his sources indicate there may be more to the story.

"We happen to know," the CFI spokesman explains, "that the Target Corporation has been under enormous pressure from homosexual activists to dump The Salvation Army because [it] won't give domestic-partner benefits [to its employees]."

In fact, Knight says homosexual activists have been after The Salvation Army for a long time, and some groups have reportedly stooped to some fairly lowdown tactics in their effort to harm the charitable organization. "One homosexual activist group in Michigan, for example, has been distributing counterfeit one dollar bills and five dollar bills to be placed in Salvation Army kettles, accusing them of bigotry and prejudice," he says.

Also, Rick Garcia, director of the homosexual lobby group Equality Illinois, even admitted recently on WYLL's The Walsh Forum radio program that homosexual activists have pressured Target to stop supporting The Salvation Army. And Garcia also admitted in a letter he wrote opposing the Illinois Family Institute's call to boycott Target that he has long protested and even demonstrated against The Salvation Army.

Pete LaBarbera of the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) says homosexual activists like Garcia "talk a good game" about showing tolerance toward religious groups and other opponents of homosexuality. Ultimately, however, he asserts that such "homosexual humbugs" purposely demonize people of faith and pro-family organizations as bigots, haters, homophobes, and hypocrites -- or, as in Garcia's letter criticizing IFI, "charlatans."

According to LaBarbera, it is this kind of activist zealotry against pro-family and religious people and against groups like the Boy Scouts of America and The Salvation Army -- groups that merely seek to live out their moral beliefs -- that prompts the IFI to strongly oppose misguided legislation that would codify special rights for homosexuals or criminalize expressed biblical views on homosexual behavior as hate speech.

The IFI spokesman refers, for example, to SB 3186, a bill would put "sexual orientation" directly into Illinois' human rights code. He notes that this bill could come up for a vote January 10 or 11, and therefore urges pro-family Illinois residents to call their state senator and representative to express their opposition.

LaBarbera feels it is inevitable, not only that homosexual activists will try to use "sexual orientation" laws as a basis to demand same-sex marriage rights, but that they will also seek to "criminalize Christianity -- at least as it applies to homosexual behavior." In fact, he notes that something similar is already happening in Philadelphia, where 11 Christians were recently arrested during their outreach efforts at a homosexual pride festival.

Target Stores Have Given the Boot to the Salvation Army-Truth!

Summary of the eRumor The eRumor calls for a boycott of Target stores because the Salvation Army will no longer be given permission to have holiday bell-ringers with kettles collecting contributions in front of Targets.

The Truth This story is true. Target stores informed the Salvation Army that for the first time, the Salvation Army solicitors will not be allowed in front of Target stores during the 2004 holiday season. Salvation Army bell ringers, the "Sharing is Caring" message, and the familiar red kettles for taking contributions have been a tradition in front of retail stores for a century.

In a news release, Target said the decision was to avoid showing favoritism in the face of solicitation or donation requests from a large number of organizations. The Salvation Army says it's a blow to them because Target locations produced $9 million in donations the previous year.

The Boston Globe looked into the 2004 red kettle campaign and found that there is a bit of a schism between retailers. Some of them, including Target and BestBuy, are banning the bell ringers both because of competing requests and because of customers who don't like them. But others, such as Wal-Mart, Big Lots, Autozone and Books-A-Million, are welcoming the Salvation Army and the civic-minded reputation they feel accompanies it.

The Salvation Army was founded in England by William Booth who felt a calling to serve the totality of those in need...spiritual, physical, and material. The Salvation Army is an international relief ministry that provides personal help, housing, family services, and disaster services in numerous parts of the world.

The red kettle tradition for the Salvation Army got started in 1891 in San Francisco. The local Salvation Army captain, Joseph McFee, had promised himself to provide a free Christmas dinner for the poor.

To help pay for it, he hearkened to his memories as a sailor in England where there was what was called a "Simpson's Pot" at a stage landing into which passersby tossed coins to support charitable causes. He got permission to put a kettle at the Oakland ferry landing...and the tradition spread from there to around the world.

Target Stores Won't Fund Veterans Projects-Fiction!

Target Stores are Owned by the French-Fiction!

Target Stores Won't Allow Collections for the Marine's Toys For Tots Campaigns-Fiction!

Target Stores Won't Allow Reservists Called for Active Duty to Maintain Insurance-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor There are different messages urging you to avoid buying anything at Target stores because the company turned down a request for funds for a Vietnam veterans memorial wall, is owned by the French, won't allow collections for Toys For Tots at Christmas, and won't give reservists call for active military duty continued health insurance coverage.

The Truth This is quite an assault on Target stores and is becoming an example of how a rumor can mushroom and pick up momentum along the way.

It started with a man named Dick Forrey. He is listed as being with Howard County Vietnam Veterans in the state of Indiana.

He says that he did have the experiences both with the local Target store and the Target corporate offices as is described in one of the stories and did originate an email expressing his displeasure.

It is not true, however, that Target categorically refuses to fund Veteran's projects and even Forrey is upset with how large this eRumor has spread.

The Target company is sending a written response to people who inquire about the Forrey story that says that Target gives $2 million per week in the communities where stores are located. The Target letter says a veteran (referring to Forrey) approached a local store in March, 2002 for a $100 donation to a "moving wall" project. The response says that any donations by local stores are not in cash but in gift certificates or volunteer time. Cash is given by the corporate office and in response to official requests for grants. The letter says that the veteran who asked for the donation should have been given grant information from the store, but was not. The Target response also says that the company makes donations in three general areas: education, arts and family violence prevention. The company is happy to donate to any veterans causes that would fit within those guidelines. So while it's true that donations would not be given to a veterans project per se, they would be given if the veterans project is within the guidelines.

Regarding Target's ownership, the company is on record as a U.S. firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and always has been.

There is no foreign ownership in its past or present that we've been able to find or been presented with evidence about.

Regarding benefits for reservists on active duty, this has been a big issue since so many reservists were called in for service in the Middle East and the National Committee for Employer Support of the National Guard and Reserve has been a watchdog of companies and how they treat reservists. They list target in the "Outstanding Employer" category which means it has "gone above and beyond the requirements of the law in support of their National Guard and Reserve employees."

So how did such a completely false email come into being? It's easy to suspect a conspiracy or organized effort against Target but from our viewpoint this appears to have gotten started with the Dick Forrey letter and as others read it and got angry over it, they added other false charges in order to stack the deck. Truth or Fiction

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