Howard Schultz, Starbuck’s CEO
Starbucks, which can definitely count itself as one of the most gay-friendly corporations, just released its first LGBT-centric commercial. [1] Lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, transgenders and Apple CEO Tim Cook can drink their lattes in comfort now that Starbucks has finally come out of the closet. [2] As reported by the The Huffington Post , LGBT network OUTtv, a Canadian television station, has joined forces with Starbucks to produce the coffee chain’s first LGBT commercial ever with some help from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 contestants Bianca Del Rio and Adore Delano. [3] So, from now on, this is definitely something everybody should be conscious about every time they order a cup of Starbucks coffee: you are supporting and funding the radical, LGBT Mafia agenda. Starbucks has planted themselves firmly in the LGBT camp, and don’t really care what you think about it. [4] Titled “Coffee Frenemies,” the commercial was shot in June while the two made appearances and performed at WorldPride in Toronto. Footage of that event was also featured in the clip. In the clip, the line-cutting Delano (former “American Idol” semifinalist Danny Noriega), a go-getting celebrity, is running on the clock and uses her manners to move ahead in line. [5] The queens need their caffeine and fight over who deserves their coffee first. The ad begins with Bianca taking a call with her agent and confirming a schedule so incredibly hectic that she’s overcome with fatigue merely at the thought, declaring “I need a coffee!” She proceeds to the nearest Starbucks where, upon attempting to cut in front of every person in the long line, she’s halted by a saucy Adore Delano. “Look, honey. I’ve seen that you’ve cut the line. I am in line waiting for my skinny latte like everyone else, and I feel you should do exactly the same,” Bianca rants while placing her order ahead of the diva. “Did anybody ever tell you that excessive amounts of makeup during the day makes you look really horrible? Listen, honey. Your little cutesy flirty thing is not going to work with me.” Adore’s diatribe is abruptly cut off by the world’s smartest barista, who offers up not one, but TWO skinny lattes to satisfy each queen’s coffee dilemma. [6] Starbucks has long been an ally to the queer community. Starbucks publicly announced its support of gay marriage in 2012. While the National Organization for Marriage launched a boycott against the global coffeehouse chain, which offers benefits for same-sex partners, others saw Starbucks’ decision as more of a business move especially when the company joined Microsoft and Nike in declaring support of a Washington State bill that would make The Evergreen State the seventh to legalize gay marriage at the time. [7] Not only did the organization raise a Pride flag over its Seattle headquarters earlier this year, but the company’s CEO famously told an anti-gay shareholder that he was free to “sell [his] shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company” if he had a problem with the company’s pro-gay values. [8]
It is not an economic decision to me […] The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people. We employ over 200,000 people in this company, and we want to embrace diversity. Of all kinds. [9]
In 2011, the Seattle-based coffee chain was among a group of 70 business industries and organizations that filed a brief in federal court deviating from the Defense of Marriage Act, a law placing restrictions on the definition of marriage as union between a man and a woman, according to NY Daily News. [10] LGBT equality has been picking up steam in the US, with over half the country now recognizing same-sex marriage and transgender rights taking a huge spotlight in schools. Texas even crowned its very first trans Homecoming King earlier this month, thanks in large part to Laverne Cox’s movement. [11]
