Starbucks is
taking steps to ensure that all members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) community have a safe space in their many stores across
Seattle, Washington.
According to The Seattle Times, the coffee company will
partner with the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD)
Safe Place program, an initiative that reportedly aims to train 2,000 Starbucks
employees on how to respond to and engage with LGBT victims of violence and
effectively report hate crimes to police.
"We don’t
have roving bands of people assaulting LBGTQ people as we did in the '80s,” openly gay Seattle police officer Jim Ritter said.
"[But] the crimes are predatory, they’re picking somebody out of the
herd. They’re cowards for the most part… They’re opportunistic, they do
their damage and leave. They like operating in the shadows and Safe Place
eliminates a lot of those shadows.”
Starbucks has a
history of support for and solidarity with the LGBT community. Not only
did the organization raise a Pride flag over its Seattle headquarters in
2014, but the company's CEO famously told an anti-gay shareholder that he was free to
"sell [his] shares of
Starbucks and buy shares in another company" if
he had a problem with the company's pro-gay values. The company also released its first LGBT commercial in 2014 featuring
drag queens Bianca Del
Rio and Adore Delano.
Thanks for the
support, Starbucks!
Good idea and a great initiative! We need more of the same...everywhere! Thanks, buddy, for posting this! Much love and many naked hugs!
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