The National Organization for Marriage isn't happy that Starbucks endorsed Washington state's marriage equality bill, pledging "an intensive public relations effort to ask Starbucks customers who favor retaining marriage as the union of husband and wife to complain to company headquarters," according to the anti-gay organization's blog.
"Americans should be able to drink a peaceful cup of coffee without worrying that a portion of the company's profits is going to be used to push gay marriage without a vote from the people," said Brown (pictured, above). "This is a gratuitous leap into a hot button culture war issue; respect for diversity touted by Starbucks ought to include respecting the diverse views of all its customers and employees."
Added Jonathan Baker, head of NOM's Corporate Fairness Project: "Increasingly, gay marriage extremists are arguing that people known to oppose same-sex marriage should not be hired, or even, should be fired. Diversity and tolerance are a two-way street. Having waded into a social issue where Starbucks has no special competence, the company has an obligation to reassure its customers, vendors and employees that it will respect the most important diversity—diversity of opinion."
NOM has a big list to tackle if it's going to start going after companies that support equality in Washington. Check out the list HERE.
