The Human Rights Campaign released their 2011 Corporate Equality Index earlier this week, a rating of corporate America’s commitments to LGBT equality through their workplace policies. The CEI was being closely watched to see if the HRC would deduct points from Target, Best Buy, and 3M, Minnesota companies with strong records of support for workplace equality but who contributed significant amounts to a group running ads in support of anti-LGBT Republican Tom Emmer’s campaign for governor. The HRC had previously resisted criticism aimed at penalizing these companies for their actions through the CEI, arguably its strongest tool in promoting LGBT rights outside of Congress.

In the report, the HRC states that it docked points from the three companies for “not for the donation itself, but for failing to respond to significant community concerns.”

“The CEI is not designed or intended to create an across-the board assessment of any corporation’s actions, including its political activities,” the report says. The HRC says it will continue to explore the question of corporate political giving posed by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which lifted many restrictions on corporate spending on political advertisements.