Gay marriage opponents push Starbucks boycott over R-74
Nov 12, 2012, 8:03 AM | Updated: 8:55 am
Opponents of same-sex marriage are launching an international boycott effort against Starbucks and other companies that backed gay marriage measures. (AP image)
(AP image)
A group opposed to same-sex marriage says it’s taking its fight against Starbucks and other companies backing gay rights international.
Leaders with the National Organization for Marriage are vowing to launch a massive campaign in Middle Eastern countries hostile to gay rights, The Colorado Independent reports.
NOM President Brian Brown said in a conference call the organization hopes to undermine Starbucks and others by making people in countries opposed to same-sex marriage or homosexuality in general aware of the companies support for gay marriage.
“Their international outreach is where we can have the most effect,” Brown said. “So for example, in Qatar, in the Middle East, we’ve begun working to make sure that there’s some price to be paid for this. These are not countries that look kindly on same-sex marriage. And this is where Starbucks wants to expand, as well as India. So we have done some of this; we’ve got to do a lot more.”
Starbucks was a major supporter of R-74, which legalized gay marriage in Washington state. It was one of three measures passed by voters across the country, along with the defeat of a gay marriage ban in another.
NOM previously targeted Starbucks with a national boycott effort earlier this year.
“What happens in Seattle won’t stay in Seattle,” Brown said. “By making gay marriage core to his brand, Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz [sic] is telling millions of customers and partners who support traditional marriage in the Middle East, China, South America and North America that they aren’t truly part of the Starbucks community.”
