Religious Right Attacks Starbucks For Gay Rights Support

Not everyone was super thrilled with gay right's major advances in the election last week, and one group is going to make LGBT-friendly Starbucks pay for it. 

The American Independent first leaked details of how the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) plans to attack Starbucks and other companies who support LGBT rights. How it plans to do it: cut off the companies' support in the Middle East, where Starbucks is already expanding. In a conference call last week, execs from NOM said they plan on spreading the word about Starbucks' stance on gay rights in countries that do not share the same view. Said NOM president Brian Brown (you can listen to the full audio on the American Independent): "Their international outreach is where we can have the most effect... 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."

It's not the first time NOM has attacked Starbucks for its position; this year also brought on the "Dump Starbucks" campaign to boycott the coffee chain. The American Independent noted that during that campaign, NOM also sent targeted ads to places like Egypt, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuwait, and more. In response, supporters made a Starbucks Appreciation Day this past summer to show gratitude for its stance on same-sex marriage — so at least not everyone's against Starbucks.