Would You Boycott a Business Because of the Owner's Political Views?

[account_inactive]

Depends.

[abaris]

Right, so have they done anything besides what I just mentioned?

Taking an openly anti gay stance or forcing your own religious views down your employee's throats goes beyond donating to christian organisations. In both cases, they openly interfere with the freedoms of individuals. That's not something I would support by giving them money.

[Aroura]

I would not refuse to patronize a business based only on something like who they voted for, but if they actively discriminate, or promote practices that hurt the community, then yes.
Hobby Lobby will never see a dime from me. I won't set foot in a Walmart. I even felt guilty the one time I sat outside of one for 2 hours supervising a GS cookie booth. For a period of time, I refused to donate to the Salvation Army, but they have updated their hiring practices to be more inclusive of LGBT, so I started donating again.

It works, in at least some cases. The amount of backlash Seaworld as getting caused them to halt their whale breeding programs AND whale training/shows permanently. They will now serve as a rehab, and zoo for animals that cannot be released back to the wild. This change was caused at least in part to a drop in ticket sales due to public concern over whale wellfare.
For a couple of years, I would have refused to visit a Sea World, but since they have changed, I would give them my money again. Nothing is permanent. If Walmart starts paying a living wage, I'll patronize them. I would rather buy one locally made $50 dollar sweater per year than 5 $10 ones made by child slaves in another country. Americans (and westerners in general) have gotten used to buying tons of cheap crap. Sorry, getting kind of off topic there, lol.

[Jesster]

Depends.

Why would you have to boycott those?

[brewer]

Depends.

Why would you have to boycott those?

Wait till you're around someone that does not change them often.

[Ravenshire]

Hobby Lobby has forever changed the societal landscape in using their money to ensure that corporations now have precedent, and have first amendment rights to free speech. This is absolutely atrocious to me. I don't have much use for hobby stores to begin with, but I will go out of my way to go to a Jo-Annes or a Michaels instead.

There's definitely a line. Everyone can't just do whatever they want and call it "freedom of religion," obviously. But I don't think what hobby lobby did crossed that line. There are something like 20ish different types of birth control that insurance will cover. Four of those 20 types of birth control are more notorious for causing abortions. The family who owns hobby lobby is very strongly against abortions and understandably don't want to pay for insurance for those 4 specific types of birth control. But they will pay for the other 16 or so. Also, I heard they pay their employees well above minimum as a starting pay, so it's not like they don't care for or value their employees. 

Anyway, I don't see how that is unreasonable, if that's all they've done. I'm sure I'd probably do the same if I owned my own business. 

With that being said, even if I was pro abortion, I'd still not boycott them for that. As I said, It'd be hard to find a business who didn't do something I was opposed to.

What the Hobby Lobby did was an infringement of their employees rights. Many people, especially those working for minimum wage jobs (the majority of jobs at HL) cannot afford even basic health care. For them to dictate what health care is "acceptable," then refuse to pay is morally reprehensible.

Chick-Fil-A's stance against gays went much farther than just donating to christer charities with multiple public statements condemning them.

We'll have to agree to disagree though, as it seems you see nothing wrong with what either company has done.

[Aegon]

Depends how much I like that business. There's a deli near me that's absolutely amazing, and it's without a doubt the best sandwich shop I've ever been to. They'd have to do something extreme to get me to stop going there because, fuck, their heroes are magnificent.

[Seraphina]

I live in Tennessee, it is a safe assumption that most businesses are Christian owned, and the owners probably share many or at least some of the beliefs that I find abhorrent.

I would never go out of my way to avoid patronizing a place just because they believe these things. I would, however, if they posted a sign in the window saying "Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" or "Trump is a Gift from God," advertising their position.

+1
There's an old saying that politics and religion shouldn't be discussed in mixed company. People tend to get emotional about those topics and it's folly to tell the world your controversial positions, especially as a business owner, and not expect a backlash.
But I don't first check what the owner's personal beliefs are before I patronize a business.

What makes me sit up and take notice is companies like Hobby Lobby who insist on litigating their discriminatory practices all the way to the US Supreme Court or companies that openly and proudly donate to political causes that are antithetical to my own. They won't get a dime of my hard-earned dollars.

[Redoubtable]

No, because it has nothing to do with business and should have nothing to do with business. The politicization of doing something as simple as buying groceries is a bad sign for society. Politics is basically war by other means and it shouldn't be introduced into every sphere of life or else we're royally screwed when it comes to salvaging any hope for unity in this country or any country.

[Crossless2.0]

I live in Tennessee, it is a safe assumption that most businesses are Christian owned, and the owners probably share many or at least some of the beliefs that I find abhorrent.

I would never go out of my way to avoid patronizing a place just because they believe these things. I would, however, if they posted a sign in the window saying "Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" or "Trump is a Gift from God," advertising their position.

+1
There's an old saying that politics and religion shouldn't be discussed in mixed company. People tend to get emotional about those topics and it's folly to tell the world your controversial positions, especially as a business owner, and not expect a backlash.
But I don't first check what the owner's personal beliefs are before I patronize a business.

What makes me sit up and take notice is companies like Hobby Lobby who insist on litigating their discriminatory practices all the way to the US Supreme Court or companies that openly and proudly donate to political causes that are antithetical to my own. They won't get a dime of my hard-earned dollars.

That's exactly my position, too.

After all, I didn't ask the neighborhood barber's opinion about a damn thing 4+ years ago when I plopped my ass onto his chair. That he felt comfortable complaining to a perfect (white) stranger about 'the blacks' two minutes into my haircut told me everything I needed to know. Fuck him and his business.