There is no doubt that the LGBT community has been gaining a huge amount of support within the past few years. However, there are still many people out there who are not too fond of the new gay rights laws. With North Carolina's HB2 law and the new hashtag #TargetBoycott, it is clear that people are beginning to take a step back from the community's newfound equality. But for good reason?
Target's recent bathroom policy has caused a lot of controversies. It's attempt to expand inclusive started back in 2015 when it took on the practice of gender-neutral marketing. Its goal was not to get rid of the idea of gender, but rather to organize the store in a way that was based on activity and interest.
While this change had resulted in a significant amount of outrage among its more conservative customers, Target remained true to its beliefs.
"We believe that everyone—every team member, every guest, and every community—deserves to be protected from discrimination, and treated equally. Consistent with this belief, Target supports the federal Equality Act, which provides protections to LGBT individuals, and opposes action that enables discrimination."
This statement, written on its corporate web page, is revealing as to how willing the popular retailer is to make each of its customers feel welcome. It shouldn't have come as much of a shock, then, when Target announced its new restroom and changing room policy. However, despite its attempt to make the LGBT community feel more accepted, Target's policy caused an uproar amongst a large population of its customers.
The negative feedback being received is more than just a matter of traditional views being inflicted upon, but rather people feeling unsafe in a public area. The American Family Associations has started a petition to boycott this policy, and this is why.
"Clearly, Target's dangerous new policy poses a danger to wives and daughters. We think many customers will agree. And we think the average Target customer is willing to pledge to boycott Target stores until it makes protecting women and children a priority."
The AFAs pledge to ban Target stores already has over one million signatures, and it is safe to assume that this number will continue to grow within the days to come.
There is a great deal of tension among the general population, and there seems to be no way of telling who is right. There are concerns that Target's new policy is putting women and our youth in danger. However, there are also those who fully support this change, and acknowledge the positive effects that it will have.
How do you feel about this issue? Are people overreacting to this new policy? Is this policy as dangerous as people are making it out to be? And finally, is it fair to the LGBT community to take away their right to identify how they choose?
