Mother of Gay Son Stands Up to Target for Anti-Gay Donation

by Michael Jones · 2010-07-28 06:11:00 UTC
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Get your Kleenex ready, because one of the sweetest mothers in the entire country just smacked back at Target for its anti-gay donation of $150,000 to an organization supporting a politician in Minnesota, Tom Emmer, who believes that gay and lesbian Americans should be second class citizens.

The mother's name is Randi Reitan, and she notes in a video (which you can also view at the bottom of this post) that she is both a mother and a grandmother, and someone who has been shopping at Target for years. It pains her to see Target give money to people who want to hurt gays and lesbians.

"Last week when I heard that Target decided to give $150,000 to Tom Emmer, for his political race for Governor, I just was shocked," Reitan said. "The Target I knew was the Target that embraced its gay employees, it was the Target that showed up for pride."

But that's not the Target that Reitan and thousands of other people know anymore. Reitan went shopping at Target for the last time, and films it below in the video. She returns every single item she purchased ($226 worth of merchandise), and says that until Target makes amends for supporting such an anti-gay candidate -- one that would harm the gays and lesbians in her life, including her son -- she just can't shop there. And watch the emotion around the 2:10 mark. It's the sentiment that only a mother who loves her son more than anything in the world could give.

"A number of the items were for my grandchildren, and they love their Uncle Jake so much, and Jake is gay. They wouldn't want to have things come from a store that contributes to a campaign that would have a governor candidate with the anti-gay views that Tom Emmer has," Reitan said. "They've lost every purchase from my family. What's important in life is people. And I love the people in my life. I love them more than anything that I could buy in this store."

Randi Reitan, I heart you. And I'm pretty sure after seeing your video, the whole country is going to heart you. Except for maybe a few Target executives. But they're much more interested in someone like Rep. Michele Bachmann, anyway.

Check out the video after the jump.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.

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