I know people are saying this is funny and I’m not sure how lightheartedly you posted this but seriously that’s fucked up. If you are upset about it I’m sorry they are so ignorant and had the audacity to even come at you so personally under the guise of talking about Starbucks. Chat me if you need someone to vent with.

If you are taking it in stride tell them you knew it was policy beforehand and are looking forward to your transition being paid for by the founders of Starbucks, the Church of Satan 🏳️‍⚧️

yep, that’s why half of our tips are fake bills that say “jesus saves” on them

Yep, I’m trans and gay and I blame Starbucks… What do you mean “you were out 3 years before working there”? No I wasn’t… Smh 🙄

Yes. My store manager left it out yesterday and I saw everything :///

Im fucking DEAD bro this is hilarious 🤣

Me, non binary and pansexual: *nervous sweating*

The siren has only ever had one goal, to make trans and pan out of us all

i read the title of this post out loud and my best friend and i both said "yes" simultaneously

You should quit your parents. I'm assuming you're probably not at a place in your life when you can do that, but once you get yourself to that point, peace out and don't look back.

It does not.

​

That said, the company has been very forward about being socially progressive, even if the pay/labor thing is falling away from that. This overall openness tends to attract interesting, often creative, and usually incorrect or misleading stories coming out of the big-E Evangelical churches. This or something like it is likely the source of their concern.

I mean the reality is sbux is just a very welcoming environment if you’re queer, non-discrimination clauses include all queer identities + they make it super easy to go by your preferred name/pronouns without having to do a legal change of name, and their insurance is required to cover hrt. So more often than not you end ip having stores that are 99.95% queer in some way lmao. Your parents suck and i can relate to that, feel free to reach out if you wanna talk more

Yeah it was in the weekly update on the last page next to “tips on how to disappoint your religious parents”

serious answer: a lot of baristas work at starbucks because theyre ALREADY trans and/or gay for sbuxs reputation for being lgbt friendly + great health benefits that could help them transition, and a side effect of that could be that baristas that didn't realize they were trans/gay might find that being around more lgbt people made them learn something about themselves and eventually come out, so kind-of-but-not-really were "turned" lgbt ?

"REAL" answer: the lgbtizing juice was in the caramel crunch frapps all along and the world failed to realize before it was too late 💔

Lol if Starbucks has a trans conversion agenda the store in CA I worked at needs to get the memo, no one there gave a shit about my identity or pronouns 🙃🙃

LMAOOOOOOOOOO

Oh no, they're on to us!

​

Anyway.

That's pretty messed up, I'm sorry they're trying to coerce/force you to quit a place that you (hopefully) enjoy working at because of some nonsense they believe. I missed that weekly update as well, I suppose

These responses are funny, and my initial reaction was also (jokingly) “haha, yes!” when I read the title.

That said, on a real note, I sought out my employment at Starbucks specifically because I am a trans person who transitioned 5 years before becoming employed and needed to be sure the establishment hiring me would respect and protect me from transphobia. Plenty of my gay coworkers felt the same, or came from jobs where they were mistreated for being gay and again wanted the protection of a socially “forward” company. Your parents sound like an incredibly bad influence to have around re: gender and sexuality and I hope that you can continue to distance yourself from their way of thinking as you gain autonomy with your age, which it seems like is already the case — you’ve already done a fantastic job developing that level of empathy on your own, it’s hard to do.

Jokes aside Starbucks attracts us bc lots of places will use right to work to fire you if you're too openly queer and bc our pronouns and chosen names are respected (generally). The agenda is to do the bare minimum but make a big deal about it for publicity.

Hahaha

Wtf lol.

As much as I’d like to take part in the light hearted sarcasm here. You can have a conversation with your parents about how you were BORN this way and have been able to surround yourself with likeminded people. Starbucks has an environment and culture of openness and acceptance of all people and so for the first time in your life you’ve felt comfortable enough in your own skin to be YOURSELF. You’ve always been this beautiful wonderful human being, Starbucks was just an avenue for you to express yourself in a way you didn’t know previously

it’s a running joke at our store that the water turns us gay

might be true because i’m bi-curious at the moment 😅

This just shows that starbucks is super inclusive on purpose and is probably one of few large chains that is. And your parents are obviously aware of that. But if you’re old enough to work at Starbucks you’re old enough to choose not to quit and know your own sexuality/gender identity. Perhaps make a PowerPoint about how it’s YOUR LIFE. 🙄can they actually make the decision for you about the job?

Incredible.

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Honestly if you aren’t a lil gay or mentally ill do you even work at the buck

Yeah. I think I remember reading about this back in June about how they pump some gas into every store to slowly turn all the baristas part of the LGBTQ+

Hey OP, I just want to say, I’ve read through the comments particularly your responses to understand a little better and I am so sorry to hear your parents are responding this way. It’s always been one of the most frustrating things to me that if a young child says they’re trans or (anything lgbt related) everyone rushes to say they’re too young to know, but then if someone comes out later in life it’s no you can’t be because you/we didn’t know when you were younger. It’s this awful double standard that can be used against anyone coming out and I absolute hate it. If it helps, I’m a 35 year old trans guy who didn’t recognize I was trans until I was around 30/31 and came out within a year of figuring it out for myself. I’m thankful that my family and friends were all supportive, but the fear of getting these kinds of comments made it so much harder. Also, this was well before I worked at Starbucks, I only started working there because I needed a part time job w/benefits to supplement my full time job and I figured a place that is fairly well known for being open and affirming of the LGBTQ+ community would be a great place to do so. I’m not sure if I can be of any use in either talking to you or helping you find resources for your parents, but from one trans sibling to another, hang in there. We’re your family now :)

yes

I guess you didn’t read the update that states to be eligible for benefits you have to be queer. New policy they introduced for pride month.

