Do you continue seeing your friends, even your gay friends, check in on Foursquare to their local Target and think to yourself, “But don’t they know this company donated to anti-gay politicians?” And then maybe you think, “Well, Target apologized for it, and I can’t imagine a giant corporation would be insincere about their commitment to the LGBT community.” Well, you would be wrong: Even after CEO Gregg Steinhafel apologized for his donations to the Tom Emmer-backing MN Forward PAC, and said “later this fall, 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,” Steinhafel continued directing Target’s political cash to anti-gay candidates. A whole freaking slew of them, in fact. Like John Kline and Erik Paulsen, two Tea Party candidates and giant bigots, whose donations from Target appeared after the company tried apologizing to The Gays. And so while Target’s most publicized donations, to Tom Emmer, yielded a loss in the gubernatorial race, it’s not as if the retailer didn’t try fixing other races in its anti-gay favor. It’s just business though, right?
dollars & nonsense
When You Go To Buy Last Minute Christmas Gifts At Target, Remember: The Company Continued Donating To Bigots
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Fitz
So, I should buy them from Sam Whal instead?
Daez
@Fitz: Sam Wahl was a brilliant business man with a slew of ethics. He would role over in his grave on multiple occasions to see what his greedy assed children have turned his legacy into.
You do raise a good point though. EVERY single company at some point has exploited or offended some group of people in the name of profit. If we boycotted all of them, we would never be able to shop again. We also wouldn’t be able to drive a vehicle, live in a house or wear clothing.
Cam
@Fitz:
Anything Target sells you can get on Amazon for the same price or less.
If they are supporting anti-gay politicians than f-them. They are helping people get elected who could one day be confirming judicial picks for states or the U.S. Supremem court as well as debating bills in congress and the Senate. Until their practices change Target is no different then Focus on the Family….except they sell better stuff.
Cam
@Daez:
My god, you and I agree on something. Right on the money about Sam and his kids. When he was in charge, remember, Wal-Mart’s whole advertising campaign was “Look for the VISA tag, that means Made in America!” The kids definitly took the shop in a different direction.
justiceontherocks
Who the hell is “Sam Wahl”?
scott
um, target didn’t donate to “anti-gay politicans.” it donated to a political action committee (which decides on its own where its money goes) that focused on economically liberal policies, just like just about every other major company. we only know about it because of MN’s transparency laws. if you want to boycott it, fine. but you should be all but living an amish life.
the crustybastard
@scott: Target laundered its anti-gay donation through a conservative PAC, not a “liberal” one.
Cam
@scott: Additionally after apologizing and saying that they would scrutinize futher donations they proceeded to donate more money to the same types of organizations and politicians.
scott
@the crustybastard: i should have been more clear. i was using ‘liberal’ in the classical economic sense.
JAW
Target does not even know if we have boycotted them. There is no way for them to tell who is gay and straight at the check out. The only people being hurt are the gay groups that are not accepting donations from Target, esp those in Min.
If we are looking for a company to boycott it should be Sirius/XM radio. They just gave Dr Laura a voice to lie about us. Sirius/XM has many far right stations blasting hate against us. If each gay person out there who subscribes, were to cancel the subscription saying that the network was anti-gay… that would be noticed, and it would make a difference!
Pickles
Jaw: Target definitely knows I boycotted them. They know my sister boycotted them -because we wrote multiple letters, even listing the products I used to buy from them and how much I spent at small businesses as a direct result of their crappy, hate-based political action committee donations…and they sent letters of receipt. Someone at Target kept track of what this did to their reputation. The boycott was proven to lessen their sales- partly because the media (whom everbody gripes about- usually justifiably) really covered the story brilliantly. Target will become a more responsive (or covert??) company as a result of their foolish business actions- and bigoted Tom Emmers, whom they essentially supported DIDN’T EVEN WIN. Haahaha! It is vitally imporant that you voice your opinion, even now to companies like Target. You have a voice- let it be heard.
Pickles
Regarding XM/Sirius. They should be condemmed for hiring that idiot, ‘Dr’ Laura. Here’s where to email them and let them know. You’ll be done in less than a minute and they’ll get a piece of your mind they never saw coming.
http://www.sirius.com/customercare
On another note, they also have an all-gay station, Rosie Radio (Rosie O’Donnel), Howard Stern (hey, he’s a liberal!), two NPR stations, a lefty/liberal station, Oprah & Martha Stewart (Both liberals and pro-gay).