Following this weekend’s refusal by Target Corp to balance out its $150,000 to MN Forward with a comparable donation to a “fair-minded” candidate in the governor’s race, the Human Rights Campaign is now saying the company may face consequences in the Corporate Equality Index, a yearly report put out by the HRC grading companies’ friendliness towards the LGBT community.
MN Forward is a Political Action Campaign that has exclusively supported the Republican candidate for governor, State Representative Tom Emmer.
In an interview with TheColu.mn yesterday, HRC spokesman Michael Cole characterized Target’s action as “a slap in the face…certainly a punch in the gut to fair-minded Americans.”
The HRC, Cole said, was still exploring how to respond to Target, but was “actively considering” using the CEI to in their response. The 2011 CEI will not be published for several months, and its criteria include one item stating a company will loose 15 points, out of 100 total, if it is “found engaging in activities that would undermine LGBT equality will have 15 points removed from their scores.”
At first blush, the HRC’s problem would seem relatively straightforward – Target’s donation to an avowed opponent of LGBT equality running for the highest office in the state seems like it would clearly qualify. Cole, however, said the issue was more complicated.
Until now, the CEI was concerned solely with workplace environment and a company’s internal anti-discrimination policies, Cole said. In the wake of the Target scandal, enabled by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowing direct corporate donations to election campaigns, Cole said the HRC was being forced to re-think what the CEI measures. Until now, Cole said, only five companies lost points on the CEI in this way, mostly for their workplace policies: ExxonMobile, Walmart, and Verizon, for opposing shareholder attempts to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity in their corporate anti-discrimination policies; Perot Systems, for offering and then rescinding domestic partner benefits; and the Foley and Lardner law firm, for providing pro-bono legal advice for opponents of equality.
Cole would not speak on the record about what the HRC is weighing as it considers how to incorporate political donations into the CEI criteria.
However they justify it they are going to cut the ranking, if only to save face. Both corporations have lost the public (those that pay attention) but can still save some credibility with their corporate partners.
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