Posted on 08/15/2005 2:41:50 PM PDT by Responsibility1st
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--After nearly a decade of lying low, Starbucks has reentered the homosexual rights movement in a few ways that have put at least one conservative watchdog group on alert.
The world’s most famous coffee shop chain has begun a program called “The Way I See It,” which is a collection of thoughts, opinions and expressions provided by notable figures that now appear on Starbucks coffee cups, according to the chain’s website.
But one particular quote -- #43 -- blatantly pushes the homosexual agenda. It’s by Armistead Maupin, who wrote “Tales of the City,” a bestseller-turned-PBS drama advocating the homosexual lifestyle, and it 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 [expletive] short.”
Concerned Women for America, one of the nation’s leading conservative public policy organizations, is sounding the alarm about the cups after one of its employees received one when she purchased coffee from one of the stores.
Meghan Kleppinger, assistant to the national field director at CWA, wrote a column about Starbucks’ involvement in the homosexual movement which was posted by WorldNetDaily Aug. 10.
Kleppinger, who had been a frequent patron of Starbucks until recently vowing to stop, was put on notice about Starbucks earlier this summer when she received an e-mail from the California arm of CWA describing an annual “gay pride” parade in San Diego. The parade sounded like a typical event, she thought, until she read on.
“I read where there would be children’s gardens and basically in the midst of all of this sexual activity there would be events for children,” she said Aug. 8. “And then I read that two registered pedophiles were volunteers at this event. When I scrolled to the bottom I saw who the sponsors were, and the one that jumped out was Starbucks because that is a favorite company of mine. So it just frustrated me that a company was giving money to something like this where children would be exposed to this sort of thing.”
If Starbucks knowingly was sponsoring a parade that put children in danger, that would be “blatant irresponsibility,” Kleppinger wrote in her column. And if they were doing it unknowingly, they should have investigated before handing over the money, she said.
Kleppinger then found that the company is listed on the website of pro-abortion rights Planned Parenthood under this introduction: “The following companies all generously match employee donations to Planned Parenthood Federation of America. If your employer is on this list, then you can make your gift go as much as twice as far.”
And at “gay pride” events in Seattle, Wash., in July, about 75 Starbucks employees wore promotional T-shirts while followed by a van with the company logo in a parade, Kleppinger reported, and employees passed out samples of a new specialty coffee drink.
Robert Knight, director of the organization’s Culture & Family Institute, noted that Starbucks is not alone in pushing the homosexual agenda.
“There are active homosexual groups in most major corporations now and they do a shake down, where they say, ‘If you don’t promote our events, you’re exhibiting bigotry and hatred, and we’re going to let everybody know that and you’ll feel bad about yourself and maybe it will hurt your sales.’ I don’t think it has ever hurt a company’s sales. I think they just cave in all too easily,” Knight said Aug. 8.
“But Starbucks was promoting homosexuality about 10 years ago ... and a lot of conservative groups got together and said, ‘Why are you doing this?’ and I remember getting a letter back from them about 10 years ago saying, ‘Well, you know, we were doing it, but it was an oversight and we’re not doing it anymore,’” he added. “And I noticed that over the years Starbucks was not among the corporate logos at the bottom of these ads sponsoring gay pride events -- until recently. They’ve started to creep back in.”
Once CWA employees were made aware of the possible harm to children at the San Diego events sponsored by Starbucks, they decided to speak up. They are not calling specifically for a boycott of Starbucks, but they are trying to alert as many people as possible to what the company is doing, Knight said.
“The American Family Association has been doing this for years with great results. Often we don’t see the results because a company will notice that it has gotten out to thousands of people and they pull back whatever thing they were doing that caused the concern in the first place,” he said.
“And then they ask the American Family Association, ‘Don’t make a big deal out of it because then we’ll have the gay pride activists on us.’ So they just back away. Many victories have been won like that and the public isn’t aware of it. ... Most companies do not want bad publicity. They don’t want customers mad at them, and they’ll do almost anything to avoid a boycott or something short of a boycott like publicizing what Starbucks is doing right now.”
Knight suggested a strategy for Christians -- letting Starbucks know they are not happy with the company’s promotion of the homosexual agenda.
