I went to Target today.
Wait, we need a quick recap: Target gave $150,000 to Tom Emmer, the anti-gay gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. When offered the opportunity to make amends to the LGBTQ community, Target said no. It i imperative that we keep the boycott going and put pressure on Target not to support anti-gay candidates.
I went to Target today to interview the store manager. I was able to speak with Danie, the store manager at the Wilsonville, Oregon Target. What a disappointing interview. While Danie was respectful, her answers were unacceptable. When asked: Has the boycott had any impact on this location, her response was, “What boycott?” I informed her about the donation to the anti-gay candidate in Minnesota. When asked: Do you support Target’s decision to support an anti-gay candidate? Her response was, “I can’t answer that.” When asked: How do you suppose this impacts the LGBTQ employees at Target? Her response was, “We have diverse employees, we treat them well.” Thus I repeated the question. This time she answered, “I can’t answer that.” Finally, I commented that I felt it was sad to know that your employer would support someone who would discriminate against you. She did concede that it was sad. I thanked her for her time. How is it that a Target store manager does not know about the boycott? What do we need to do as a community to raise awareness? Please, I implore you, continue the boycott.
i have been boycotting target since the incident occurred– i have no plans to stop, which pains me, because i do like some of their clothes.
michael, thank you for doing this! hopefully she will pass on what happened to her superiors…
Brad, thank you for continuing to boycott target. Yes, I hate not being able to shop there. Robert and I used to buy all of our toiletries from Target. Yes, I hope that at the very least, I helped to raise some awareness.
While I can understand why this interview would be so frustrating, I can certainly appreciate why such a discussion would be difficult for the Target Manager.
I concede she was respectful, but because she is in a position of power, it is hard for me to cut her too much slack, granted her power is quite limited. I probably need to move up the chain of command and do more interviews.