Target's Tom Emmer? Yeah, He Wanted to Dismantle HIV/AIDS Programs, Too

There's so much that's been said already about Target Corporation's "choice" in the 2010 Minnesota governor's race, GOP candidate Tom Emmer. Target, in throwing $150,000 Emmer's way (Best Buy, too, threw $100,000 toward a group supporting Emmer), financially backed a candidate who has tried to push for a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage, supported legislation that would prevent gay and lesbian parents from using surrogate mothers, and who has financially supported a religious ministry that accuses gay people of molesting children and advocates violence toward the LGBT community.

That talking point feels like it's on speed dial right now. But if you look back on Tom Emmer's legislative career in the Minnesota House, one has to wonder how Target and Best Buy couldn't see the crazy on the wall with this candidate. Emmer, in 2005, orchestrated a legislative push that would have dismantled all statewide funding for Minnesota's largest HIV/AIDS program, the Minnesota AIDS Project. In an appeal he wrote on his legislative web site, Emmer accused the Minnesota HIV/AIDS Project of being too sexually graphic in their educational materials about how to prevent HIV, particularly with a web site called Pride Alive.

"Minnesota AIDS Project and Pride Alive supporters would have you believe the only way to educate about sex is to talk graphically about sex," Emmer wrote on his web site back in 2005. "No argument justifies the crude and animalistic words, depictions and graphics Pride Alive features in its materials."

Those "crude and animalistic" words? They were health-related information for men who have sex with men. Meaning that it covered topics about how to prevent STD/STI-transmission through sex, including anal sex and oral sex, as well as discussion of other safer-sex practices.

Yes, apparently for Tom Emmer, HIV-prevention should come without any discussion of the sexual practices that can lead to HIV-transmission. What a visionary he is. A visionary for creating a toxic climate for STIs to thrive.

This isn't the least of Emmer's controversial views, either. We know that Emmer, for example, wants to chemically castrate all people accused of sex crimes. On the economic front, Emmer said that he would enthusiastically sign a bill slashing the minimum wage if it were passed by the Minnesota legislature. He also made waves by suggesting that servers and waitresses make too much money, and that they should have the playing field leveled so that their wages get brought down a peg. Oh, and yes, there's also Emmer's support for legislation that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions, if said pharmacist had a moral qualm about dispensing the medicine.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any more provocative, Tom Emmer suggested lowering the criminal penalties for drunk driving. Perhaps that's because Emmer has himself been charged with two DUIs in his life. But whatever the reason, Emmer's support for such a move has drawn the outrage of families who have lost close relatives to drunk drivers, including this Minnesota mom featured in a commercial from the Alliance for a Better Minnesota.

Again, perhaps most of this is nothing new. But given that today is primary day in Minnesota, and GOP voters will be sending Tom Emmer heading into the general election with a pat on his back, it bears mentioning all of the positions that this candidate espouses.

Democrats, for their part, will be choosing between several candidates, including Mark Dayton (ironically a former heir to the Target corporation), Matt Entenza, and the party-endorsed Margaret Anderson Kelliher. All three are leading Tom Emmer in the polls (particularly Dayton, who is absolutely trouncing him). And all three of these folks, incidentally, support same-sex marriage.

Oh, and proving that the fallout from Target's donation in support of Emmer isn't letting up, this Saturday there will be nationwide boycotts of Target at stores around the country. Check out the Facebook page here for more information.

Photo credit: Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics