So muchhas been parlayed back and forth in the media regarding Target’s $150,000 donation to support anti-gay marriage Minnesota GOP candidate Tom Emmer, but not much has been said about Best Buy’s $100,000 donation to the same controversial candidate. Were you aware that there is currently an effort to boycott Best Buy along with Target? If you were not previously aware, you are now. The official “Boycott Best Buy” Facebook page can be accessed here: Boycott Best Buy Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics.
With awareness and knowledge comes responsibility and many around the world are calling for consumers to boycott two of the most beloved stores in the LGBT community– Target and Best Buy. Anti-gay homophobic GOP candidate Tom Emmer not only vows to veto any marriage equality bill that comes across his desk, he also has close ties to an anti-gay Christian rock band that advocates the hateful message of death to gays. Death to gays? Are we living in the 17th Century or something? This is extremely outrageous, hateful and beyond unbelievable.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has suggested referencing the following verbiage for anyone wishing to share their outrage and write to Best Buy and/or Target.
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At this critical time in Minnesotans’ quest for equality, MN Forward and the candidates they are supporting would turn Minnesota backward, away from the promise of equal opportunity and fairness that we hold dear. No matter your motivations in making these donations, they didn’t occur in a vacuum. Same-sex couples in your home state are denied the equality given to other couples in marriage and many state leaders are poised to right that inequity very soon. $250,000 in contributions to those who would stand in the way is a punch in the gut to those of us who want to see all families treated fairly. What may have sounded like a “good business decision” in the board room turns out to be a horribly short-sighted business decision when millions of consumers lose respect for your companies.
The outrage surrounding the decision by Target and Best Buy to support such a truly-unthinkable candidate has the media in a bind. One tries to remain neutral, but there is nothing neutral about preaching death to a community of people. Even more shocking is that the Human Rights Campaign consistently gave both retail companies scores of 100 percent in their HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.
Ironically, the Ethisphere Institute in Minneapolis, MN named Best Buy to their 2010 list of “World’s Most Ethical Companies”. Coincidental? You decide.
Best Buy has yet to acknowledge or issue a direct response to this matter.
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