Home Depot's PAC Gives Liberally To Anti-Gay Politicos (Don't Tell The AFA)

The American Family Association (AFA) and other social conservatives have been hounding Home Depot for months over the company's support for LGBT employees and pride events. The protests didn't get too far, and it looked like the AFA's cries had been in vain. Luckily for them, the right has found a new case to help bolster their crusade: Home Depot's firing of employee Trevor Keezor for wearing a "One Nation Under God" button.

Now Keezor has filed a lawsuit on grounds of religious discrimination and joined the AFA's cause. "If you're a Christian or a patriot and you want to wear a patriotic button, that violates the corporate policy," he claimed. "But if you're a homosexual and you want to wear an apron with pro-gay buttons and homosexual messages, and wear them in pride parades and gay and lesbian film festivals, those are approved by the Home Depot."

Home Depot defended themselves by insisting that corporate policy prohibits unapproved pins. This associate chose to wear a button that expressed his religious beliefs. The issue is not whether or not we agree with the message on the button," said a spokesman. "Only company-provided pins and badges can be worn on our aprons." Despite all the conservative the outcry, Home Depot refuses to buckle to conservative pressure, thereby earning some LGBT love for their unyielding support of same-sex acceptance.

Before we celebrate Home Depot too much, however, let's consider their PAC's campaign contributions: like Target and Best Buy before it, Home Depot's politics are not as LGBT-friendly as the company lets on.

Looking over the Home Depot PAC's contributions, one would think social conservatives would cheer the tool-loving company. Though they've wisely given $30,000 to both the Democratic and Republican Senatorial campaign committees, the GOP's House branch received an extra $30,000, while the Democrats' counterpart received none.

Meanwhile, the PAC gave generously to PAC's associated with tried and true conservatives like Reps Eric Cantor, John Boehner, and Lynn Westmoreland, all of whom have voted against gay marriage, among other things. And on a more personal level, Home Depot's PAC gave Westmoreland another $10,000 in campaign contributions, and lavished the same amount on Pat Toomey, the Senatorial candidate who in the past voted against every LGBT issue possible. And that's just a sample of Home Depot PAC's favorite Republicans.

In total, Republican Senators and Representatives have amassed a grand total of $434,000 in Home Depot-related money this election season, while the Democratic candidates received a comparatively low $251,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' records.

While not all the Democrats on the list are entirely supportive of gay rights -- Blanche Lincoln comes to mind -- nor are all the Republicans necessarily rabid in their homophobia, Home Depot PAC's electoral largess definitely leans toward the uniformly right wing. Do they still deserve praise for ignoring AFA's ridiculous boycott, or should we give them some ire for helping anti-gay lawmakers stay in power?

Naturally the answer's more complicated than a "yes" or "no," and we must strike a delicate balance between lauding and lamenting Home Depot's politics. As we figure it all out, let's just keep this between us: the AFA has been so blinded by moral indignation that it's been inadvertently working against some of its favorite special interests, and we wouldn't want to ruin that, would we?

Photo credit: Grrrl's Flickr