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Wal-Mart blacklisted for Black Friday due to pro-homosexual commitments (Update: boycott canceled)
World Net Daily ^ | November 21, 2006

Posted on 11/23/2006 9:23:52 AM PST by glory2

Wal-Mart blacklisted for Black Friday Shoppers urged to boycott No. 1 retailer due to pro-homosexual commitments

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: November 21, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Bob Unruh © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Group wants to save Wal-Mart from pro-homosexual activists

The Friday after Thanksgiving typically is the biggest single shopping day of the year, and has been known to make or break a holiday season for many a retailer. This year, for Wal-Mart Friday will be even bigger than that.

The American Family Association, as WND reported earlier, already asked its several million supporters to boycott the stores that day.

And now another organization is launching an "information explosion" that is intended to tell the tens of millions at Wal-Mart Friday that some of their dollars will be going to support a group that works to discriminate against Christians with "hate crimes" legislation and wants marriage expanded to involve same-sex couples.

"We're out to help an old friend. Wal-Mart has been a friend of ours for a long, long time," said Flip Benham, the director of Operation Save America who is working to help coordinate the new efforts by the www.SaveWalMart.com outreach.

The AFA effort to trying to wake Wal-Mart up.

"Wal-Mart should remember that the majority of people in this country do not support things like same-sex marriage, and don't want the company giving money to groups that do support it," American Family Association Chairman Donald E. Wildmon said. "Shopping at retailers other than Wal-Mart might remind the company of that fact."

The SaveWalMart.com plan is different. It wants to approach customers directly, to let them know about the company's moral agenda, and to bring people together in a series of events that will convince the company to return to the values of founder Sam Walton.

Those were described in a recent WND column by Pat Boone, who knew Walton personally.

In his commentary, Boone told how he met with Walton, and at Walton's request offered ideas on how to feature gospel music in his stores.

"Already at more than 4,000 stores, his music department offered most everything, and he was personally concerned that some of it was anything but family friendly. Increasingly, he would be informed by customers that a number of albums contained profanity, strong and explicit sexual material, angry and violent imagery, all kinds of stuff he didn't want to sell anybody – but he didn't know what to do about it, since neither he nor his employees had time to listen to all the records the national distributors would place in his racks," Boone wrote.

He than told Walton about the Parents Music Resource Committee, which checked lyric contents and lobbied to have recording companies print the lyrics on the outside of the records or put advisories on the packaging.

Walton loved it, Boone reported. "It was responsible; it was family friendly. It was right – simply the right thing to do."

"We are not protesting. We are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ," says the SaveWalMart organization website about Friday's plans.

The plans are to have people choose the Wal-Mart nearest either their home or church on Friday, and be there all day to hand out information about the developments involving the company.

"If you have a portable sound system, let the preacher boys proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on it! We are a Gospel people! As always, we are going out because we love Wal-Mart and want to see the corporation turn back to the Christian ethic of its founder, Sam Walton," the website instructs

Benham said so far there are plans to demonstrate against the "satan-inspired" agenda at "hundreds" of the stores across the nation. He said it is "foolish" for a company even such as Wal-Mart to drive away an entire classification of customers.

However, he said it's a situation almost like blackmail or extortion. He called it "demonic" for its reach well beyond what logic could allow.

In one city, for example, Benham's workers offered a regional newspaper nearly $17,000 for an ad about its campaign, nearly double the routine $8,500 for such an ad, he said. The newspaper turned down the ad, which included statements such as, "God blessed Wal-Mart because founder Sam Walton chose to honor Jesus Christ and run his business according to biblical principles!"

The ad, which also has been prepared as a handout for people to give away on Friday, also said customers should "ask your local Wal-Mart Store Manager" about the changing moral values, and either call Wal-Mart or e-mail the company about the concerns.

"Wal-Mart is changing! It is departing from the rock from which it was hewn. The faith and love for Jesus Christ and His Word by Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, is being trashed before our very eyes," the ad says.

