AFA Presents 1 Million Boycott Signatures to Target Executives

The CEO of Target said this week the company is standing by its policy of allowing transgender people to use bathrooms and fitting rooms that match their gender identity.

"We've had a long history of embracing diversity and inclusion," Brian Cornell said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "So we took a stance, and we're going to continue to (embrace) our belief of diversity and inclusion and just how important that is to our company, but we're also going to make sure our focus on safety is unwavering."

Cornell made the remarks on the same day the president and assistant to the president of American Family Association (AFA) delivered a million signatures on a Boycott Target petition to company headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"Target's dangerous dressing and bathroom policy poses a threat to women and children," wrote AFA president Tim Wildmon in an email Thursday.

AFA leaders also met with Target executives and requested the company retract its policy regarding transgender individuals.

"We simply presented our concerns over their corporate policy to the two representatives, and they took our concerns in, but they stated that they still stood by their dangerous policy," Walker Wildmon, AFA's assistant to the president, told CBN News. "So that left us no option but to continue the boycott and to march on to the second million signatures."

AFA has presented a compromise in the debate.

"One solution is a common-sense approach and a reasonable solution to the issue of transgendered customers: a unisex bathroom," Wildmon wrote. "Target should keep separate facilities for men and women, but for the trans community and for those who simply like using the bathroom alone, a single occupancy unisex bathroom option should be provided."

Cornell says safety is a priority at Target.

"The vast majority of our stores, actually over 1,400 of our stores already have a family restroom, and we're committed over the next few months to make sure every one of our stores has that option because we want our guests to be welcomed in our stores," Cornell said. "But if there's a question of safety... our focus on safety is unwavering, and we want to make sure we provide a welcoming environment for all of our guests -- one that's safe, one that's comfortable, and that's our commitment over time.

Walker Wildmon says Cornell's response does not address the problem.

"Target's announcement yesterday to add nearly 400 restrooms to their remaining stores -- family restrooms -- is really a distraction to the problem, and it does not answer the question that we have and the concern we have," Wildmon said. "Their policy remains that men can go to women's restrooms, and women can go to men's restrooms -- it's a free-for-all. And the family restroom addition does not matter if you still have people going to the restroom of the opposite sex."

As of yet, Target has not responded to a CBN News request for an interview.