Now even Starbucks is tossing aside the queer community. I will now paste reporting from the Starbucks Workers United Twitter. I don’t recommend you actually go on that site, the replies are full of blue-check fascists.
spoiler
BREAKING: In the middle of Pride Month, Starbucks BANS Pride decorations in stores across the United States. For the last two weeks, Starbucks workers have taken to social media to report that the company is no longer allowing Pride decorations in-store. This seems to be the first year the publicly “pro-LGBTQ+” company has taken this kind of stance. Taking a cue from Target, who bowed to anti-LGBTQ+ pressure and removed pride merchandise, corporate and district management are taking down the pride decorations that have become an annual tradition in stores. In union stores, where Starbucks claims they are unable to make “unilateral changes” without bargaining, the company took down Pride decorations and flags anyway - ignoring their own anti-union talking point.
Starbucks is powered by many queer workers, but management has failed to materially support the LGBTQ+ community. Last October, some workers have reported that their transgender benefit plan changed, causing them to pay out of pocket fees and lose access to certain providers. If Starbucks was a true ally, they would stand up for us, especially during a time when LGBTQ+ people are under attack. A company that cares wouldn’t turn their back on the LGBTQ+ community to protect their already astronomically high profits. True allyship with the LGBTQ+ community is negotiating a union contract that legally locks-in our benefits, our freedom of expression, and ways to hold management accountable.
Starbucks Corporate is denying any change to their policies on Pride this year - but if that were true, why are there countless stories where workers are claiming the opposite? Starbucks partners have been making TikToks about the situation in stores - some going as far back as weeks ago. The company can’t ignore what is obviously a huge shift for this year’s Pride in stores.
Yeah I’ve been increasingly nervous. It feels like there’s such a growing, hyperfocused anti-queerness on the right. I hope it doesn’t keep increasing, but my hopes aren’t high. We need to be prepared to defend ourselves and our communities from fascism, but I don’t really know how.
They need a new and more acceptable “Judaism”, this is just the buildup in Germany in the 20’s and 30’s all over again.
It does feel Weimarish. I hope not. I like to avoid thinking that similarities with past events will lead to the same outcomes, because that type of thinking can be self-fulfilling. History Rhymes, but does not repeat, and sometimes things are metastable when you think your on one side of the slope. We have to fight.