The facts it cites are basic. Wal-Mart recently joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, contributing at least $25,000 to the cause with promises to sponsor various homosexual events.

"It's a beginning," Benham told WND about the information plans. "Most of the people that we talk to, they have no idea (of the company's moral changes).

"Our hope is that thousands and thousands and thousands of people will be put on notice as to what is happening in Wal-Mart," he said.

Boone noted that he was shocked when the company agreed to donate a percentage of its online sales directly to a Washington, D.C., community for homosexuals.

"The man I knew was a conscientious deacon at the Methodist church, and his own family are wonderful people, still honoring their mom, Helen," Boone wrote. "He was a rock ribbed 'traditional values' guy…"

The AFA also is asking people to sign an online petition promising they will participate in a boycott, and the goal is a million families.

"The devil is forcing our schools, businesses, government, and churches to honor those things which are an abomination to God. Christians must take a stand! It’s time for our theology to become biography in the streets! It’s time for us to come out of the closet!" the information campaign website says.

"We are not a protest. We are a proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord! Wal-Mart can be saved and so can America. It begins with God’s Church!" the website said.

Wal-Mart, after confirming to WND that it did establish a relationship with the homosexual business group, has been focusing on "diversity" in responses to people concerned about the company's moral drift.

To Pastor Rick Barnard's note that he couldn't support such a company, Wal-Mart said, "Working with the NGLCC, as we do with other minority enterprise leaders, is our way to help educate corporate America and the public as to the economic benefits of a diverse workplace and the power of creating mutually beneficial relationships with the LGBT and the LGBT-friendly business community."

Florida customer Lawrence Reves said he supported Wal-Mart "when the Democrats targeted you, but THIS is something I can not consciously continue to do."

"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s commitment to nondiscrimination underscores our understanding of and appreciation for diversity, as well as the growth and influence of emerging consumer markets in the United States, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community,"' the company responded.

"American businesses … are being blackmailed by the devil himself. They are being forced by the 'politically correct' dogma (abortion, homosexuality, etc) of our day to accept his terms. If one chooses to defy this dogma, he will be forever branded as a right-wing, bigoted fascist, bent on forcing his own religion (Christianity) down everyone else’s throat. If the Church or any business will not accept these terms, or truly honors God, there will be hell to pay!" said the SaveWalMart site. "Now Satan has Wal-Mart in his line of fire!"

"After being lambasted for years by the anti-family, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, radical environmental left, Wal-Mart has finally succumbed to this constant harassment and blackmail. She has now chosen a policy of appeasement to assuage all of the false accusations leveled against her in hopes that the devil will somehow stop being so mean," according to information campaign organizers.

"And I suspect Mr. Sam is not smiling about the sudden flak, or the actions that caused it," Boone wrote. "There's a distinct line between allowing people to live their own lives as they choose, and underwriting and endorsing, even promoting, choices and actions with which you fundamentally disagree. Mr. Sam was determined that his stores would always be 'family friendly'; and suddenly, the millions of families he always catered to are seriously pondering the mixed messages coming out of Bentonville. I think he would have remained benignly neutral and non-condemning toward homosexual groups – but would never have donated to their causes."

The company also recently offered for sale online a book promoting lesbian sex to girls still young enough to be playing with Barbies, and as WND reported, pulled it when the offering was publicized.

The company also has had several workers quit their jobs and plan protests because of the support for the "gay causes."

Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., said the problem is that the homosexual business group isn't just that. While the NGLCC "professes to promote the 'interests of the LGBT business community,' this is not all they have done," he said.

He said the group recently described efforts to defend traditional marriage as an attempt to "write discrimination into the Constitution …" and it has advocated attaching a pro-homosexual "hate crimes" amendment to legislation intended to protect children from violent sex offenders.

AFA boycotts in the past have proven effective, even though the organization doesn't take credit for all of the impacts. An example is the Ford Motor Company which more than a year ago embraced the "gay" community in its advertising and programs.

