On the one hand: They donated $150,000 to pass PROP 8 in California and donated to a group supporting Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, a vocal gay marriage opponent. They got a lot of flack for that. This could just be a cynical mea culpa to get the gays back in their stores.
On the other hand: They might actually have changed their anti-gay stance, in which case we should support them and applaude them for evolving.
On the OTHER other hand: The shirts aren’t available in the stores, only online, and only for the month of June. Which seems sort of half-hearted.
Then there’s THIS to think about: Target sells pride-specific items, takes the profit and donates it and then gets a tax break. You make the donation….Target gets the tax break.
But: Gwen Stefani designed a couple of the shirts!
Another thing: In the past, small businesses have made and sold these types of product to the community. It was gays supporting gays. This feels like it’s corporatizing and profiting off of gay pride.
And yet: Target is doing this as part of a decade-long partnership with the Family Equality Council, a Washington, D.C.-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy group. And they’ve continued to be a major sponsor for the Pride festivities in Minneapolis, and score high on the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index, which rates businesses on workplace policies for LGBT employees. Soooo… what more are we asking of them?