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The $312 billion Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer, which has been decried for driving mon and pop under while promoting a new class of working poor, is on a charm offensive........ From a $60,000 sponsorship of a San Francisco, lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered employee advocacy non-profit to store redesigns and tailored merchandising Wal-Mart seems to be trying to recreate itself in Target's image...... Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott said at a shareholders meeting earlier this month that the company is undergoing a five-pillared transformation that includes broadening Wal-Mart's appeal to different customers..... The company plans to focus on five store formats based...

Bravo for your compassionate Feb. 6 editorial A marriage, not a ''civil union' on the injustice that lesbian and gay couples face by being denied the rights that come only with civil marriage. No ''separate and unequal'' solutions will solve this inequity short of full civil-marriage equality for all. As a gay man, my relationship of nine years with my partner is not afforded the same immigration rights as straight married couples. Therefore, we will be forced to leave the United States next year for a nation that respects gay people's civil rights. America needs to wake up. TIM MILLER,...

While liberal judges strike down law after law after law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, polls show that most Americans are against legitimizing gay marriage. This fact has led conservative congressmen to draw up a Federal Marriage Amendment to "protect traditional marriage," and rightly so. Activist judges have repeatedly shown themselves to be out of step with the Constitution; apparently, this is not enough. Now, they are proving to be out of step with public opinion--making the Judicial branch of government increasingly resemble a web of Communist dictators. However, the margin of support for...

The question of homosexual marriage presents the American people with an inescapable moral challenge. The words homosexual and marriage are inherently contradictory. The very fact that these terms are in public conflict demonstrates the radical character of the social revolutionaries that now demand the legalization of homosexual marriage. For at least the last one hundred years, America has experienced an unprecedented season of social transformation. Now, this transformation has been extended to experimentation with the most basic institutions and cherished principles of our common life. A conversation about "homosexual marriage" is only possible if the concept of marriage is completely...

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (BP)--I received an e-mail from a member of our community about a sermon I had preached concerning homosexuality. "Why do you feel you can speak with such authority on this subject when Jesus is quoted not one single time on the topic of homosexuality?" he asked. If you are a connoisseur of the cable news channels, you probably heard the same question posed to those who opposed the election of a homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church last year or Massachusetts' supreme court declaring that "marriage" rights must be extended to homosexuals. "If Jesus had nothing to...

BOSTON - A 21st century battle for gay rights is being fought with rhetoric from the civil rights movement of the 1960s - ideals that have echoed through Massachusetts' gay marriage campaign from its outset. Denunciations of "separate but equal" laws have energized a crowd of protesters fighting for new rights. U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, has weighed in with a brief to the state's highest court, as the legislative phase of the debate began and the courts prepared to revisit the landmark decision. "Let freedom ring. Let freedom ring. My...

The following email has been flying around the Cleveland area since this weekend. It appears that the Diocesan contact for a recent Cleveland Diocese Gay and Lesbian Retreat is also the contact for the Egg Moon Farm, a lesbian compound described at Lesbian.com as "Land Dykes." Here you go: If you thought the Cleveland Diocese Gay and Lesbian group was out of control before, you will not believe this one. The gay group at the diocese, futurechurch, and those who hate the church remain one big incestuous mess. I apologize in advance for the disturbing nature of this e-mail, but...

The following appeared in "The Wanderer's" from the mail section. (This does not appear on the website, I had to type it in): In Cleveland, which has been racked with the most damaging sex abuse scandals outside of Boston and Los Angeles, diocesan officials, including Bishop Anthony Pilla, maintain a stiff upper lip as some homosexual activists in the chancery and parishes continue to transform parishes into gay-friendly communities. Consider: The Diocese of Cleveland's official web site (www.dioceseofcleveland.com) greets the viewer with a rainbow flag, and gay activists at the diocese's Gay and Lesbian Family Ministry (GLFM) office are way...

<p>BARCELONA, Spain (AP) --  Shrieking protesters at the AIDS conference in Spain drowned out U.S. health secretary Tommy Thompson as he attempted to speak about American global AIDS programs on Tuesday.</p> <p>About 40 people who demanded more U.S. funding clambered onto the lecture platform as Thompson tried to address the 14th International AIDS Conference; some waved placards declaring "Wanted: Bush and Thompson for murder and neglect of people with AIDS."</p>