American Apparel has made no secret of its company-wide support for marriage equality. Shortly after the shocking passage of Proposition 8 in California revoked the rights of thousands of legally married same-sex couples, American Apparel began producing a line of t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Legalize Gay: Repeal Prop 8 Now."




















The shirts have become a popular item for activists and supporters alike, and the Los Angeles-based company has made the shirts widely available in its stores and has offered to ship them to groups working to fight Prop 8. Many retail locations have also featured the shirts prominently in window displays.

But in the past few days, several American Apparel stores have received threats about those window displays. On Monday, an employee at the American Apparel store in Silver Spring, MD (in the Washington, D.C. area) arrived at work to find the store's front window smashed.

As reported in the Washington City Paper, nothing in the store was stolen, leading employees and police to believe it was an act of vandalism fueled by the pro-gay message the window presented.

Then on Tuesday, the Georgetown, D.C., American Apparel store received a threatening phone call. The Washington City Paper reported that,

"Around 10:30 a.m., visual merchandiser Walter Reed fielded a call from a male who was 'enraged for no reason.'

'He was like, is this the Silver Spring location? And I said, ‘No, this is the Georgetown location,' ' says Reed. 'He said, ‘You have some Legalize Gay shirts in the window there.’ He said that he and his friends found it offensive, and that if we didn’t take them down, they were going to break it—the window,' said Reed. 'I said, ‘Is that a threat, Sir?’ And then he hung up.' "

American Apparel responded yesterday to the threats and vandalism with the following statement, posted on the company blog, The Daily Update:

Yesterday an American Apparel store in Silver Spring, Maryland had a window broken by someone upset over the company's support for gay marriage. Our Georgetown location and others in the areas have received similar threats. We just wanted to use this forum here to announce that not only are they not going to prevent us from speaking out on an issue that is important to this company and our employees but we'll continue to run Legalize Gay advertisements in papers across DC-Metro area. We'll also send Legalize Gay t-shirts to any group in Washington DC that is fighting for gay rights and will help support any protest or rally for the cause.

We don't find this kind of thing funny and we definitely don't find it intimidating. Thanks to everyone who has reached out to us and if you need anything please contact: Jonny at jonnys@americanapparel.net or (213) 488-0226"

We applaud American Apparel for refusing to bend to the will of cowards who would stand in the way of freedom of expression and advocacy for equality. We appreciate the company's outright support for marriage equality and for the LGBT community as a whole. Don't give up the fight.