Starbucks changes its tone on Pride Month displays, heeds a cautionary tale

(AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Has Starbucks decided to concentrate on its business instead of worrying about keeping up with the latest demands of a minority of fellow Americans? It looks that way. This year store managers are discouraging Pride Month displays and decorations. Why? Because they have seen what happened to Bud Light and Target and they are saying, no thank-you.

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Starbucks is playing it safe. Starbucks denies banning Pride displays but union officials are skeptical.

But Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing U.S. Starbucks stores, says store managers around the country have been curtailing or removing displays during a monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ people. In some cases, the union said, managers told workers that Pride displays were a safety concern, citing recent incidents at Target where some angry customers tipped over merchandise and confronted workers.

“There has been no change to any policy on this matter and we continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities, including for U.S. Pride month in June,” the Seattle coffee giant said Tuesday in a statement.

In light of the great awakening of the general public that has had it up-to-here with a very small percentage of the population, the transgender activists, demanding to be normalized and accepted. It isn’t about the LGBQ population, who pretty much have things worked out with their fellow (straight) community members. No, now everything is about transgenderism and don’t you dare question the science of such behavior. You will be canceled in the blink of an eye. What are you, a bigot? Transphobic?

There is no such thing as follow the science with this segment of the population. Biology tells us that there are two sexes. There is male and female. A person doesn’t just become a male because a woman thinks that is how she identifies any more than a male becomes a woman, even with the help of mutilating surgery. A person’s chromosomes remain the same. Regular Americans know this and the ones who can’t accept people with gender dysphoria should not be shamed for being scientifically correct.

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Regular Americans are speaking up and some are leading boycott efforts against the most egregious of efforts to normalize transgenderism. There was a time when drag shows were just drag shows – men who dressed up as women and performed, usually in small club settings. It was adult entertainment and it wasn’t a big deal. Drag queens didn’t want to be women, just perform dressed as women. Now the transgender activists have changed all that. Drag shows are obnoxious and crude and they are trying to drag (no pun intended) children into it. It is not normal entertainment for young children. Eighteen and up? Go for it. Leave young people alone. The really young ones at the storybook readings don’t understand what is going on. It’s abusive.

So, who blames Starbucks for wanting to avoid the whole thing? They should be applauded for just concentrating on selling coffee, other beverages, and whatever other items that individual stores sell. Businesses should concentrate on doing business, not virtue-signaling how woke they are. No one cares. People just want to purchase whatever it is a business offers for sale and get on with their day.

Everyone knows that Starbucks is woke, whether they are toning it down now or not. The corporation has been a supporter of the LGBTQ community for many years. The corporation extended full health benefits to same-sex partners in 1988. It added health coverage for gender reassignment surgery in 2013.

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Starbucks denies claims that it’s banning Pride displays but union organizers are skeptical.

But Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing U.S. Starbucks stores, says store managers around the country have been curtailing or removing displays during a monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ people. In some cases, the union said, managers told workers that Pride displays were a safety concern, citing recent incidents at Target where some angry customers tipped over merchandise and confronted workers.

“There has been no change to any policy on this matter and we continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities, including for U.S. Pride month in June,” the Seattle coffee giant said Tuesday in a statement.

Starbucks has been outspoken in its support for LGBTQ+ employees for decades and said Tuesday that support is “unwavering.” It extended full health benefits to same-sex partners in 1988 and added health coverage for gender reassignment surgery in 2013.

The company continues to sell Pride-themed tumblers in its stores.

A union supervisor and Starbucks supervisor in Maryland, Ian Miller, notes that the company’s tone has changed this year. His own store manager told him that he needed prior approval to put up Pride decorations. The company is seeking more uniformity in its stores. The manager let an employee put up small rainbow flags in the store but the company credit card didn’t pay for them, as it did in the past.

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More than 300 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since 2021. Starbucks opposed unionization efforts.

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