NOM Attacks Target: ‘Marriage Isn’t Terribly Pertinent To Their Business.’ Huh?

NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, is attacking retailing giant Target, falsely claiming, “Marriage isn’t terribly pertinent to their business.” NOM, who has said that marriage is “the bedrock of civilization,” is going after Target, who sells millions of products for the home, children, and families, often at an attractive price. Target even does a booming wedding registry business and is listed as one of the top retailers who share in the $19 billion wedding registry market. Target is currently promoting a “Wear it with pride” tee shirt campaign, giving all proceeds to the Family Equality Council.

The comment was included in this segment of last night’s Politico article, “Gay marriage advocates gain corporate support“:

Jonathan Baker, director of the Corporate Fairness Project for the NOM, said the group, which has begun a campaign to oppose corporate support for same sex-marriage, isn’t looking to recruit business support for traditional marriage.

“A lot of businesses were getting into a pro same-sex marriage position. Our goal was to support the other side of that,” Baker said. “Our goal is not to have Target supporting traditional marriage. Our goal is to have Target stay neutral.”

Baker added: “Marriage isn’t terribly pertinent to their business.”

Marriage is dramatically “pertinent” to Target’s business — to most retailers’ businesses, actually — and Target can only benefit from more marriages forming. Shower presents, wedding presents, new home presents, new baby presents, and newlyweds shopping for new items for their home and families, are just a portion of how retailers like Target benefit from marriages — of same-sex or opposite sex couples.

For NOM to claim that marriage “isn’t terribly pertinent” to Target, and to tell them to remain “neutral” in the fight for marriage equality, demonstrates just how very ignorant about business — and marriage – Jonathan Baker and NOM are.

The Politico piece also notes:

NOM launched a “Dump Starbucks” campaign this year, challenging the coffee company’s vocal support for gay marriage. It is also proposing a Bank of America shareholder resolution aimed at enshrining freedom of speech for employees who support or oppose gay marriage.

NOM’s “Dump Starbucks” campaign, as The New Civil Rights Movement has noted repeatedly, is an embarrassing failure. NOM continues to use it as a fundraising tool, announcing vast goals, then doesn’t report on its performance, a clear indication they are not achieving their own goals.

And in fact, Starbucks’ stock has performed better — in a down market, and in a down segment –from the day NOM rolled out their Dump Starbucks campaign designed to harm the coffee giant.

Politico adds:

Even if companies aren’t supporting gay marriage efforts, what’s important is they’re not fighting them, said Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry.

“I don’t think you see any corporations taking stances against equality,” he said. “You’re either taking a stance in favor of equality or you don’t take a stance at all. We’ve certainly defeated our opponents with respect to getting corporations to take an anti-gay stance.”

…

One by one, national corporations like Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing and Google are wading into the once-risky business of taking a position supporting gay marriage in states across the country.

…

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, which a federal appeals court called unconstitutional on Thursday. Forty-eight companies, including Nike, Time Warner Cable, Aetna, Exelon Corp., and Xerox had signed a brief arguing that the law negatively affected their businesses.

Jonathan Baker and NOM. Terribly off-target.