Target has “come out” – in favor of same-sex marriage. In a court filing on Tuesday, Target announced its support for same-sex marriage after years of avoiding the subject.
In Chicago, the retailer signed an amicus brief, joining other large companies in the support of marriage equality.
The corporation has joined other major retailers like Nike, Starbucks, Apple, and Facebook on its open backing of same-sex marriage in U.S. courts.
Although they had featured ads with same-sex couples, the company refused to take a side in 2012 when conflicts over same-sex marriage in their home state, Minnesota arised. “We recognize that there is a broad range of strongly held views on the MN Marriage amendment,” a Target spokeswoman said at the time, referring to a proposed amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
The executive vice president and human resources chief Jodee Kozlak explained in an open letter:
It is our belief that everyone should be treated equally under the law, and that includes rights we believe individuals should have related to marriage.
Without getting into the specifics of a court case, this brief evaluates the issues created by states that both prohibit same-sex marriage and also refuse to recognize marriages that were conducted legally in other states. This position is particularly challenging for a large organization that operates nationally, such as Target. At Target, we have long offered comprehensive, competitive benefits to our LGBT team members and their families, often above what is legally required. We continue to do so today because we believe doing so is right for our team and for our business. But current laws — in places like Wisconsin and Indiana that are addressed in this brief – make it difficult to attract and retain talent. These disparate laws also create confusing and complicated benefits challenges across multiple states.
We believe that everyone – all of our team members and our guests – deserve to be treated equally. And at Target we are proud to support the LGBT community.
It’s about time! What are your thoughts?
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