To be fair, I do definitely skip reading the weekly update pretty frequently, so I probably missed it. But I am pansexual and for a while so was the entire night crew. So it may be the case!

Nah but I question the school system lol

im a scientist and yes starbucks does make people trans and gay, also makes people occasionally Albanian and sometimes white

source: science

Yes, 100% (also no, they’re wickedly capitalist and hate queers because of their adjacency to communism/socialism/anarchism, even if they’re not open about it, and even if the health insurance is decent enough to keep us from demanding the more that we deserve)

yes.

No. I just heard a lot of trans and gays work there.

I’ve had stores where this wasn’t true before but my store is super queer. Either it’s Starbucks, Joe Biden or the vaccines.

But I am sorry you’re on the receiving end of this kind of attitude from your parents.

Yeah my manager pulled me aside from register the other day and told me I wasn't acting gay enough. Really hate this new agenda.

bro what… they think a COFFEE SHOP turns people trans/gay etc? i’m so sorry that they told you to quit because they think u are following after a starbucks “agenda”

ur feelings are valid, and we are here for you❤️

This post and some responses are funny when taken lightheartedly but I'd like to also give a serious answer.

Starbucks doesn't have a gay agenda set to turn people. Starbucks does however *tend* to hire people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community for reasons I don't really care to know. I've worked with some great people over 5+ years and some not so great people. Some LGBTQ+ are part of each group, just like every other category you can group people into.

I think Starbucks just happens to be like a safe haven for many. Unfortunately from posts on here every so often, some particular stores aren't alike because of some SSVs or SMs. Overall, the company does seem to be a safe place for people.

I'm sorry to hear your parents are so brazen about this. Talk to someone. Just saying things out can help.

Lol amazing how accepting work environments will shockingly attract the people being accepted

My [F] whole life I’ve thought I might be bisexual, but I’ve never been in a real relationship with any gender, so I’ve never given it much thought. Before I started working at Starbucks, I had also never had a real crush on a girl other than fictional characters or celebs, but was open to the fact that I might have one one day.

I’m 23 and have worked many jobs, but it wasn’t until I started working at Starbucks that I was around so many open, out of the closet LGBT members. It’s a positive environment, it’s allowed me to be more honest with myself about who I am and who I like. I now have a thing for one of my [F] coworkers (and a date with her next week ;) ) but I haven’t come out to my parents yet. I don’t know how they’re going to take it, but I know this much:

There is NO job that can MAKE you gay or trans. They can only nurture who you already are, and make you comfortable enough to be open with yourself and others. Starbucks does attract a huge LGBT population as their baristas, but that’s because others see the positive environment and are encouraged to be around like-minded people with whom they share stuff in common.

I’m sorry your parents are having a hard time accepting who you are. I hope they come around some day, but just remember there’s nothing wrong with you, your coworkers, or your job. I hope you’ll be able to stay at your job and continue being around friends who accept you for who you are.

Nobody can make someone become something else.

People that came out while working at a Starbucks already were trans or gay, (or both!) but it's the environment and culture of welcoming that allowed them to come out.

It's shocking people can be so ignorant to such ideas.

OP, sounds like you and I have similarly-minded parents. Best day of my life was moving out lol. Especially as a closeted bisexual guy. Even the thought of their son being into dudes would destroy them and they would probably disown me. :P

But anyways yeah, definitely--as we all know, Starbucks is such a progressive company, pushing for fair labor practices, a higher minimum wage, better quality of life for their partners.....wait....

Damn, the last time I worked at Starbucks was back in aught nine, and they were saying the same crap back then too. It’s really sad that this rumor has persisted all these years…

I live in a rural area and the only gay or trans people I know (all 3 of them) work at Starbucks lol. But they've been out for a long time so I guess we can't "blame" the coffee lol.

It's a running joke that you have to be at least a little gay if you work at Starbucks lol

No, it doesn’t. Your parents are talking out of something other than their mouth. Top Forbes companies can’t turn you gay or trans. There’s not some underlying reason you’re trans, you just are, and that’s ok. I’m sorry they told you that.

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I’ve been trans since I was 12, began socially transitioning against my family’s wishes at age 14. Didn’t know about starbucks’ existence until I was hired when I was 19. Starbucks didn’t make me trans, your parents are nut jobs.

OP this is pretty funny but I genuinely hope you can work things through with your parents, just keep at it

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No. No it does not.

First and foremost (no offense to your parents) but are they out of their mother loving minds!?! I understand that they may be Christian because I am one too (I am studying to be a pastor - I am not perfect as many of you know). But what kind of deranged thought process is that!?! It's okay to have difference of opinions. When people start making far fetched statements like that or pondering conspiracies, I tune them out or walk away.

I'm sorry if they have made you feel uncomfortable in anyway, OP.

Blessed to know you!

Sincerely,
HV Starbucks Barista

Its not an agenda. Starbucks accepts and hires all people from all different genders, orientation, race or religion. Nothing will "turn" you trans or gay if you aren't, dont be stupid. If you dont like that everyone is allowed to work there, quit.

Starbucks is one of the most accepting and best places to work. They barely turn anyone away. It’s one of the few places where everyone can feel accepted. A place of work is not gonna turn anyone trans or gay. Your parents are dicks.