Retail | Be a Seed for Change

While most of America will be sleeping off a belly full of turkey, stuffing, and pie next Thursday night, 29-year-old Anthony Hardwick will be waking up for a long night of work. That’s because Anthony has to report for his shift at a Target store in Omaha, Nebraska on Thanksgiving night.

For the first time on “Black Friday” — the biggest shopping day of the year — Target stores will be opening at midnight. That means retail employees like Anthony have to miss Thanksgiving celebrations with their families in order to work for big stores’ “Black Friday” midnight sales — or risk losing their jobs.

“All Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones on Thanksgiving,” Anthony says.

So Anthony decided to push back. He started a petition on Change.org asking Target to open stores at 5am instead of midnight on Black Friday. Click here to add your name to his petition. http://www.change.org/petitions/target-corporation-push-back-the-opening-of-target-retail-stores-on-black-friday-to-5am?

The sad reality is that by starting a petition to his employer on Change.org, he is putting his livelihood at risk. Anthony knows that he could be fired for taking his demand of Target public — but that’s how important it is to him that he spend Thanksgiving with his fiancee and her family.

Anthony isn’t alone in thinking that midnight (or earlier) start times for retail stores on Black Friday is are bad ideas — customers hate it, too. In fact, according to an article in the New York Times that featured Anthony’s petition, more and more consumers are avoiding Black Friday sales that interrupt Thanksgiving meals. And by being the first to petition his employer about this issue, he hopes to inspire workers at other retail stores to also speak out.

Target is one of the most prominent companies forcing its employees to miss Thanksgiving with their families. Anthony hopes that by calling out Target, he can force his employer to push back opening times at Target stores across the country — which will pressure other retail chains to do the same.

Please add your name to Anthony’s petition asking Target to push back its Black Friday opening time so he and other Target employees can spend Thanksgiving with their families:

http://www.change.org/petitions/target-corporation-push-back-the-opening-of-target-retail-stores-on-black-friday-to-5am

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Jess and the Change.org team

What a historic day!

I’m thrilled that today, thanks to your voice and the hard work of Governor Cuomo and so many committed organizations and elected officials, New York has become the latest state to pass marriage equality.

Last night, the New York legislature stood up for equality for all New Yorkers and spoke loudly in support of the simple proposition that every New Yorker should be able to marry the person they love.

But our work is not done.

Even once our LGBT friends and family are legally able to marry here in New York, the Defense of Marriage Act will prohibit them from enjoying over 1,000 federal rights and privileges that are afforded straight married couples. While it won’t be easy, we can overturn DOMA – but we need thousands of grassroots activists like you to stand up and demand repeal.

Click here to join me and Democracy For America in urging Congress to repeal this regressive and discriminatory law. For only once every legally married couple in the United States is treated equally under federal law can we fulfill the true meaning of marriage equality.

The Defense of Marriage Act is truly damaging. Every day, thousands of legally married LGBT men and women around the country are unable to take advantage of rights and privileges – from hospital visitation to inheritance rights to health benefits – that straight married couples take for granted.

Like DFA member Florence P. of Brushton, NY who sent in her story of how DOMA has impacted her:

My late partner and I were as close to a legal married couple as we could get in the state of New York. We were together for 32 1/2 years, hoping to one day marry in our state. She died in 2006. I am not considered to be her widow. I am not considered to be legally related to her at all even though we shared our lives completely for over 32 years. It’s time to repeal DOMA.

I agree with Florence. We must end this unjust policy. But much like the historic vote last night in New York, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and our collective grassroots advocacy. And I believe it’s going to take telling more stories like Florence’s.

If you’ve been impacted by DOMA, click here to sign the petition and tell us your story at repealDOMA.com. It’s imperative that we begin to tell the stories of the Americans hurt every day by the injustice of DOMA, so that we can put faces and names to this discriminatory policy. Only then will we truly be able to start changing hearts and minds, both among my colleagues in Congress and around the country.

We did it with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and we’ll do it with DOMA. The time to start is now.

Thank you for standing with me and DFA for equality for all Americans.

– Kirsten

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand