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Starbucks: Going 'gay' is profitable!

By Drew Zahn

World Net Daily
Tue, May. 15 2012 12:41 PM MST

In response to objections over a public statement made earlier this
year backing Washington’s same-sex marriage bill, the leadership of
Starbucks Corporation assured its investors not to worry, for profits
have never been better.

Starbucks President and CEO Howard Schultz fielded questions from
shareholders over whether taking a stance on the controversial issue
would dilute the company’s bottom line, particularly in nations where
the company is expanding but homosexuality is widely considered immoral.

“I would say, candidly, since we made that decision, there has not
been any dilution whatsoever in our business, and as you can see,
shareholder value has increased significantly,” Schultz replied.
“Performance in many ways should be one of the metrics to decide whether
or not this decision in any way has been dilutive, and it hasn’t.”

But now, the National Organization for Marriage has determined to put a dent in that boast, launching the Dump Starbucks campaign, urging supporters of traditional marriage to sign a pledge to boycott the popular coffee seller.

In fact, it was Jonathan Baker, both a Starbucks shareholder and head
of NOM’s Corporate Fairness Project, who initially posed the question
at the investors meeting.

Schultz answered that the decision to back same-sex marriage was
deemed at Starbucks’ highest levels to be in line with “the heritage and
tradition of the company” – even if that decision is “inconsistent with
one group’s view of the world.”

Dissatisfied with Schultz’s answer, Baker is now spearheading the boycott effort.

“Here’s our goal: If Howard Schultz and his insular Seattle liberals
hear from enough of us, management will move to a more genuinely
inclusive attitude toward its customers’ and partners’ diverse views on
marriage,” Baker states on the NOM website. “People should be able to
drink or serve a great cup of coffee without betraying their own core
values on marriage.”

Already, over 36,000 people have signed the Dump Starbucks pledge,
which states, “I am deeply offended by your corporate position to
support same-sex marriage and your decision to wage a culture war
against the moral views of half your U.S. customers and the vast
majority of your international consumers. Starbucks is using its
resources to invalidate traditional marriage in the U.S. and redefine
the institution of marriage, despite the strongly held views of so many
of its customers, including me. Therefore, I will no longer purchase
anything from Starbucks until you change your corporate values to be
more reflective of my own.”

“In our first week, we gained 25,000 pledge signers in the U.S.
alone;” NOM President Brian Brown said in an announcement posted last
month, “today we go international, expanding DumpStarbucks.com campaigns
into Mandarin, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, and Bahasa (one of the chief
languages of Indonesia). DumpStarbucks.com online ads will also start
running in Egypt, Beijing, Hong Kong, the Yunnan region of China, United
Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait.”

“The support [for same-sex marriage] is not just the personal
endorsement of a senior executive, but is the official corporate
position of the company,” Baker told the Christian Post. “Obviously this
position does not reflect the views of all customers and employees, and
the NOM protest and DumpStarbucks.com [are] designed to enable these
customers and employees to have a voice.”

The controversy began earlier this year, when Kalen Holmes, Starbucks’ executive vice president of partner resources, released a memo to the company’s U.S. partners backing legislative efforts in Washington state to legalize same-sex marriage.

“Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in
support of Washington state legislation recognizing marriage equality
for same-sex couples,” Holmes wrote. “It is core to who we are and what
we value as a company. We are proud of our Pride Alliance Partner
Network group, which is one of the largest Employer Resource Groups for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employees in the U.S.,
helping to raise awareness about issues in the communities where we live
and work.”

The memo also boasted that Starbucks has been at the forefront of the
issue, offering domestic partner benefits, such as health and dental
plans, for the last 20 years.

The video of Schultz’s answers to Baker and other concerned shareholders can be at the source location.

Link to Source