Following Target’s $150,000 donation that supported advertising for an antigay Minnesota candidate, the Human Rights Campaign entered negotiations with the company, asking that it contribute an equal amount to candidates who support equal rights.
HRC vice president Fred Sainz told the Chicago Tribune the group is threatening to urge action against the planned construction of two San Francisco Target stores is the company does not meet its demands.
San Francisco supervisors met with Target officials recently in what turned into a volatile meeting.
"We were very upset," gay county supervisor Bevan Dufty said in the Tribune article. "You can't take two dates to the prom. You can't brand your company as one that values [gay and lesbian rights] and then make contributions to candidates who spend every waking breath to make us second class citizens."
Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel issued an apology for the donation, though the company maintains that the decision to donate, though unwise, was made on the basis of economic policy without considering social issues.
The controversy erupted in the wake of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a recent Supreme Court case that allows for corporate spending on campaign advertising.
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