Love Starbucks coffee and support marriage equality? Today -- aka National Marriage Equality Day -- is your lucky day, because you can show your support for both by patronizing the coffee chain. Dreamed up by Equally Wed magazine, the event is meant to counter last week's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, which urged backers of the "biblical definition of the family unit" to come out in droves and put their money where their "morals" are.
But today, we gay rights activists are encouraged to have our say by patronizing Starbucks -- and various other companies that support same-sex marriage, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon.com, Absolut Vodka, Nike, Apple, Ben & Jerry's, Best Buy, Delta, Disney, Ford, General Mills, Google, J.C. Penney, JPMorgan, Kenneth Cole, Kimberly-Clark, Kimpton Hotels, Levi-Strauss, Macy’s, Marshalls, Microsoft, Sears, Southwest Airlines, Target, Tiffany & Co., and T.J. Maxx. Whew! And wow, how heartening is it that we have so many options?!
If only because it will make consumers even more informed about their favorite companies' politics, National Marriage Equality Day rocks.
See, that's the thing Chick-fil-A supporters seem to misunderstand. They've been so defensive of president Dan Cathy's views, whining that he has every right to his opinions. This is a free country after all! But that is not what those of us opposed to his views are taking issue with. Of course we acknowledge that he has a right to those views. Of course Chick-fil-A has every right to donate their big bucks to organizations that promote a bigoted, hateful message.
At the same time, consumers have every right to choose or refuse to contribute to that endeavor. We as consumers should be educated about what kind of politics companies we are patronizing support, and we should care. Just like you get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you buy a lipstick that purports to put donate a percentage of the proceeds to breast cancer research, those of us who are fighting for marriage equality will be proud to purchase our coffee from a chain that is promoting our progressive agenda.
The bottom-line is this: We can't sit back and play the "ignorance is bliss" card anymore. Whether you like it or not, every time we patronize a company, we give them free reign to use our dollars toward causes we may or may not support. Whether it's an official "Appreciation Day" or not, we vote with our pocketbooks. How are you going to vote today -- and every day?
Will you patronize one of the companies included in National Marriage Equality Day?
Image via Jennifer Morrow/Flickr
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Comments 21
I enjoy both of these establishments and I will not go to one over the other based on opinions, yes opinions. Do I feel all people should be able to be married? Yes, why can a heterosexual person remarry several times but a homosexual couple who have been together for years can't? I cannot believe the grief this man has gotten for saying what he did, even gay men have spoken out saying we will keep eating chic-fil-a and have never been treated badly for being gay. If people are going to quit eating there because of what he said start researching all of the establishments you frequent you may be surprised as to what they donate to as well. It is also known that they are closed on Sundays d/t religion so why is everyone shocked and appalled? I hope I can continue to eat there without being called a bigot cause I am far from it.
I agree with everything jalaz said only I don't like Starbucks and we don't have the chick-fil-A chain in my state. What they think wouldn't affect where I ate or where I shopped. I LOVE JCPenney too and I LOVE what they did but plenty of others don't.
This is a crazy war to me that means nothing.
The point being made by the support of Chik-fil-a by many has nothing to do with a personal opinion. A lot of it, including on my part, is to protest the words of politicians who have threatened to use the power of the government to stop Chik-fil-a from being able to open new locations. Everyone should have a problem with any politician's abuse of power. I would be just as outraged if a politician threatened to prevent Starbucks from opening a new location because they support same sex marriage.
I won't go near A&F - I can't stand their advertising. I LOVE Target and shop there whenever I can (don't have one in my town, but in the next town over). I love Chick-fil-A but rarely go there because of the price of eating out. Most of the other places - I'll shop there for the right price/deal. Doesn't matter much to me.
And to the previous commenter that said it was a marketing ploy (I have seen that several times - that Chick-fil-A instigated the Appreciation Day and even those who suggested they had a deal or freebie that day) - Chick-fil-A had nothing to do with the day. Mike Huckabee started it on Facebook and it spread like wildfire. I'm assuming it is the same with Starbucks - or are they the ones advertising it??
If people want to make a point, they should donate the money they would have spent at those businesses to non-profit groups that actually do the legwork for the causes they support. I was really disappointed to see huge lines of "Christians" at Chick-Fil-A instead of lining up at a food bank or homeless shelter. I would also be disappointed to see huge lines at Starbucks instead of at a gay men's health center or homeless shelter. I would call it "slacker activism" to support businesses that support causes instead of actually supporting causes. It's actually pretty easy to make a donation online and you don't have to waste gas at a drive through.
I will continue to support Starbucks today and every time I want a delicious coffee, a quiet place to read or study or a drink to warm me up before my kid's soccer game. Gay marriage has been legal in Canada for 7 years and surprisingly, not a single heterosexual marriage has suffered as a result. Imagine that!