Outrage continues over corporate anti-gay political contributions

Updating previous reports that Target donated $150,000 to MN Forward, the political action committee supporting anti-gay gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, electronics giant Best Buy is also coming under fire for donating $100,000 to the same group, leaving queer allies wondering where to shop.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has launched a call for the two corporate giants to “Make it Right,” asking allies to sign an open letter to Target and Best Buy requesting that the companies “make equivalent donations to groups that support candidates who will put all Minnesota families first and fulfill the promises of our highest ideals.” The HRC also provides copies of the letter that Kansas Citians can print and distribute to managers of local Target and Best Buy stores.

The wildfire spreads

Advocate.com reports that out singer/songwriter Matt Morris amended a recent YouTube post to include an urge to viewers to sign the HRC letter.

MoveOn, a liberal political action committee, jumped on the criticism bandwagon with a letter to its members, according to The Raw Story, saying “Target must think customers won't care. They're wrong: We do care, and we need to let them know that we want Target—and all corporations—out of our elections.”

Towleroad also reported that TV’s Keith Olbermann discussed the outrage over the donations on his show, MSNBC’s Countdown, in which he pointed out that "Target is the first corporation to dive into the cesspool created by the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United,” referring of course to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which allowed corporations to donate funds to pay for political ads, and Change.org expanded those discussions on the political implications, suggesting that corporations could be spooked by all the outrage Target and Best Buy are facing, thus possibly avoiding donations to political campaigns in the future.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen. Meanwhile, LGBTQ groups wait for an appropriate response from the retail giants. Subscribe to this column for more information as it becomes available.