A giant thank you card signed by 640, 000 people will be presented to staff at the Seattle headquarters of Starbucks this week, following the coffee chain’s support for marriage equality.
Same-sex marriage campaign groups SumofUs.org, Washington United for Marriage, and MoveOn.org are making a public gesture of thanks for Starbucks’ support for marriage equality in the face of opposition including a ‘Dump Starbucks’ campaign from anti-gay groups.
The National Organisation for Marriage (NOM) began an online petition urging people to boycott Starbucks and to complain to their branch’s manager about the company’s stance on gay marriage.
The USA Christian Ministries group urged Americans to pick up their daily dose of caffeine at a different coffee stand.
Luckily a backlash in the form of the ‘Thank Starbucks’ campaign has eclipsed ‘Dump Starbucks’.
Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, executive director for SumofUs.org, is pleased with the passionate response to ‘Thank Starbucks’. She told Gay Star News: ‘We’ve seen in our campaigns that consumers expect corporations to do right by their workers and by their community. We hope that this overwhelming show of support for Starbucks for supporting gay rights will inspire other corporations to keep making similar public statements.’
In a statement last month, Starbucks executive vice president of partner resources, Kalen Holmes, said: ‘Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples. This important legislation is aligned with Starbucks business practices and upholds our belief in the equal treatment of partners.’
