HRC's message to Target

Target and Best Buy have donated over $250,000 to a political committee supporting a rabidly anti-equality candidate for Governor of Minnesota, where both are headquartered – a man with ties to a Christian rock band that advocates violence and death to gays.

Help HRC let them know that it's NOT OK.

HRC Launches New Action Alert and Video against Target and Best Buy

The Human Rights Campaign will launch another nationwide action alert and a new online video today calling on Target and Best Buy to “make it right” after they contributed a combined $250,000 to MN Forward, a group supporting anti-equality gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. After a week of outcry from LGBT Americans and their allies, neither corporation has made clear how they hope to repair their damaged reputations among fair-minded consumers.

“Every day that goes by, fair-minded consumers are wondering when Target and Best Buy plan to recognize that equality is good business,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Their leadership on LGBT workplace issues will continue to be compromised until they make it right.”

Close to 100,000 people have signed an open letter from HRC to Target and Best Buy calling on them to make equivalent donations to groups that support candidates who will put all Minnesota families first. The letter appeared as a full page advertisement in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Sunday. More than a third of those 100,000 people identify as straight allies, demonstrating the widespread damage these contributions have caused.

The New York Times today reported that the investment bank Goldman Sachs has pledged not to spend corporate funds on political advertising even in the wake of the Citizens United ruling that would have freed them and other corporations to do so. The article cites Target as coming under fire for its donation to MN Forward.