Retailers Target and Best Buy, along with 3M Corporation, all based in Minnesota, have been stripped of their perfect scores in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) 2011 Corporate Equality Index.
Now in its ninth year, the HRC assesses more than 30 specific policies and practices covering nearly every aspect of employment for LGBT workers from non-discrimination protections and the training surrounding those policies to domestic partnership and legal dependent benefits to gender transition guidelines and LGBT employee resource groups.
“Fifteen points were deducted from the otherwise perfect scores of Target, Best Buy and 3M for failing to respond to requests to take corrective actions following their sizable contributions to MN Forward, a political committee supporting the election of an anti-gay candidate for governor of Minnesota,” the HRC said Monday in a statement.
The retailers have come under fire from gay rights advocates for their support of gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, who in 2007, authored a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage and civil unions, and on numerous occasions has tried to change language in bills that would prevent same-sex couples from receiving benefits.
In August, the HRC announced it would drop Target and Best Buy from its annual buyer’s guide. To offset the donations, the HRC and pledged to donate $150,000 to LGBT-supportive political causes in Minnesota, including Emmer’s DFL opponent Mark Dayton.
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The full HRC Corporate Equality Index can be downloaded here (PDF).
