American Family Association Moves to New Online Payment System, After PayPal Pulls Jobs Over North Carolina Bathroom Law
TUPELO, Miss.—American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net) has announced that the pro-family organization is partnering with Cornerstone Payment Systems® as its preferred credit card processing provider. Earlier this spring, PayPal punished the state of North Carolina for passing a law requiring men and women to visit the restroom according to the gender on their birth certificate. After the announcement, AFA severed its ties with PayPal and canceled its account.
According to President Tim Wildmon, Cornerstone shares AFA’s values and also works with other like-minded organizations across the U.S. and Canada.
“It’s true that PayPal has the free-market right to deny services to North Carolinians based on their beliefs—even if that belief is in opposition to a state’s commonsense approach to the safety and privacy of its citizens,” Wildmon said. “But by the same token, we must hold companies accountable when they are not in line with our beliefs. Therefore, soon after PayPal’s announcement to pull hundreds of potential jobs and millions of dollars in expansion in North Carolina, American Family Association canceled our use of PayPal and encouraged our supporters and other organizations to do the same. Along with refusing to do business with companies that go against our values, we believe in doing business with companies that align with our values.”
Wildmon added that AFA and its supporters can rest assured that funds spent in credit card processing fees through Cornerstone will never support unbiblical political agendas. Other Cornerstone partners include Blue Letter Bible, Calvary Chapel, Christian Medical & Dental Associations, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Focus on the Family, Liberty Counsel, The Master’s College, Patrick Henry College and The Gideons International, among others.
The move to the new payment system over PayPal comes on the heels of the immensely successful #BoycottTarget pledge, which has been signed by more than 1.25 million Americans in response to the retailer’s controversial restroom and fitting room policy, which gives customers access to the facility that aligns with the gender with which they identify.
“As AFA has stated many times, our worries do not stem from fear of the transgender community, but rather, from the real and potential threat that predators and voyeurs or anyone with evil intentions would take advantage of the policy to harm women and children,” Wildmon continued. “And more than 1.25 million Americans agree. AFA’s #BoycottTarget campaign will continue as strong as it began, and we are confident that millions more will join the movement and voice their fears of Target’s policy. We will not back down from this very destructive and agenda-driven policy and will continue to fight for the more than one million Americans who have already signed the #BoycottTarget pledge.”
On May 12, AFA hand-delivered one million petition signatures to Target headquarters in Minneapolis, after which AFA leadership briefly met with Target senior management about AFA’s concerns over the dangerous bathroom policy. Target executives reported the company would not change its policy but was planning to install private-stall family restrooms in stores not already equipped with them.
AFA is asking those aligned with the #BoycottTarget initiative to take action in several ways:
- Sign the #BoycottTarget pledge online.
- Print the paper petition to distribute among friends and family members.
- Print this AFA Pass Along Sheet to distribute among friends and family.
- Call Target and politely let local managers know you are boycotting the store until policies change and how a boycott of this magnitude will hurt business. Find local Target store phone numbers here.
- Share your concerns on the Target Facebook page. When sharing on social media, use #BoycottTarget to help spread the word.
