Rights Group Applies Pressure To Retail Giants

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign has launched another nationwide action alert and a new online video 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.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.