http://www.styleite.com/retail/target-anti-gay-donations/This summer we posted about Target’s donations to openly anti-gay politicians and the organizations that support them. To catch you up to speed, Target donated $150,000 to MN Forward, a nonprofit which helped fund Tom Emmer’s campaign for Minnesota governor. The anti-gay rights-leaning Emmer won the Republican nomination but ultimately lost the gubernatorial race.
What confused us about this situation was that Target is famously a wonderful place for gay employees. In fact, in 2009 and 2010 the Human Rights Campaign awarded them a perfect rating of 100% in their Corporate Equality Index. So we asked: “How could a company that sponsors pride events and offers domestic partner benefits to its employees also without remorse back a candidate who opposes the people it cares about so much?” It just didn’t make sense. (And it should be noted that Target’s 2011 Index entry states that the company has been “penalized under Criterion 6 for a large-scale public blemish to their recent records, namely, for failing to take any corrective action in response to significant community concerns.”)
Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel issued a public apology. “Target will take a leadership role in bringing together a group of companies and partner organizations for a dialogue focused on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including GLBT issues,” he promised. But an investigative piece by Abe Sauer over at The Awl shows that perhaps nothing has really changed. Writes Sauer:
According to documents filed with the FEC in October 2010, Target continued donating to a bevy of anti-gay politicians even after Steinhafel apologized and committed to reforming the review process for future political donations. These donations even included some of the same anti-gay politicians the company had already been criticized for supporting.
After Steinhafel’s August 5 letter, Target’s Political Action Committee, helmed by the former right hand of Senator Thune, Matt Zabel, recorded $41,200 in federal election activity. Of that total, $31,200 went to anti-gay rights politicians or PACs supporting those candidates.
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