Target & Tom Emmer

I'm just going to put this out there. I don't mean to engage in a debate. I work at Target as a contractor. Its commitment to diversity is incredible and it is an excellent corporate citizen. It sponsors PRIDE, it got a top rating by HRC, it got a thumbs-up from Green Peace for it's fish sustainability practices, it donates 5% of its income (note: income not profit) to education, the arts, etc. It responds to disasters faster than FEMA.
I've never worked at a corporation where it was so safe to be out. A good friend of mine is on Target's GLBT business council. The group is over 1,000 Target people, lead by a senior VP who's a lesbian. (Senior VP - that's way high up in the organization.) The council met many days ago when this first broke to figure out what to do.
They're not going to be making a lot of noise about it at this point. But an interesting outcome of this, my friend speculates, could be part of the big leap forward for gay rights. We know it's not "if", but "when" and these things can change seemingly suddenly. People reacted noisily and Steinhafel understood, hopefully.
Target is going to begin having one's orientation as an optional piece of demographic information you can fill in, like race. There is a growing movement to do this, I guess. This will allow the company to track how the community is doing, make sure there isn't any institutionalized bigotry going on. (Needless to say there are arguments to be made against the idea of such information being gathered.)
The council also included in their discussion the despicable views on immigration reform. There is a Hispanic business council also, though I haven't heard much from them. In the press the immigration piece didn't generate as much attention as the GLBT position.
The real heart of the matter is that Target shouldn't have been allowed to sink so much money into the cesspool that has become politics. The f*cking Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United is to blame. You want real reform in this country? Campaign finance reform - public funding of campaigns. We can dream.
As for Target, I don't know. I like the idea of a 72 hour boycott. If they notice a statistically significant drop, if even for a few days, and even if there's a subsequent bump of the same amount, they will have noticed. It's a pinch, a sock in the arm. But a message that will not go unnoticed. The high standards we associate with Target made this whole thing painful. We know Walmart is bad so we're rarely shocked. Target, why did you disappoint me?
But it wasn't Target. It was one man at the top who made the decision to do this. If you're really troubled by this and want to do something, don't stop shopping at Target. Keep supporting it for all that it offers (for all the things that you can't get locally because, of course). Instead write a letter to the guy who made the decision. If he/they do it again, then stop shopping at Target.

Gregg Steinhafel

Target Corporation

1000 Nicollet Mall

Minneapolis, MN 55403

Check out Target's commitment to diversity site. Skip Steinhafel's statement but look around.