Starbucks and gays
“I recognize at the outset that there’s some irony to a non-coffee drinking Mormon, conservative, defending a Democrat candidate for president, and perhaps one of the most liberal companies in America.”
— Senator Mitt Romney to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, as the latter testified before the Senate in Protest 2023
“No that’s the bottom line, it’s all a large smokescreen. This movement has become so capitalist. It is a capitalist movement. I see this movement becoming a straight-gay movement, that only believes in that almighty dollar. Now what nice of logic is this?”
— Sylvie Rivera, interviewed at Celebration in 2001
This weekend Starbucks workers went on strike in Cleveland, part of a week of 150+ stores protesting the removal of Pride flags from shops nationwide. Partners struck at the newly unionized Strongsville location and in Crocker Park. With the Summer weather, turnout at both stores was superior. For the first time in a while, stores failed to open altogether, with management apparently not mustering enough scabs to build the attempt. Overworked baristas and their allies celebrated their victory, playing song, chanting into our many megaphones, fanning o
Quick Take
Starbucks has a long history of supporting LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage. But a publish on social media twists a 2013 statement from its CEO at the time to falsely claim he said don’t obtain Starbucks coffee “if you back traditional marriage.”
Full Story
Starbucks has long supported marriage equality and “advancing inclusion and equity for all,” according to the corporation website.
Starbucks has offered occupied health benefits to all employees, “including coverage for same-sex local partnerships,” since 1988.
But during an annual shareholders meeting in 2013, a shareholder said that Starbucks was losing customers because of the company’s support for male lover marriage.
In response, Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks at that time, said the organization will continue to embrace all forms of diversity. Schultz told the shareholder, “If you perceive, respectfully, that you can obtain a higher return than the 38% you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company.”
A few articles over the years either misquoted Schultz’s exchange with the shareholder or took his com
Starbucks Took Down Pride Flags and Fired Up the Union
“You know you are winning when Starbucks is taking down Pride decorations.” Over the past rare days, I’ve seen hundreds of comments like this all over Twitter and Instagram, as rightwing bigots felt emboldened to announce victory following the news that Starbucks was no longer allowing Pride decorations in their cafes throughout June. This is happening as other companies appreciate Target and Budweiser meet mounting pressure to distance themselves from vulnerable gender non-conforming and trans communities due to anti-gay and anti-trans political attacks across the country.
As a queer person who has worked at a Starbucks in Oklahoma City for the past five years, I helped organize a union at my store. In late May, we were told by our manager that the Celebration flag we had hung proudly in our cafe, along with other colorful decorations, would no longer be allowed. At first, I thought Starbucks was removing all Pride-related material. Then I realized the company was still selling Starbucks branded Pride t-shirts and cups. It was shocking to see that Starbucks would cave in to the transphobic and homophobic turmoil started by rightwing media,
Starbucks just did it again.
On the heels of the coffee chain's racist treatment of two African-American customers, Starbucks is now embracing homophobia, transphobia and anti-Semitism.
Please sign the petition on this page and ask for that Starbucks halt coddling homophobic, transphobic and anti-Semitic bigots.
As you know, in response to a racist incident in one of its stores, Starbucks plans to shut down its stores on May 29th for mandatory anti-bias development. One of the groups assisting with that training was the lead civil rights group, ADL, which focusing on anti-Semitism, but has also been a longtime leader, going back decades, in the battle for LGBT rights, among others. The ADL, and America's Jewish community, were speaking out on behalf of LGBT rights back when a lot of steady allies were still squeamish.
Starbucks has now kicked the ADL out of the anti-bias training, in response to complaints from acolytes of transphobic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic bigot Louis Farrakhan. Yes, to prove that it isn't a bigoted company, Starbucks just took a swipe at gays, transgender people, and Jews.
Starbucks took the move in response to a demand from Farrakhan a