You may not know it, but the culture wars are being fought on many levels, including at the level of some of your favourite caffeine cafes. Even those who sell you coffee have gotten involved in some of the bigger culture war issues of the day – especially homosexual marriage.
Thus in one corner we have one coffee heavyweight declaring their full support for homosexual marriage, while in the other corner we have another coffee heavyweight declaring its full support for heterosexual marriage and traditional values.
To be precise, we have Starbucks on the one hand fully in bed with the homosexual militants, while Gloria Jeans, a Christian-owned company, is siding with traditional marriage. So a war of coffee beans has erupted, and those on either side of the debate are voting with their feet – or mouths.
Starbucks, the American-based coffee giant has come out quite clearly in its affirmation of the homosexual agenda. In a January 24 message from its vice president, we have this message (in part): “Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples. Starbucks strives to create a company culture that puts our partners first, and our company has a lengthy history of leading and supporting policies that promote equality and inclusion.
“This important legislation is aligned with Starbucks business practices and upholds our belief in the equal treatment of partners. It is core to who we are and what we value as a company. We are proud of our Pride Alliance Partner Network group, which is one of the largest Employer Resource Groups for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employees in the U.S., helping to raise awareness about issues in the communities where we live and work.”
Because of its declaration of war against marriage and family, a campaign has been mounted to encourage pro-marriage and pro-family folks to give them the flick. The group, dumpstarbucks, says this on a website: “We are urging customers across the globe to ‘Dump Starbucks’ because it has taken a corporate-wide position that the definition of marriage between one man and one woman should be eliminated and that same-sex marriage should become equally ‘normal’. As such, Starbucks has deeply offended at least half its US customers, and the vast majority of its international customers.”
It continues, “Starbucks also used its resources to participate in a legal case seeking to overturn a federal law declaring marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In many areas of the world where Starbucks does business, the concept of ‘gay marriage’ is unheard of and deeply offensive to cultural, moral and religious values.
“In taking these actions, Starbucks has declared a culture war on all people of faith (and millions of others) who believe that the institution of marriage as one man and one woman is worth preserving. A portion of every cup of coffee purchased at a Starbucks anywhere in the world goes to fund this corporate assault on marriage. We urge consumers across the globe to join the ‘Dump Starbucks’ campaign.”
On the other hand, the Australian-based coffee company Gloria Jeans has been supportive of retaining the normal understanding of marriage. Its owner is a Christian, and the company has contributed to various Christian causes in the past, including the Australian Christian Lobby.
Because of this, the homosexual activists are spitting chips – or rather coffee beans – and have set up a boycott of the coffee chain. All the homosexual sites are getting agitated about all this. One site made these claims: “One of Australia’s biggest coffee shop chains has rushed to distance itself from the Australian Christian Lobby and Hillsong Church as news spreads of its recent hefty financial donation to the ACL’s activities. In a statement today, Gloria Jeans Coffees now confirms that in the 2010-2011 tax year it donated $30,000 to the Australian Christian Lobby….
“The coffee chain’s links to the controversial Hillsong Church – which used to offer so-called ‘ex-gay therapies’ as part of its ministry – are well known, but Gloria Jeans founders, themselves senior figures in the church, have in recent years denied their extensive franchise network was providing financial support to Hillsong.”
So the gloves are now off in this coffee culture war. People are being urged to support the coffee chain of their choice. It takes little imagination as to where I stand. I encourage you to get involved in letting Starbucks know what you think of their social engineering activism.
And I encourage you to support Gloria Jeans for taking a principled stance. And when it comes to your next cuppa, please enjoy the Very Vanilla Latte (or some such product) at Gloria Jeans. And I bet some of you didn’t even think it mattered where you got your coffee from!
http://www.dumpstarbucks.com/?utm_source=EB120530EDNT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fundraiser
http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/8530/Gloria-Jeans-We-embrace-equality-and-diversity.htm
http://www.gloriajeanscoffees.com/au/contactus.aspx
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