The controversy over Target and Best Buy contributions to a Minnesota political action committee funding anti-LGBT gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer has reached mammoth proportions. Hundreds of thousands of boycott notices have been delivered to both companies. Those protesting range from LGBT community members upset with Emmer's negative social agenda to those upset with Target's and Best Buy's "buying" of elections through their $150,000 and $100,000 contributions, respectively.

Regardless of any external controversy, one of those companies is continuing in its commitment to offer safe, welcoming and inclusive workplaces for their LGBT employees. Campus Pride's executive director, Shane Windmeyer, experienced that commitment firsthand this week when he was invited as a special guest to address the PRIDE Employee Business Network (EBN) at the Best Buy district headquarters in Charlotte, which oversees the company's Territory 7 including all stores located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

Windmeyer was invited to speak about "Community Partnerships" -- a core belief of Best Buy in enhancing relations with various components and communities of diversity. The PRIDE EBN is an internal Best Buy network with various regional representations of employees who actively work to embrace LGBT employees and customers as well as enhance Best Buy outreach and relations. In 2008, Best Buy through it's employee volunteer program had a student named Zach Rose-Heim who initiated the community partnership with Campus Pride. Best Buy became an annual community partner by donating equipment, goods and services to the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp and also making a $2500 monetary donation through Zach's volunteer time.

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"I don't blame them," a friend told me, taking sympathy for Target, as I explained their anti-gay donations and the ensuing boycott threats from LGBT community members.

"What do you mean?"

He responded, "They're just playing both sides of the aisle. I don't blame them. I would too."

(Photo right: An image from a Facebook group urging a boycott of Target, via Minnesota Independent)

My friend has a point: Large corporations often give donations and contributions to all sorts of organizations of all sorts of ideological stripes. In Target's case -- wherein more than 250,000 people have pledged boycott over its donations to an anti-gay PAC in Minnesota -- the political contributions to "both sides of the aisle" aren't nearly as even as they should be. One could make the argument that Minnesota-based Target has never been as "Tar-gay"-friendly as it's appeared.

The controversy started when Target was blasted for a $150,000 donation to MN Forward, a political action committee run by and endorsing Tom Emmer, an anti-LGBT, Republican candidate for Minnesota governor. But that wasn't nearly the end of the story. As gay activists dug deeper, they found Target employees gave overwhelmingly to the anti-gay side of California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative. According to OpenSecrets (via The Huffington Post), employees gave $3,250 to the campaign to pass Proposition 8. Only $750 was given to organizations working to defeat the anti-gay marriage amendment. (To be fair, Target has released a statement distancing itself from Proposition 8 contributions.)

And, of course, it doesn't end there. By all accounts, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel seems to be of an evangelical Christian stripe -- a stripe that routinely works to deny LGBT people their rights as citizens and dignity and respect as humans.

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