The lack of Target’s LGBTQ support caused Lady Gaga to dissolve a deal related to her ‘Born This Way’ album And when anti-gay extremists put a marriage equality ban on the Minnesota ballot, the company refused to take a stance in opposition.
Things got even worse when the company banned marriage equality activists from passing out information near stores - an act that a court later ruled was unconstitutional. Throughout this time, Target continued to make donations to anti-LGBTQ candidates, giving $31,200 to various politicians and causes harming the LGBTQ community. In response, the Human Rights Campaign eliminated Target from its Equality Buying Guide, and various activists organized flashmobs to disrupt Target’s unscrupulous accumulation of wealth. Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel wrote a half-hearted apology and at the suggestion he donate an equal amount of money to Tom Emmer’s opponent in the election, refused. In other words, the company admitted it that it had no moral compass and would support any candidate, no matter how repugnant, in the pursuit of financial security.Ī period of public outrage followed.
“Target supports causes and candidates based strictly on issues that affect our retail and business interests,” wrote one company representative. In 2010, Target’s LGBTQ support took a backseat to electing Rep. Neither Target nor Minnesota Forward were focused on civil rights - instead, their mission was the consolidation of wealth for large corporations - but their chosen candidate, Tom Emmer, had declared himself a fanatical opponent of queer people. That’s when a report emerged that the company had given $150,000 to a group called “Minnesota Forward,” which was paying to get a wildly anti-gay candidate elected governor of the state. Most people gave little thought to Target’s position on queer politics until 2010.