Target, Best Buy, 3M Drop On HRC Index After Anti-Gay Donation
PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 04, 2010
Rankings for Target, 3M and Best Buy dropped from last year on a gay
equality index after the companies aided anti-gay Tom Emmer.
The Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) 2011 Corporate Equality Index
includes 337 companies, up from 305 last year, with a perfect score.
HRC ranks each company on several gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender workplace policies and assigns a rating from 0- to
100- percent.
The perfect scores of three Minnesota-based companies, however,
dropped significantly in this year's index because of their support of
Republican Tom Emmer's bid to become the next governor of
Minnesota.
All three corporations donated a significant amount of money to MN
Forward, an independent political fund supporting Emmer, who has
been linked to the Christian rock band You Can Run But You Can't Hide International, whose members strongly oppose gay rights. He also
opposes the right of gay men and lesbians to marry. Minnesota
lawmakers are considering whether to legalize gay marriage, and
opponents of the institution have backed Emmer.
Each company was penalized 15 points for “failing to take any
corrective action in response to significant community concerns.”
Only one company on the index scored a zero percent.
“ExxonMobil continues to score a zero percent and lose points for
resisting shareholder pressure to amend its non-discrimination policy
[to include sexual orientation and gender identity],” the report's
authors wrote.
BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF
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