Where it is appropriate to go SC on employees.

[Hobbs]

I thought Ree was American. I remember her saying an older relative served in the US Armed Forces, or something to that effect.

[smileyeagle1021]

I still fail to see why it's relevant in ordinary life to immediately pint out that one prefers to sleep with people of one's own gender.

In a perfect world it wouldn't make a donkey's ass bit of difference... we don't live in a perfect world though, we live in the real world.
In the real world if you don't tell people otherwise they will assume you are straight until they find out otherwise then can accuse you of lying to them, even if you haven't said a word about it. I've had it happen, I've become friends with people, sexuality NEVER came up early on, but later when my sexuality did come up (remember, I did nothing to indicate that I was straight other than not say I was gay), they got upset at how horrible it was that I would lie to them and mislead them and demand to know why I wasn't honest about my sexuality.
I'd much rather it be put out in the open up front rather than be accused of being a liar later on. As far as why people care... well, don't you know that the gay is contagious, I might corrupt them Not to mention that I obviously have AIDS and want to have sex with their children (these are all things I've heard before).
It is much less painful hearing the "you're a filthy aids infested sodomite" rant from someone you barely know than someone you thought was a friend.
eta- Crazed, if memory serves 95% of marriages in Canada are still of the heterosexual variety, so a wedding ring will 95 times out of a hundred still be an accurate indicator of orientation.

[Ree]

I thought Ree was American. I remember her saying an older relative served in the US Armed Forces, or something to that effect.

Nope...you have me confused with someone else.

Anyway, I won't be convinced that tossing out one's sexual orientation within moments of meeting another person, regardless of the situation, is necessary, in the same way that you will never be convinced that what you have posted here regarding the treatment of ALL Target employees is wrong.

It makes me sad to read it.

It also makes me sad to think that I have always treated you with nothing but respect, but am on the hate list in your books just because I am a Roman Catholic/Christian with conservative ideals, because someone else from the same demographic treated you badly, or has a record of treating gay people badly.

I have tried to understand what you deal with daily, and have felt really bad for your situation, but after reading this thread, and your hate filled words, I think I can say that I am done.

[protege]

Nope...you have me confused with someone else.

Well, we can't all be perfect
*ducks flying tomatoes and the possible attack of polar bears...*

Just kidding, Ree. I've been to the "great parking lot to the North," and was always treated well up there. Even though I am an "ignorant Amurkin." I'm also on Smiley's hate list, simply because I fit into similar groups. Never mind that I've treated him with nothing but respect as well.

[Hobbs]

Nope...you have me confused with someone else.

I remember a post in the CS "Off-Topic" thread where you mentioned a member of the family being a veteran. By the wording, I presumed you meant in the US military.

[blas87]

I still have faith in smiley.

I just find it odd, this coming from Minnesota though. Call me an ignorant hick who doesn't watch enough TV, but I could have sworn that Minnesota was a huge melting pot and full of diversity and quite liberal.....sure there are some backwoods areas just like in Wisconsin, but I thought the majority of the state would be more pro-gay rights, considering Hennepin Avenue in the Twin Cities is FULL of gay bars and drag shows. Places that hate gays won't have bars like that.

[smileyeagle1021]

Blas, even South Salt Lake, which is where the police department is still reeling from the controversy with the DJ Bell case controversy, has gay bars.

Though I think I may have to go straight for this former target shopper
I think she handled perfectly. Stayed calm the entire time, stayed polite yet firm, and was effective in getting her message across.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I still have faith in smiley.

I just find it odd, this coming from Minnesota though. Call me an ignorant hick who doesn't watch enough TV, but I could have sworn that Minnesota was a huge melting pot and full of diversity and quite liberal.....sure there are some backwoods areas just like in Wisconsin, but I thought the majority of the state would be more pro-gay rights, considering Hennepin Avenue in the Twin Cities is FULL of gay bars and drag shows. Places that hate gays won't have bars like that.

Oh yeah, I loved the Uptown area when I lived there. Rocky Horror every Friday night at the Uptown Theater, the Underground Library, Calhoun Square...

Yeah, that area is pretty liberal and accepting in attitudes. And that was 21 years ago (left the area in '89).

Can imagine what it is like now.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Though I think I may have to go straight for this former target shopper
I think she handled perfectly. Stayed calm the entire time, stayed polite yet firm, and was effective in getting her message across.

Then why were you advocating going into a screaming wobbler with every Target employee in the country from the upper echelons to the lowest level stocker?

The problem with fighting hatred with hatred is that you end up in the public's mind as being just as evil as the group you're against.

Not to mention that considering that this is happening in Minnesota and is too small to be noticed nation-wide (after all, the first I heard of this was on here), people would possibly end up think of you as being more evil as the target of your ire since you're going to be more noticed than what Target did.

Like Ree, I'm done here. Either stand up and start doing something to make the world a better place or give it up as a lost cause.

I'm done.

[tropicsgoddess]

I wouldn't go SC on an employee just because the higher ups decided to donate to something that I'm against. That's like an SC going off on me over something I have no control over at all.

[smileyeagle1021]

Like Ree, I'm done here. Either stand up and start doing something to make the world a better place or give it up as a lost cause.

I'm done.

I just did, I advocated taking a calmer and more professional approach than I originally proposed and you tore me a new one for making the first suggestion in the first place.
I am trying to soften my views... apparently though that isn't enough, I need to somehow go back in time and stop myself from having a harsher view to begin with (the whole grandfather paradox and mad scientist paradoxes be damned).

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I just did, I advocated taking a calmer and more professional approach than I originally proposed and you tore me a new one for making the first suggestion in the first place.
I am trying to soften my views... apparently though that isn't enough, I need to somehow go back in time and stop myself from having a harsher view to begin with (the whole grandfather paradox and mad scientist paradoxes be damned).

Re-read your posts. Going all the way back to the point where you were frothing at the mouth, willing to verbally disembowel anyone you catch committing the most heinous crime of working at a Target, all the way to the point where you stated you would be almost willing to go straight for this woman.

From the perspective of anyone outside your internal thought processes, there is no sign or signal that you have moderated your views. From where I stood when I read that post, it seemed that you were still riled up over the whole issue AND were admiring someone else who was doing it the calm way.

At no point between post #1 and post #86 did you give any indication that you were softening your views. There was nothing like a "Ok, perhaps I was a little over the top with my rage" post anywhere.

Hence, my post. You did the forum equivalent of a "Moonshiner's Flip" (spinning the car 180 degrees and floored it going the complete other direction) and I missed it.

[Ree]

I remember a post in the CS "Off-Topic" thread where you mentioned a member of the family being a veteran.

Possibly my late FIL. He was RCAF - Canadian Air Force.(Can't recall the thread, unless it was the one about the lack of respect by customers during the minute of silence on Remembrance Day.

[Hobbs]

Yeah, I don't remember which thread it was either. I think you said something like, "As a person who has a relative in AF, I respect the military and their families...etc." or something like that.

[smileyeagle1021]

At no point between post #1 and post #86 did you give any indication that you were softening your views. There was nothing like a "Ok, perhaps I was a little over the top with my rage" post anywhere.

granted it was in another thread....

rather than blow up like with Target (now that the initial shock is done that I've through my support of the company has supported my own discrimination), I will very calmly and therapeutically shred my best buy card, take it, along with a letter to be passed onto corporate explaining exactly why they are canceling my card, demand the card be canceled on the spot, and then leave and not come back.

Was I wrong to assume that someone in this thread would have read the other thread... yes, because it is always wrong to assume, but there was a post between #1 and #86 there was a "ok, I was wrong earlier" type post.