To Boycott Or Not To Boycott

I, like everybody else, have seen a lot about Target and their controversial decision over the past couple weeks.  Among my conservative friends, this has come with a debate over, not whether or not men and women should be allowed in the opposite gender's bathroom, but about the best way to react to it as Bible-believing Christians.

The American Family Association supported a boycott of all Target stores.  Many of my friends joined the boycott and have encouraged others to do so as well.  Others have claimed that a boycott will not be effective and will do more harm than good in the long run because of how conservatives will be perceived because of it.  Some among the first group insist that it will work and has worked in the past.

And around and around it goes until the next crisis takes over center stage.

(Side note:  This is not intended to be a post specifically about Target's policy.  Just to be absolutely clear, I believe that access to public restrooms should be restricted to an individual's biological sex.  However, plenty of articles have been written about that issue, and it is not my intent to reiterate those points here.)

Honestly, on the boycott, I don't know where I stand.  I have not signed the pledge, and I don't know whether or not I am going to.  However, I do want to share some of the thought that I have about the matter in hopes that they will be of help to others wading through the same decision.

1.  Are you willing to follow through?  How long are you willing to go without shopping at Target stores if the policy is not reversed?  A month?  Six months?  A year?  If they NEVER change the policy, are you willing to NEVER shop at Target again?

2.  Are you willing to be consistent?  Target may be the first large company to open public restrooms to either gender at will; however, I doubt they are going to be the last.  Are you willing to avoid shopping at other stores that make the same policy change?  Even if that means it becomes more and more inconvenient and challenging for you to find places to shop?  Even if it means you are limited to more expensive stores?

3.  Do you know why this point is the line you refuse to cross?  Target did not start being a liberal company when they changed their bathroom policy.  If you have been shopping there before now, you have been given revenue to a store that has a history of supporting liberal causes such as homosexual "marrage."  And Target isn't the only store on that list.  Starbucks, Microsoft, and many other large companies have been supporters of LGBT "rights" and abortion providers among other things.  I even found this list which, although they do not give sources for their information and I would not take it all at face value, gives some idea of the scope of the situation.  Like it or not, if you shop at the normal places Americans shop, you have given revenue to liberal companies.

Personally, I don't know if I can answer yes to those first two questions, and I will not be signing a pledge to boycott until I do.  Will I hesitate before shopping at Target again?  Yes.  If I can get the item elsewhere, I likely will.  Will I avoid making use of their restrooms if I do?  Absolutely, yes!  However, I don't want to hastily make a emotion-based decision that the logical part of me will not follow through to the end.

We fight for conservative companies such as Hobby Lobby to have the freedom as a private company to follow certain beliefs and, therefore, have certain policies.  Liberal companies have that same freedom.  If Target wants to have completely open, public unisex bathrooms, that is their right.  However, it is our right to choose whether or not we shop there.

As I said at the beginning, I am not trying to make a point one way or the other about what people should do.  I just want to make sure my friends and family have thought things through.  Whatever your choice, make it a point to honor God with and through that decision.