The AFA and dozens of other Christian groups joined in a boycott, and since then Ford has lost hundreds of millions of dollars, laid off tens of thousands of workers and is trying to regroup and stabilize.


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: cancelled; outofdate
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To: glory2

The AFA are a bunch of creeps, and I'm not afraid to say it. These tactics really aren't that much different from what hustlers like Je$$e Jack$on do.


41 posted on 11/23/2006 4:52:15 PM PST by WestVirginiaRebel (Common sense will do to liberalism what the atomic bomb did to Nagasaki-Rush Limbaugh)
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To: WestVirginiaRebel
AFA, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and all the other "SANKE OIL SALESMEN" out there are only out there for the big bucks they can extract from the idiots that believe their KRAP. They have been deciving the same people for years ... you would think they might someday wise up. But then again mohammedans still beleive they are following a religion and not members of a cult!
42 posted on 11/23/2006 4:59:58 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Reddy
What faulty headlines?

Shall we start with the original one from AFA that insinuated ALL online purchases from WalMart gave 5% to the gay group in DC?

First of all they weren't "screaming", second of all why shouldn't they alert conservatives to a huge company that was pandering to the homosexual lobby?

Frist, misleading headlines of press releases posing as emails is screaming. Second how was some obscure gay group having an affiliate link on their website "pandering" or for that matter joining a CofC?

What's wrong with giving people information? With proper information, we can make the right decisions.

There is nothing wrong with giving people information, provided it is proper information. In this case the information given was not proper, it was misleading. In this day and age many people just read headlines, or in the case of FR, the headline and then the excerpt, which does not always give ALL of the proper information.

Too much onesidedness? I saw quotes from WM reps on this thread.

I saw the same quotes, however, I have followed all of the threads on this subject, and VERY few have done so. Much of what has been posted as "news" on this issue has been nothing more than the posting of press releases, press releases are ALWAYS one sided. That is the purpose of press releases. In the case of WM and the gay CofC, the CofC issued a press release, not WalMart. In the case fo the affiliate program AFA issuesd a press release, not WM or even the gay group named.....heck AFA probably gave them more publicity because fo the attack on WM than the gay group had ever received in the past.

"Hysteria" was the wrong word to use.

Although not my word, hysteria was definitely the MOST appropriate word.

As I said on aother forum in regard to this issue, it is amazingly convenient that just when the left's attack on WalMart started falling on deaf ears the "right" starts their own attack using an issue that is sure to push buttons with their constituency.

I'm looking at this from a much broader perspective than many are looking at it. I don't see this as the right saying "WM was pandering to gays and so we nailed them" but rather one along the lines of the left wondering "how do we make WM look really bad to their base and who do we dupe into doing our dirty work."

Take a step or two back from the idea of pandering to the homosexual lobby for a minute................and then ask yourself why is it only WM being attacked right at this particular time on this particular issue?

43 posted on 11/23/2006 5:04:51 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: Red_Devil 232; WestVirginiaRebel

Until this whole brouhaha over WM arose I had never heard of AFA, or at least not in such a manner as I could tell you that they had done or said such and such about such and such.

This entire situation puts them in my suspect category.


44 posted on 11/23/2006 5:07:42 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: glory2
The AFA and dozens of other Christian groups joined in a boycott, and since then Ford has lost hundreds of millions of dollars, laid off tens of thousands of workers and is trying to regroup and stabilize.

What a bunch of tripe, claiming it was the result of the boycott.

Plus, if it were, which it is not.. workers losing their jobs as a result of such a so-called Christian action is not something to be proud of.

The Unions want $300,000 million more in their political cookie jar and not being able to get their sticky fingers into Wal-mart is making them crazy.

45 posted on 11/23/2006 6:41:18 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: fight_truth_decay
"What a bunch of tripe, claiming it was the result of the boycott."

