Urban Outfitters Pulls Pro-Gay-Marriage Shirts From Shelves

In another sign
that one of America's hippest retailers isn't as
forward-thinking as one might assume, Urban Outfitters has
pulled a T-shirt touting same-sex marriage from its
shelves.

The shopping blog

Racked reported late last week that the
Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters removed "I Support
Same-Sex Marriage" shirts from its stores after they
had been on sale for only a week. The publicly
traded clothing chain blamed the removal of the shirts
on bad press, but according to Racked, the negative
publicity consisted of only one blog post.

The shirts'
designer, Tara Littman, told Racked, "With quite a few
pro-Obama shirts in their store and even some anti-McCain
products, this clearly isn't a company that has a
problem being politically aligned, so why?"

Urban Outfitters
chairman Richard Hayne is known as a conservative --
he's donated thousands of dollars to right-wing causes,
including the campaigns of homophobic former
Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. When asked in 2003
what his own views were about homosexuality, Hayne told the
Philadelphia Weekly, "I have my own
opinion, but I am not going to share it."

The same-sex
marriage shirts are not the only Urban items to generate
scandal. In 2003, Urban began selling “Everyone Loves
a Jewish Girl” shirts, which had dollar signs
surrounding the text. In 2006, Philadelphia stores
featured handgun Christmas decorations, even
though the city suffered over 300 gun-related murders
that year. (Neal Broverman, Advocate.com)