Target Executives In Bed With Religious Right

One of my favorite puns of all time is about the poet who could only write after waking up from a deep sleep. Yes, they say he went from bed to verse ... *rimshot*

Sadly, there's nothing funny about Target Corporation's "bad to worse" situation when it comes to the increasingly scrutinized political donations of both the company, and its senior executives. It all started a few weeks ago when word of Target's $150,000 donation in support of an extremely anti-gay candidate in Minnesota, Tom Emmer, came to light. Emmer, after all, has never made it a secret that he views gays and lesbians as immoral, wants to keep them from being parents, and supports religious ministries that advocate violence toward the LGBT community.

But who knew that once this onion started to get peeled that there would be so many layers? Soon after Emmer's $150K became known, word started to spread that Target's CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, had supported a host of anti-gay politicians, from Rep. Michele Bachmann (who once compared gay people to pedophiles) to Tim Pawlenty (who as current governor of Minnesota, vetoed a bill that would have allowed gay people to plan the funerals of their deceased partners). But it wasn't just Steinhafel. Nope, more political donations from Target's senior crew became known, and they were almost all made to political candidates with anti-gay views. Some senior Target executives even gave money to support Proposition 8 in California, which took away marriage rights for the state's gay and lesbian population.

Now comes even deeper religious right connections, courtesy of Abe Sauer, who at the very least should be nominated for Employee of the Month at the Awl for his awesome dirt-digging into Target's political activity. He notes that Steinhafel (Target's CEO) has intimate ties to a number of evangelical and religious groups in Minnesota. It also turns out that Steinhafel's daughter, who at one point in time was also an executive at Target, went to college at Wheaton, a school that disciplines students who are found to be gay, and makes all incoming freshmen sign a contract condemning homosexuality.

Apparently, homophobia runs in the family. And speaking of family, this same daughter also attended a program run by Focus on the Family, the organization out of Colorado with a multi-decade track record of squashing gay rights. Focus on the Family, despite the fact that it has had to lay off a sizable chunk of its workforce, goes around the country spending millions of dollars trying to promote bans on gay marriage and gay adoption. The organization also believes that homosexuality can be cured or changed.

Now, we've all got to be thinking: "Seriously Target?  Could there possibly be any more right-wing skeletons in your Isaac Mizrahi-filled closets?" But sure enough, there's more.

Another executive -- their VP for Governmental Affairs, Matt Zabel -- used to be a former staffer for South Dakota Sen. John Thune. Sen. Thune, elected in 2004, has a history with anti-gay legislation so deep, it would fill a Target shopping list. He has supported amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage. He has supported legislation to ban gays and lesbians from parenting. And he once said that people who are gay and lesbian should be disqualified from certain positions, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court.

What a wicked web you've woven, Target.

And though it happened on Friday, it's worth mentioning that more than 200,000 petitions were dropped off at Target headquarters by MoveOn, signed by scores of people who pledged not to shop at the company until Target pledges to stop trying to buy elections with corporate money.

Photo credit: via Facebook