if i ever went to $tarbuck$, and they gave me a cup like that... i'd tell them put it in another cup or i wasn't paying for it.
Posted on 09/20/2005 6:41:34 AM PDT by ValerieUSA
Coffee cups featuring a quote by a gay author about growing up homosexual have been pulled from Baylor University's on-campus Starbucks.
Aramark, which as the contractor for Baylor dining services oversees the coffee outlet, pulled cups from the campus store earlier this month after a university staff member sent out an e-mail complaining about the appropriateness of the quote at a Baptist university, Baylor officials said.
The e-mail was sent on to Baylor dining services, which consulted with Starbucks' district office, which said it fully supported a decision to take the cup out of circulation to avoid offending others, Baylor officials said Monday.
“My understanding is it was a decision made by Baylor dining services staff, and I've not yet been able to trace it back to any Baylor administrators telling them point-blank to pull the cup,” Baylor spokesman Larry Brumley said.
He added, “I think they were trying to be sensitive. Obviously, Baylor is a Baptist-affiliated institution, and Baptists as a denomination have been pretty outspoken on the record about the denomination's views about the homosexual lifestyle.”
The action was spurred by the fact that some of the store's coffee cups contained a quote from novelist Armistead Maupin. He is best known for a six-book series titled Tales of the City, which is about life in San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s.
The quote on the cup reads:
“My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short.”
The cup is No. 43 in a series of cups being used chainwide by the Seattle-based coffee giant. The cups are part of a campaign called “The Way I See It,” which features quotes from a variety of notable figures. They range from the musings of electronic musician Moby to the thoughts of figure skater Michelle Kwan.
Sanja Gould, a spokeswoman with Starbucks' corporate office, said the company sees the program “as an extension of the coffeehouse culture – a way to promote open, respectful conversation among a wide variety of individuals.”
Gould said cups with the Maupin quote has been in circulation since July. She said the cups were placed randomly in the cases shipped to the store, and store employees would have to remove the cups manually.
“As far as I know, there weren't many of the cups,” Gould said.
Officials at other Waco-area Starbucks said they are still using the cups.
Linda Ricks, marketing program manager for Baylor Dining Services, said she could not comment on the cups, and referred calls to Aramark's corporate offices, which could not be reached for comment Monday.
At least one other group has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Maupin cup.
Concerned Women for America, a national Christian women's organization, says Starbucks is promoting a homosexual agenda with the cup. The group also has expressed concern about the campaign as a whole, saying most of the quotes are liberal, according to a report in the Seattle Times.
Members of the local gay community said they are disappointed by the cups' removal.
Cade Hammond, president of the board of directors for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Central Texas, said he sees pulling the cups as unnecessarily restrictive. He said the situation reminds him of people who burn books because they don't like what they say.
“You can't restrict information like that,” Hammond said. “It just seems a little backwards.”
Valerie Fallas, president of the Waco chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, called the action “unnecessary.”
“It's a shame that anybody would do this,” Fallas said. “Whatever you feel, whatever you think about something, discussion is the number one thing to do to educate yourself on an issue.”
Baylor should not only throw out the cup but also throw out Starbucks if it is operating on campus. Then, start their own coffee place. It's just coffee.
I think you know the answer to that one. Seattle coffee cups are for progressive, forward-thinking ideas, not for dinosaurs.
You can call me John, or you can call me Jim, but don't you dare call me a dinosaur! :~)
I wonder what is printed on the beer cans at Baylor.
I guess Starbucks figures if you'll pay $2.00 for a cup of coffee, you'll swallow anything.
I'm sure you're right. We're more likely to find the sayings of Mao than of Ronald Reagan.
Later works by Maupin, unrelated to the Tales series, include The Night Listener and Maybe The Moon.
Biography
Maupin grew up in North Carolina, where he attended the University of North Carolina. He is a veteran of the US Navy, and once worked for the conservative television personality and subsequent US Senator Jesse Helms.
if i ever went to $tarbuck$, and they gave me a cup like that... i'd tell them put it in another cup or i wasn't paying for it.
Lincoff said the company does not characterize the personalities quoted on its coffee cups as liberal or conservative, but rather as a diverse group of artists, musicians, educators, activists and athletes.
Among them: music producer Quincy Jones, New Age author and alternative-medicine doctor Deepak Chopra, radio host and film critic Michael Medved, rap artist Chuck D and Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan.
The coffee company won't be pulling the Maupin quote — or any other — from the campaign, but in fact will expand it to feature quotes from regular customers.
"Embracing diversity and treating people with dignity is one of the guiding principles of our corporation," Lincoff said.
Starbucks spokeswoman Lara Wyss said decisions about sponsoring gay-pride events and other causes are made at the store or regional level, not the corporate level. And while Starbucks matches employee contributions to charities such as Planned Parenthood, Wyss said, it doesn't make outright corporate contributions to such groups.
Other corporations have also drawn controversy over sensitive topics.
Last spring, Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, threatened to boycott Microsoft if it didn't back off its support of anti-discrimination legislation for gays here in Washington.
Microsoft withdrew, but said it had decided before Hutcherson issued his threat.
In Oregon last month, Nike withstood opposition and an e-mail campaign organized by a Christian organization over Nike's support of legislation that would have allowed civil unions and banned discrimination against gays.
Both measures passed the Senate but did not make it to the House for a vote.
snip
John Hoover, a national business consultant and author who has advised such companies as IBM, Delta Air Lines and Boeing on the art of confrontation, said, "It's not incumbent on corporations to operate with balance" as Richardson suggests.
"But when they stand by their conscience, they must be willing to accept the consequences."
Starbucks is a big-time champion of the gay agenda.
My wife and I were rabid Starbucks addicts. When we found out about their very public sponsorship of the Seattle Gay Pride parade, we stopped cold turkey. They're not getting another dime from us.
Lets go find all the banned cups and sell them on online auction services. This would be most profitable. (and I still want to know how they managed to fit all those words on there)
The bill of rights does not include the right to never be offended.
Two men and a poodle
By ARMISTEAD MAUPIN
http://tinyurl.com/94sol
"I'd like to see the response if Scripture verses were put on the cups and sent to UCLA, for example. Like John 14:6."
You took the words right out of my mouth! It would be great if there were a Christian organization out there who sold drinks and could put Bible verses on their cups.
I thought only whiny liberals got offended.
Me too. And I'd tell them why.
And I'd not be surprised when they gawked and whispered at the "wierdo right winger" after I'd left the counter the second time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.