On Monday, Target announced the resignation of CEO Gregg Steinhafel. During his tenure, he made decisions that resulted in a clashes with the LGBT community.

In 2010, Target — under Steinhafel’s leadership — gave money to Minnesota Forward, a PAC supporting Republican Tom Emmer for Governor. Donating to Emmer, an opponent of LGBT rights, seemed contrary to the retailer’s values, but to make matters worse, just months before, it was discovered that Emmer’s campaign had given to You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, a ministry that had been vociferously attacking Minnesota’s LGBT community.

Steinhafel said the donations to Emmer were to support his “pro-business” platform, not his anti-LGBT one. Steinhafel’s personal donations to politicians opposed to equality as well as ties to religious right groups served to increase the outrage.

The donations led to public protests, boycotts and demonstrations.

Eventually, Target changed its political donation policies.

The Emmer-Target flap wasn’t the only issue plaguing Target over the last few years — the economic downturn and a major privacy breach among them — but for many the fracas has tarnished their view of Target.

As Abe Sauer wrote at Minnpost:

Steinhafel and Target blundered into a PR disaster that, in many communities, still sees the brand’s name synonymous with homophobia.

The public reaction to Target’s 2010 campaign giving to conservative anti-gay candidates supported by the MN Forward fund are not the reason Steinhafel stepped down today. But they certainly should have a been a dire warning that the CEO and his top management circle was in danger of driving the entirety of the Target brand into the ditch in pursuit of a few minor tax cuts. Target (and Steinhafel’s family personally) supported candidates for no other discernible reason than that they claimed to be “pro-business.”