Soapbox

Right on Target

Target Corporation (affectionately known to many of us as "Tar-zhay") has a reputation for being very community oriented, with lots of charity programs, green programs, etc. This always made me feel better about all the money I spend there.

But Target has recently been caught with their pants down, so to speak. It has come to public attention that Target Corp has donated a large sum of money  to the Republican candidate for the governor's race in Minnesota, Tom Emmer.

The fact that Emmer is a Republican is hardly the scandal. (Target  spreads their donations out pretty evenly between republican and Democratic candidates, they assure us.) What is raising eyebrows (and voices) is that Emmer is a bit … reactionary in some areas. He has voted to slash funding for AIDS treatment, supports bringing laws like Arizona's "Driving While Brown!" immigration statue to Minnesota,  and came out recently in favor of cutting the states already reduced minimum wage for food workers because apparently, the woman who brings you coffee at Waffle House is getting filthy rich off your tips! But what really has people up in arms is that Tom Emmer has vowed to "protect marriage" in Minnesota by banning gay marriage, civil unions and anything approximating the rights of marriage for gay couples.

Naturally the GLBT community is wondering if they shouldn't shop somewhere else.

Target Corp was quick to say that they don't agree with Emmer's gay marriage position, but that with no candidate does one agree with all their policies. Their commitment to gay rights remains "unwavering", they insist.
Which raises the following two questions in my mind:

1) What is it about this Emmer character that they do agree with? Is it the "no money for AIDS" thing? Are they all excited about his anti-immigrant stand? Maybe it's that crackdown on rich waiters? If they find him worthy of such a substantial contribution, they must be very supportive of some portion of his policy position, yes?
I'm guessing it's his snake-oil tax policy, as in "lower taxes cure everything". If this is the case, then for them, it's all about getting their business taxes reduced.

Which brings me to my second question for the Target CEO.

2) What exactly about your new, lower tax state will you somehow pass on to your GLBT employees to make up for their loss of civil and basic human rights when Governor Emmer tries to whip up support for a law that will not only stop gay marriage but ensure that same-sex couples won't get inheritance rights, death-bed visitations, custody of the children they have helped raise, etc?

How will your "unwavering commitment" to their rights somehow protect them from THAT?

  You say "Hey, we still like gay people- and look how much money we give to food pantries!" and think that makes it OK  to donate OUR money (as in we the shoppers who gave 'em that money by shopping there)  to enable this crazy man to take away human rights. That is like assuring me that "it's nothing personal" while handing a crow bar to a guy who plans to hit me with it.

Actions matter. Doing good is lovely, but it doesn't erase the evil you do. Would giving money to battered women's shelters make it OK to support a candidate who wants to remove penalties for hitting your spouse? Well, sponsoring a float in the Pride parade doesn't make it OK to bankroll a man who wants to treat GLBT people as less than human.