Wal-Mart retreat from 'gay' agenda 'not enough'
Campaigners still plan 'information explosion' at retailer's stores
Campaigners say they plan to hold their "information explosion" at Wal-Mart stores Friday even though the company has signaled a retreat from its support of the radical homosexual agenda.
"We continue to encourage men and women, dads and moms, grandpas and grandmas, Christians from every walk of life to call on Wal-Mart to change its course and return to traditional family values and the biblical principles that made it great," said a statement today from Flip Benham, who is working on the
www.SaveWalMart.com outreach.
"We are not a protest. We are a proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord! We are calling an 'old friend' back to its godly roots. Wal-Mart can be saved and so can America," he said.
Wal-Mart's announced policy changed this week prompted the American Family Association to cancel a boycott called for Friday and Saturday.
The change, according to Mona Williams, vice-president for communications at Wal-Mart, will have the company evaluating on a case-by-case basis its support for outside groups.
Many have criticized the company's decision to join the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and contribute $25,000 to its operating budget, as well as a $60,000 contribution to another homosexual organization to sponsor a conference.
Such contributions are unlikely in the future, Williams told WND, because of the change that was prompted by "concerns and questions" from the company's employees and customers alike.
"As a result we agreed we needed to be more thoughtful in how we make our contributions. We will not make corporate contributions to support or oppose highly controversial issues," Williams told WND.
Those "blanket contributions" to "gay" groups won't continue, but, "we would look for opportunities to partner with them in areas we could support," Williams said, such as initiatives that support equality in the work place.
If it doesn't impact business, there's no reason for the company to take a position and contribute financially, she said.
"I think we will do all of these on a case-by-case basis, and we would not rule out partnering with the ("gay") chamber on specific projects," she told WND. However, other details about the company's actual membership status with the "gay" chamber, and Wal-Mart officials serving on panels for that group, couldn't be answered right away.
"That's more detail than I can answer at this point," she told WND.
The AFA, which earlier had asked its millions of constituents to support the post-Thanksgiving boycott, said the company had contacted AFA with word of its change.
Randy Sharp, the director of special projects for AFA, told WND Wal-Mart responded to the specific issues raised by the association, such as the contributions.
"Our understanding is that regarding the issues we had addressed specifically, that they would not longer make those," he said.
But Benham said he didn't want people to believe all the corporate "hype" yet.
"In a statement to the American Family Association yesterday, Wal-Mart agreed that they, "…will not make corporate contributions to support or oppose highly controversial issues unless they directly relate to our ability to serve our customers.' To this we say, 'NUTS!'" said a statement from Benham.
"Wal-Mart is running scared! It fears the power of the Church of Jesus Christ to move in people's hearts and change them – to change even where they shop. Wal-Mart needs to fear the God of Sam Walton!" he said.
He noted Wal-Mart still is a "member" of the NGLCC, and still dispenses the Plan B abortion pill. It also has not apologized for its actions and not fired a homosexual marketing agency, he said.
"While Wal-Mart has caved on controversial corporate sponsorships, the Gospel continues. Christians from across the nation will bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores this Friday, November 24th. They will call Wal-Mart's corporate leadership to true repentance, repentance that goes beyond last minute face-saving efforts, half-way apologies, and crocodile tears," Benham said.
"Every executive at Wal-Mart that allowed this to happen needs a good old fashioned spanking" said Benham, a driving force behind the SaveWalMart.com website. "What Wal-Mart has done is sin! It is a betrayal our Lord Jesus, of Sam Walton's Christian legacy, and Christian families everywhere. Wal-Mart must bear the fruit of repentance."
Wal-Mart's policy change came late Tuesday: "Respect for the individual is one of the core values that have made us into the company we are today. We take pride in the fact that we treat every customer, every supplier and every member of our individual communities fairly and equally," the company said in a statement on its Wal-Mart Facts website.
The AFA said its constituents should send the company a 'Thank you.'
"You have made a difference!" the AFA said. "(We) are pleased with this announcement."
"We are working hard to make our corporate contributions reflect the values of our customers, communities, and associates. As Sam Walton said, 'Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community," the company statement said.
The AFA, as WND reported, was among the first of several to issue calls intended to get the attention of the retail chain.
But the Save Wal-Mart campaign wanted to take its message instead directly to Wal-Mart customers.
The campaign's plans are to have people choose the Wal-Mart nearest either their home or church Friday, and be there all day to hand out information about the developments involving the company.
A handout prepared for customers says: "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."
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.
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