During this year's Pride Month, Target will be selling a variety of T-shirts under the banner "Wear it With Pride" to benefit the Family Equality Council, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group that supports LGBT parents and their families.
Target spokesperson Molly Snyder told Windy City Times, "We are pleased to bring our guests an assortment of pride merchandise while, in turn, helping support the LGBT community through the donation of 100 percent of the purchase price to the Family Equality Council. Our relationship with the Family Equality Council predates the launch of this T-shirt line. Target was a founding partner of Rainbow Families in 1999the organization merged with the Family Equality Council in 2008. Target has since awarded thousands of dollars in grants to the organization over the last 10 years and has been a sponsor of the Rainbow Families Conference for the last three years."
Family Equality Council Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler confirmed Target's support for the organization: "Most recently, Target was a supporter of our successful Midwest Family Equality Conference in Minneapolis on April 28 which brought together LGBT families and supporters from across Minnesota to discuss issues important to our families.
"We are excited about this new and innovative partnership with Target to help support LGBT moms and dads. Target shares our goal of creating a world where all loving families are respected, protected and celebrated and we are glad to be partnering with them to advance these ideals. We look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands of happy families made up of LGBT parents proudly sporting the pride merchandise in their communities and at pride celebrations throughout the country. Since announcing the T-shirt promotion we've received many positive responses from our supporters. "
The charitable T-shirtswhich are $12.99 each and only available on-lineinclude 10 different designs with two of the designs coming from rock singer Gwen Stafani. Donations will be capped at $120,000, $30,000 less than the $150,000 Target donated to the group Minnesota Forward. Minnesota Forward supported anti-gay Minnesota gubernatorial GOP candidate Tom Emmer in 2010. (Emmer lost to Democrat Mark Dayton, an LGBT and marriage-equality supporter.) When asked why the donation will be capped at $120,000 representatives from Target didn't provide an answer.
Chrisler explained that the donation from the T-shirt sales is in addition to the direct donation that their organization already receives from Target. "Also, the on-line sales strategy ties into the short time frame the T-shirts are being offered and the logistics around placing merchandise in stores," said Chrisler.
The genesis of the T-shirt promotion, according to Snyder, came from Target's LGBTA Business Councilindividuals from across the organization and customer who wanted to see pride merchandise for sale.
Since Target's donation to Minnesota Forward the retail chain has seen some of its support from the LGBT community waver with boycotts and protests just outside their stores. Last year, Lady Gaga nixed a deal to sell an exclusive deluxe edition of her recent album Born This Way in Target stores, however, recently The Ellen DeGeneres Show teamed up with Target to give $5 million to schools in need.
Regarding past political donations Chrisler said, "We are confident that Target shares our goal of creating a world where all our familiesincluding families with parents who are LGBTare respected, protected and celebrated."
As for Target's business decisions and the entire LGBT community Snyder said, "Target supports inclusivity and diversity in every aspect of our business and has a long history of supporting the LGBT community through giving, volunteerism and event sponsorship and participation. Target has been a longtime supporter of Minneapolis' Twin Cities Pride and also sponsors pride festivals in New York and Seattle. However, our pride sponsorships are just one of the things we do to demonstrate our support."
Although Target has stated its support for the LGBT community and says that it plans to strengthen its support for policies and programs that encourage diversity in the workplace, the company has remained mum regarding the upcoming Minnesota Marriage Amendment. The amendment, if approved, would ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution.
Snyder said, "We recognize that there is a broad range of strongly held views on the amendment. While Target has not taken a role in the public debate on this issue, consistent with our longstanding support of civic engagement, we strongly encourage our team members to exercise their right to vote in November."
Target's position is in stark contrast to other companies such as Starbucks, Nike, Microsoft and others who expressed their support for marriage equality in Washington state. The measure was approved in that state's legislature and signed into law earlier this year.
When asked about Target's donations to anti-gay candidates and political officials, Snyder would only say that Target contributes to candidates and committees on both sides of the aisle in a bipartisan manner based on issues that impact their business priorities.