“It’s not enough not to go to Starbucks anymore,” he said. “You really need to visit your neighborhood Starbucks and ask to see the manager and just say, ‘You know, I’ve gone here a lot and I would love to go here but I have to tell you your company’s promotion of something that is against my values prevents me from having coffee here anymore, and I’ve found alternatives ... You make a great product, but you deserve to know why people aren’t buying your product anymore.’
“That strategy goes for almost anything,” Knight added. “Anytime you find out that a company has been sponsoring something that you disagree with, it’s best to tell at the dealer or shop or store level people why you’re not buying their product anymore. Believe me, this gets back to corporate headquarters real fast.”
Starbucks said it started the “The Way I See It” program “as an extension of the coffeehouse culture -- a way to promote open, respectful conversation among a wide variety of individuals.” Some notable figures whose quotes appear on the cups include actor Quincy Jones, New Age author Deepak Chopra, film critic Michael Medved, Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan and coaching legend John Wooden.
The coffee chain welcomes comments on the program or a specific quote via an online feedback form, available at www.starbucks.com, or through brochures in stores.
As would I. It's no more "radical" than Armistead Maupin, but you'll never see it on a cup outside of a NRA convention, which is exactly my point.
The majority of the posters on this thread claim to never set foot in the place, so why do they care what is on the stupid cups?
Anyone else?
You'd think buying coffee from an English or Art History major would be more entertaining.
www.illwillpress.com/coffeehouse
This is pretty racy(even if you can under the words) but very funny.
Are you sure you posted the url correctly?
Their extra large hot coffee is about three cups, and the morning bold blend has a nice kick. It's under $2, so I'll get it on days when I don't want the coffee pot going.
I figure they're losing money on this one, it's just a competitive thing, and I refuse to use their silly names for an extra large hot coffee....that really irritates some of the stranger "brewmasters".
“Starbucks should have just made that edit and this would be a non-issue. ;)”
Seriously, I was actually thinking something similar. I couldn’t give a flying fiddle about this cup, but if they had stuck on a more subtle message, I doubt they would have offended a section of their customer base.
"Are you sure you posted the url correctly?"
No, I didn't. The correct one is www.illwillpress.com/coffeehouse.html
I agree with you, Mr. Jeeves.
Way back when I was a youngun, about 50 years ago, we all knew homosexuals, and we didn't think much of it, except to feel kind of sorry for them. I still do, for that matter, and do not see much that is truly "gay" in the "lifestyle"
That said, there are some homosexuals who are polite, well-behaved, and discreet about their sexual preferences and behaviors. These deserve our good manners and respect in return.
But, the rest of them ought to be labeled for what they are. Perverting the culture, attempting to recruit vulnerable adolescents into a miserable future, causing ever-resistant STDs, not to mention frightening the horses in the street.
I propose that homosexuals take control of this latter bunch, disdain them, shun them, and try to get them to keep their behaviors out of public view. Then, we can discuss tolerance.
And, lay off the "marriage" nonsense. Marriage is for men and women, not Bob and Steve.
Otherwise, I will support the growing group of heterosexuals marrying each other for the tax breaks, insurance coverage, and other benefits to be had on the back of the average taxpayer.
It's called tit for tat. I've watched groups like the NRA denigrated for years by socialist windbags in the MSM and prancing commy owned corporations like ben and jerry's and starbucks. Screw them, they want to throw down then let's thrown down. Starbucks doesn't have to print a darn thing on their cups, but they have a message they would like to get out. Fine. It's getting out loud and clear. Don't be SURPRISED when others might disagree.
What is it about Texas coffee? Back when I lived in Baton Rouge, we used to tell a joke, "Q:How do you make Texas coffee? A:Two gallons of tepid water through 1 teaspoon of used kitty litter." Once I got a coffee sample at Neimans in Dallas and I could see the bottom of the cup.
SF is right... Don't be SURPRISED when others might disagree.
and don't be SURPRISED when others are starting to get tired of your "anything goes" mindset.
So now we know what barista means.
Sorry SF.... this semi-rant is not directed at you....
is there somewhere on the web I can find who these companies give their money to???????
Haven't you ever heard of the Log Cabin Republicans?
I don't think I want to know what the international sign of gay male sex is...
"The economic facts are that homosexuals exist and are generally more affluent than heterosexuals"
Because the majority of them are not "financially burdened" raising children, families which allows most of them to be occupationally mobile. And most are drug runners, money launderers, operate in and around sex trades, etc. And those are the true economic facts within the homo world.
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