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Human Rights Campaign Finally Enters Target And Best Buy Donations Fray
07/30/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Coming into the fray a little late, the Human Rights Campaign has issued a letter condemning the recent decisions by Target and Best Buy to donate to MN Forward. While the Minnesota PAC claims to be non-partisan, they are run by a former aid of Tim Pawlenty, the current Republican Governor of the state, and they are only supporting one gubernatorial nominee, one Tom Emmer, who is vehemently opposed to LGBT Rights. Target has maintained that they are only willing to donate to those who will help them raise their profits, in this case Emmer has promised to cut taxes, but in so doing, they have angered one of the most lucrative demographics in the nation- the LGBT Community.
According to the letter written by the HRC to Target and Best Buy:
“Now, Americans are questioning their loyalty to your brands with word of significant
contributions to the political action committee MN Forward that hopes to install one of
the most strident opponents of equality in the Minnesota Governor’s mansion. With these
contributions, you have severely damaged those carefully cultivated reputations and violated
the spirit of the gold standards bestowed on you. In fact, the long-term effects on families
that shop at Target and Best Buy throughout Minnesota and the U.S. will be devastating.”
The full letter is below. The letter does not seem to call for a boycott, which is what is going on already, and does not seem to seek to punish either company in any way. Instead, the HRC just sounds a dire warning for the two companies to consider what the fallout will be. What the fallout will be is simple, people who believe in LGBT rights will not shop there. Of course, many Americans have been questioning these donations now for a week.
Of course, not everyone is being quite so. . .well, kind. Rapper Sean Chapin did a parody of Lauryn Hill’s “Lost Ones” targeting the two companies. He raps “You might win some, but you just lost one.”
The thing is, many companies put in a lot of money to political candidates who will offer them a little bit of a tax break or a tax incentive, but they will end up selecting candidates who will, ultimately, prove toxic to their company’s bottom line as people walk away. It will not be an open boycott. People will just not shop where they are not wanted.
Of course, the fact that the HRC took quite some time to get this letter out makes one wonder, did they have to translate it out of Ancient Egyptian or something?
Source
HRC Letter to Target and BestBuy
6 Responses to Human Rights Campaign Finally Enters Target And Best Buy Donations Fray
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Bob in LA
July 31, 2010 at 12:12 am
Why is it that when any issue comes that that involves HRC, everyone starts to question HRC before asking any basic questions, such as, what has HRC been doing about Target and Best Buy? For those of you who don’t know it, HRC publishes an annual Buying Guide. The Buying Guide rates companies according to their support of LGBT issues and LGBT personnel policies. Perhaps HRC was in communication with both companies, pointing out that their contributions could affect their scores on it’s Buying Guides, affect their employees, and threaten their bottom line. It could be that after discussions with the companies, because they wouldn’t change their policies, HRC then issuesd a statement. I wasn’t involved in these discussions, but know in the past similar discussions with other companies have taken place when similar situations occurred. Sometimes HRC was successful in getting the companies to change their policies. Sometimes not. But at least they have access to the companies’ management and can work to get policies changed. I’m always amazed at how little people know about what HRC actually does for us.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a volunteer member of HRC. The views here are my own. I wasn’t personally involved in any communications between the HRC staff in DC and the companies involved. I am only speculating on what might have taken place behind the scenes. Nonetheless, the criticism of HRC here is uniformed and likely a matter of pre-judgment.
Bridgette P. LaVictoire
July 31, 2010 at 7:56 am
Bob,
The HRC is not going to do anything, and that is the problem. They waited way to long to say anything, and now, they are just starting to look too cowardly for many people to take seriously.
libhomo
July 30, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I won’t be shopping at Target this weekend. I gave up on the HRC years ago.
A Sauer
July 30, 2010 at 7:37 pm
It took HRC so long because originally they were not going to act at all. As we noted yesterday, by not acting the HRC was putting themselves in an impossible position. Surprise, today they acted.
http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/real-america-your-civil-rights-sausage-is-made-in-minnesota
Bridgette P. LaVictoire
July 30, 2010 at 7:42 pm
I just think it took them so long because they don’t want to sound bold, daring, decisive, you know, relevant.
David Ling
July 30, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Abe your reporting on this story has been fantastic!