Yesterday, I wrote this post about how the UpTake just happened to be at the right Target outlet store with their camera at the exact right time to film an aggrieved mother making a purchase costing $226.32, then returning the goods and getting a refund for her purchas.

This morning, a commenter said that the woman described in my post sounds alot like a gay rights activist named Randy Reitan. When I googled her name and clicked on the images tab, it was clear to me that my commenter had the right insight.

Let me be clear about this: I don’t have a quarrel with someone being an activist for a cause, even if it’s a cause I don’t totally agree with. The First Amendment gives each of us the right to make statements of this nature.

This post is dedicated to putting yesterday’s chance meeting in the proper context. It’s equally important that UpTake’s and Mrs. Reitan’s actions are totally transparent and seen from the right perspective.

When I googled Randi Reitan’s name, it said that there were “About 210,000 results (0.16 seconds)” for the web for her name. Here’s a telling link about Randi Reitan:

Randi Reitan, Minnesota’s favorite, and I must say sweetest, PFLAG mom has a great editorial in the Star Tribune about the struggles her family have gone through with religion and love. Here’s a great excerpt:

“To leave this church, which was at the core of our family, is one of the most painful things we have done. But we can no longer worship in a church that treats God’s beloved gay children as sick and sinful based on their sexual orientation. We can no longer sing songs of justice on Sunday morning, knowing the injustice this church lives each and every day with its policies against God’s beloved gay community. We can no longer hear pastors preach of God’s love for all people when the church policy treats its beloved gay members as lesser children of God. We can no longer hear words of love and concern spoken to us in private but never hear them spoken from the pulpit or never see the hierarchy of the church lead with justice.”

If you ever get the chance to meet her, or see her speak, please go. You won’t be disappointed.

Let me repeat this: I don’t have a problem with Mrs. Reitan being an advocate on issues she feels strongly about. I’m writing this post because I want everyone to know, to borrow an old Paul Harvey phrase, the rest of the story.

Yesterday, this is what I said about UpTake’s filming of the shopping spree:

What I question is whether customers are leaving Target en masse. I’m betting they aren’t. I’m betting that UpTake was there to film this to give the impression that people are boycotting Target en masse.

Given this information and the fact that UpTake cameras were in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time to film this tells me that my initial instincts were right.

Readers of this blog are free to draw whichever conclusions they want. I’m just doing the best I can to put the video in the proper context.

Technorati: Activism, Randy Reitan, Gay Rights, Bloggers, UpTake, Transparency, Boycott, Target, MN Forward, PAC, Tom Emmer, Election 2010