Today, a little over a year after Target lost its case against a pro-marriage equality group for canvassing outside a San Diego store, the bullseye retailer announced big news: a drool worthy line of home products from gay designer Nate Berkus will debut exclusively with the retailer this fall.
But with that huge $150,000 donation funding anti-gay causes still seared in our Mary minds (and the company's less than satisfactory handling of the resulting PR nightmare), are gays ready to celebrate the just-announced gay partnership?
Target has banked on the LGBT suffering a memory lapse many times since its absent-minded support of an anti-gay organization in 2010. Starting with that controversial political donation to MN Forward, a conservative group backing anti-gay causes and politicians like Tom Emmer, a tidal wave of mixed messages has cascaded out of the company's public relations office.
Though it made no plans to take its $150,000 contribution back from the homophobic hands of MN Forward, the bullseye did promise to make donating to pro-LGBT groups more of a focus in 2011 and announced the creation of a vetting committee to pore over each and every proposed contribution publicly. Unfortunately, recent evaluations of these promises revealed no increased transparency in Target's political donations, and, perhaps most importantly, according to gay organization's working with the retailer and its gay employees, its "revamped" commitment to LGBT equality hasn't exactly been realized.
Target's anti-gay problem was further compounded in 2011 when Lady Gaga ended an exclusive promotional deal based solely on the company's homophobic actions in March and again in April when the retailer engaged in a full-throttled court battle against marriage equality advocates who had canvassed outside a San Diego store. Target lost its lawsuit, btw.
Despite how the headlines were spun, the LGBT remained feeling disenfranchised by Target throughout 2011—a year the company had hoped to spend mending the burned bridge to return to its place as a shining beacon of pro-LGBT inclusiveness.
Fast forward to May 2012.
In a huge announcement for Nate Berkus, Target and the gay community, Oprah's favorite designer will partner with the giant retailer to sell his exclusive line of (adorable) home goods come fall. Nate and his team are surely aware of the possible criticism that those in the gay community who still observe the two-year old Target boycott (including WeHo's John Duran) might hold toward the just-announced relationship and have, apparently, felt that the storm has calmed enough to move forward with the deal.
But have we? Is the gay community ready to make up and forgive Target?
After all, once Nate's news gains traction, the world can expect anti-gay groups like One Million Moms launching a boycott ala its protest of JC Penney and Ellen. When that arrives (any second now), Target and Nate will need all the support they can get. Will the gays be there to back the bullseye?
Comments (4)
... written by Ric Shaffran,
May 03, 2012
I am deeply saddened that Nate Berkus, for whom I have always had great admiration and respect, had decided to marry Target, a company which has clearly and intentionally taken anti-gay positions in its political contributions. I was a regular Target shopper until the nature of their contributions, and, despite their public promises, their failure to take any significant actions to remedy these inexcusable political positions. How Berkus can justify this new partnership is inconceivable to me. I hate to this that his greed exceeds his ethics - that is never the person that I believed him to be.
+1
... written by Darryl S,
May 03, 2012
You guys seem to be about the only ones that care about this anymore....get over it.
+0
... written by John T,
May 03, 2012
Why couldn't Berkus have gone to JC Penny? They are similar to Target and deserve our support whether through our purchases or through our talents in making their business better.
+0
... written by James S.,
May 13, 2012
My partner and I still boycott Target. It's surprising how many have gone with Darryl S' suggestion to "just get over it." But I suppose that's like the abused wife who keeps going back to the husband who smacks her around. It just takes a little self respect to keep driving over to the retailer who at the very least doesn't fund our opponents.
