As a disclaimer, let me say that I dont shop at Wal-Mart, in spite of its inviting low prices and vast inventory. Thats mostly based on issues surrounding livable wages for its employees. But I am troubled about how Wal-Mart is getting waylaid by the radical right about its supposed progressive overtures to homosexuals. Heretofore, the Bentonville, Ark.-based giant, the globes largest retailer, has been the darling of those who believe in capitalistic might. Its products are cheaply produced in China and distributed in its vast network of stores strategically planted on the U.S. and international landscape. Always Low Prices. Always is its mantra. Its been said that Wal-Mart is to retail what the Hummer is to automobiles. One group urged people to pen new slogans for Wal-Mart, and among the sarcastic finalists were Wal-Mart: Profits for China, Food Stamps for Americans, Wal-Mart: Prices So Low They Hurt Everyone, Wal-Mart: Made in China for $0.18 an Hour and Wal-Mart: Our Employees Pay MORE so You Dont Have To. Then there was Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time. For the low-income, its regarded as their best place to stretch a dollar, although the 99-cent stores give them a pretty good run for their money. The American Family Association, based in Tupelo, Miss., is raging. Corporate America is being blackmailed by the radical homosexual agenda, says their material directing people to a website: www.savewalmart.com. Businesses across this nation are being blackmailed by the Devil himself, it says. Bank of America, Wachovia and SunTrust area all falling into the snare of this monstrous lie and to the snare of the radical homosexual agenda . Now Wal-Mart is in enemy sights. People are urged to go to your local Wal-Mart and help them stand against this liberal, lying, demon-inspired onslaught. But it condemns the giant for becoming part of a partnership with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, according to an Aug. 21 announcement. It says that means Wal-Mart will give preferred company status to businesses of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender owners. It asserts that the chamber is assigning a Wal-Mart vice president as an adviser, and the company will underwrite two conferences and various programs. Critics point out that Wal-Mart has caved in and now dispenses the Plan B abortion pill. They say the retailer has failed the tenets of its late founder, Sam Walton, whom the Rev. Billy Graham lauded as the role model for all America because of his simplicity of lifestyle and deep religious commitment. They vow to use the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, or Nov. 24, as an opportunity for Christians across the nation (to)bring the Gospel of Christ to the very gates of the largest retailer in the world and come to the aide (sic) of Americas favorite store. Its all because Wal-Mart is being blackmailed by the abortion industry and the radical homosexual agenda and has caved in to those groups. American Family Association accuses Wal-Mart of sponsoring Diversity Week in Idaho in October and says it has been supporting the campaign there to defeat a constitution amendment banning same-sex marriage. Materials show the big yellow Wal-Mart happy face shedding a tear. A group called Operation Save America, whose mantra is Jesus is the Standard, has posted a letter from a 13-year former Wal-Mart employee who quit when she learned of the companys partnership with the gay-lesbian chamber. She plans to participate in a boycott of Wal-Mart in Mansfield, Ohio. Janet Baird asserts, Today Wal-Mart is not the same company Mr. Sam started. I think he would rather see it go under than to see what it has become. Mr. Sam loved God the store he began does not! Businesses, of course, are caught in a damn-if-do and damn-if-you-dont predicaments when it comes to supporting or opposing public issues. Some, for example, risk losing customers if they allow political campaign signs on their property, thus indicating endorsement. I, for one, pay attention to that and patronize accordingly. Wal-Mart, more than any company, takes its lumps. Such a behemoth probably loses and gains millions of dollars with each controversial change in its social action policy and support to some cause. But the company may simply look at Americas growing diversity and, for example, see that the nation is rapidly changing to an acceptance of people regardless of sexual orientation. Heres hoping that this is the start of it a wholesale move to serious, corporate social responsibility, including giving its employees competitive and fair wages.