I don't agree - I think this turn around was the direct result of the threat of a militant boycott - and as a result I will happily go back to shopping at Walmart. However, I doubt this is the end of the matter.
46 posted on 11/23/2006 6:45:53 PM PST by bluetone006 (Peace - or I guess war if given no other option)
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To: Reddy; JennysCool
"It's hysteria like this that gives both Christians and Conservatives a bad name."

You got that right!.

Half these loonies that think up these boycotts, don't even shop there anyway. I know some of those types. I will shop where I want to shop and no self righteous Christian or any other person is going to dictate to whence I go. I hate big box stores, so do not frequent often, but I would never stand in the way of any freedom loving American to shop where he or she wishes.

47 posted on 11/23/2006 6:50:12 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: bluetone006

I was referencing FORD!


48 posted on 11/23/2006 6:51:22 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: xjcsa

If this is true, great!


49 posted on 11/23/2006 6:52:50 PM PST by stevio (Red-Blooded Crunchy Con American Male (NRA))
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To: fight_truth_decay

You've got it all right!!!!!!


50 posted on 11/23/2006 6:53:42 PM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: JennysCool

Well said.


51 posted on 11/24/2006 12:50:35 AM PST by Valin (Rick Santorum 08)
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To: glory2

I just sent this to Walmart:

*****
I'm not convinced that your not supporting gay agendas. I "still" plan to take my business elsewhere until you expound on your ties with the GLBT (whatever).

Surely, another major retail giant will come along and court Christian values.

Don't waste the bandwidth to send your auto-response.
*****

Just my 2 cents but this seemed to blow over awfully quick.


52 posted on 11/24/2006 12:56:45 AM PST by Recall
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To: Reddy

BTTT


53 posted on 11/24/2006 1:00:59 AM PST by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: glory2
YYYYAAAAAWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Me thinks some organization tried to save face from being seen as irrelevant - and it wasn't Wal-mart.
54 posted on 11/24/2006 5:06:08 AM PST by mcg2000 (New Orleans: The city that declared Jihad on The Red Cross.)
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To: Gabz

Doesn't seem like the boycott is working; I drove by the Wally World store this morning at 0500 and the parking lot was PACKED!!! Unbelievable!


55 posted on 11/24/2006 6:22:08 AM PST by Cuttnhorse
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To: Cuttnhorse

Oh, I believe it. I don't do ANY shopping on thanksgiving weekend, except maybe to run to the store for milk.....and I can do that literally, as there is a small convenience store a quarter mile from my front door.

I don't know which are worse this weekend, the roads or the stores.


56 posted on 11/24/2006 6:30:08 AM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: nmh
...The group identified by the American Family Association has been an affiliate of Walmart.com since 2002 and has referred exactly one sale for $41.73 to our site since joining our affiliate program. As a result, it would have collected $4.17.

Pathetic. All this nonsense over $4.17! Just imagine the tens of thousands they probably spent and the millions of emails sent out to bash Walmart over this thing. It's beyond ridiculous to boycott over this.

Is this some evangelical blowback from the Haggarty scandal or something?
57 posted on 11/24/2006 7:41:33 AM PST by George W. Bush
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To: George W. Bush
All this nonsense over $4.17! Just imagine the tens of thousands they probably spent and the millions of emails sent out to bash Walmart over this thing.

I wonder how much the group has gotten based solely on the publicity this brouhaha stirred up for them?

58 posted on 11/24/2006 7:52:30 AM PST by Gabz (If we weren't crazy, we'd just all go insane.)
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To: George W. Bush

YEah, the left has fooled the right!

They're really out to get Walmart.


59 posted on 11/24/2006 9:40:28 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: Gabz

How much? Well, millions. Maybe more important, something to make those folks out in the pews forget about the Haggarty scandal. He was the president of the big national evangelical organization, had deep political connections, etc.


60 posted on 11/24/2006 5:51:08 PM PST by George W. Bush
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