FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2012
Contact: Anath Hartmann or Elizabeth Ray (703-683-5004)

"[T]he Target Corporation is donating $120,000 to same-sex marriage advocates who are official participants in the campaign, is saying that the debate will be bad for the Minnesota business community, and still has the nerve to say they are not taking a position on the marriage amendment itself."—Jonathan Baker, Director of the Corporate Fairness Project, NOM—

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the Target 2012 annual shareholder meeting yesterday in Chicago, Illinois, a Target shareholder took corporate leadership to task for Target's ill-advised donation to the Family Equality Council, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that is actively opposing the marriage amendment in Minnesota.

"In the midst of the campaign over the definition of marriage in Minnesota, the Target Corporation is donating $120,000 to same-sex marriage advocates who are official participants in the campaign, is saying that the debate will be bad for the Minnesota business community, and still has the nerve to say they are not taking a position on the marriage amendment itself," said Jonathan Baker, Director of the Corporate Fairness Project for the National Organization for Marriage. "This is a patronizing and incoherent stance for a corporation to adopt, particularly when the funds in question are supposed to be a charitable donation that creates good will toward the corporation. It's good to know that expressing concern over corporate support for a radical social agenda is now just taking an "unfair shot" at corporate leadership.

A long-time Target shareholder who attended the annual meeting roundly criticized Target for their donation to the Family Equality Council. Not only was the shareholder upset that the donation had drawn Target into the cultural war over marriage in which they have no business interest, but he was also concerned with how the donation would affect Target as a national retailer. Protests and boycotts have already been started, and Target does not seem to take the shareholder's best interests to heart, argued the shareholder.

Target corporate leadership responded by ignoring the questions about the recipient of the funds raised through the sale of the PRIDE t-shirts and simply said the question was an "unfair shot" at the team that works very hard to deliver shareholder value.

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To schedule an interview with Jonathan Baker, Director of the Corporate Fairness Project at the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Anath Hartmann (x166) [email protected], at 703-683-5004

Paid for by The National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, president. 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. New § 68A.405(1)(f) & (h).