AFA calls on Target to reconsider bathroom policy after voyeur records woman in dressing room

Target at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley Massachusetts. | Wikimedia Commons/Sprew

The American Family Association (AFA) has called on Target Corporation to reconsider its bathroom policy after its employees failed to prevent a man from recording a woman in a dressing stall in one of its stores.

ABC13 reported last week that surveillance cameras captured the reaction of a woman when she realized that a man was recording her while she was in a dressing room stall in Target store in The Woodlands, Texas.

The woman, identified only as Leslie, said that she screamed, but no one near the dressing room stopped to help her. She ran out of the dressing room to stop the voyeur, but the man pushed her out of the way.

Following the incident, the AFA has written a letter to Target CEO Brian Cornell, urging him to reconsider its bathroom policy allowing customers and employees to choose which bathrooms or changing rooms to use regardless of their gender.

"We have warned you over and over and over again that your bathroom and dressing room policy puts customers at risk for physical and emotional violence," AFA President Wildmon wrote.

"This past sexual incident in your The Woodlands, Texas, store is just one more example of how your company's disregard for the safety and well-being of women and children has scarred another life," he continued.

In the open letter, Wildmon directly asked the Target CEO, "just how many more people have to suffer before you stop the insanity?"

"Sexual assault is REAL. In light of this latest case, how can you be so callous as to continue to allow men to enter women's dressing room areas?" Wildmon added.

Leslie said that the incident stayed with her for several days. The only man who attempted to help her was a man by the name of Russel Sevier, who chased the voyeur and took a picture to aid the police in identifying the suspect.

Wildmon questioned whether Target staff have been properly trained to respond to such incidents as no one apparently intervened to help the woman.

The AFA, which has been calling for a boycott on Target over its bathroom policy, has recently delivered 500,000 petition signatures to the company's headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Wildmon said that he met face-to-face with Target executives and urged them to end the boycott by reversing its bathroom policy, but they rejected his plea.

The conservative group has collected about 1.5 million signatures since the petition was launched.