Is Starbucks Against Pride Month? Customer Returns Drink After Pride Decor Is Removed

Hundreds of Starbucks outlets claimed that the employees in 21 states have been instructed by their managers to refrain from decorating the shops for Pride Month. Contrary to the claims, the company has denied the allegations and said that they represented "outlier" resolutions by local leaders that didn’t match corporate policy.

A recent video has been doing the rounds on the internet where a Starbucks district manager is seen taking off a pride flag pinned to the building. Reacting to it, a customer returned the drink that she had just purchased.

Starbucks Removes Pride Decor

Returning the drink, she is shown saying that she only went there to show support, but now she wasn’t going to drink it. She revealed her disappointment by saying that people were coming there to protest, and she bought a drink when she saw the pride flag up, but now she would rather not drink it.

The Starbucks union resorted to Twitter to protest against the lack of pride decorations. Subsequently, the company refused to change any policies surrounding pride decorations.

Due to various guidelines from the district managers this year, who possessed discretion over the store decorations, several Starbucks outlets adopted different approaches. One of the employees of Starbucks in Ohio claimed that they were instructed not to hang any pride flags by their district managers, who said that it was a company-wide thing.

Another employee in the Wisconsin outlet said that their district manager had notified them that no store was allowed to have pride decorations anymore as they didn’t fit Starbucks’ current vision for appearance. They had also said that "pride flags weren’t welcoming to everyone and might be offensive."

A few store managers, however, requested clarity with regard to pride decorations in accordance with the company’s workplace massage boards. The employees were instructed to follow their market leader’s direction in regard to store display.

Initially, Starbucks faced criticism from employees for denying the removal of pride decorations in stores. The company alleged that the removal of the pride decoration wasn’t part of any change in their corporate policy and was a choice made by the regional management.

Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trumbull confirmed that the company unwaveringly supported the LGBTQIA+ community and that there was no change in policy with regard to this matter. He added that they encouraged their outlets to celebrate with the communities, including US Pride Month in June.

He also expressed his concern regarding the false information that’s being spread about the inclusivity of their store environments, company culture, and benefits that they offer their partners. He stressed that Starbucks possessed a history of over four decades of being supportive, recognising and celebrating diverse partners and customs, including year-round support for the LGBTQIA+ community.

The union revolved around the company’s denial of claims and cited several reports from employees highlighting the issues around pride decoration. The employees claimed that the new policy was different from the previous one for Pride Month, as earlier it permitted pride decoration. The company had aligned its policy with Target, which took off pride merchandise in response to criticism and threats received from anti-LGBTQIA+ groups.

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Image Credits: USAToday