Just months after coffee colossus Starbucks was accused of erasing Pride from store locations across the country, the company is being sued by a lesbian and gender non-conforming employee who claims she was passed over for promotion because she is “gay” and “looks like a boy.”
Jahmelia “Jay” Peters is suing Starbucks, claiming the company denied her a promotion at a White Plains, New York store despite previous experience in the role due to her sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression.
One store manager allegedly threw out Pride decorations rather than display them.
The store manager promoted a woman he was pursuing for sex instead, the suit claims.
The civil action, filed in New York Supreme Court, alleges unlawful discrimination and retaliation. Peters is seeking compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress, including back and front pay, as well as punitive damages for the manager’s “outrageous conduct.”
According to the complaint, Peters’ boss told store colleagues that she would not be promoted because she was “gay” and “looks like a boy.” Peters was subsequently fired while on break for questioning the manager’s decision.
Peters says she has yet to receive her final paycheck in what the suit characterizes as a final act of retaliation from the company.
The suit describes how a cisgender, straight female employee at the store whom the manager had taken an “inappropriate flirtatious interest in” was promoted to shift leader over Peters, despite having less experience and expressly stating that she did not want the promotion.
According to Peters’ lawyers, this was not the only woman in the store that the manager had sought to curry favor with in order to have a sexual relationship; he often shared intimate, flirtatious text messages with other straight female employees in the store.
“This is a human rights issue,” said Bennitta Joseph, Peters’ counsel with Joseph & Norinsberg LLC. “Ms. Peters was denied the civil right to fair treatment in the workplace based on her gender expression, identity, and her sexual orientation.”
The allegation comes just months after more than 3,500 Starbucks workers in 150 store locations went on strike in June, claiming regional managers in more than 100 Starbucks locations in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma shut down Pride displays after “consulting with upper leadership.”
Starbucks denied the allegations, saying it never asked any stores to remove their Pride decorations, and accused the union representing Starbucks employees, Starbucks Workers United, of spreading false information as a bargaining “tactic.”
Controversial US fast-food chain Chick-fil-A is planning a second attempt to launch in the UK, four years after closing its first restaurant following a backlash by LGBTQ+ rights campaigners.
The Atlanta-based chain, whose founders have notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ views, is reportedly set to launch a new UK outlet in early 2025 and hopes to expand to five sites within two years.
The project could cost the company around $100 million (£80.5 million) within the next decade, as part of the new attempt to capitalise on the UK’s customer base.
It first tried to establish a branch in Reading, in Berkshire, in 2019, but was forced to announce – just eight days later – that it would end its lease after six months following criticism from LGBTQ+ activists.
The chain’s founders, the Cathy family, have long been the subject of immense criticism over their donations to anti-LGBTQ+ groups, including Exodus International, which promoted so-called conversion therapy before its closure in 2013.
In 2021, Chick-fil-A chief executive, Dan Cathy, reportedly donated a huge amount of his $8 billion (£6.4 billion) net worth to groups such as the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which funds organisations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, as well as bankrolling legal cases aimed at stripping queer people of their rights.
When asked about his conservative Christian views, Cathy admitted he was “guilty as charged”, adding that he believes in the “biblical definition of the family unit”.
Independent food-sector analyst, Peter Backman, told the Financial Times (FT) that the UK is likely to be less open to engaging with the brand due to its historical evangelical Christian stance.
“Successful restaurants, being very personal businesses, try to align their culture as much as possible with that of the customers they serve,” he said, adding that, when so few Britons identify as Christian, this would be “a challenge”, given Chick-fil-A’s “very strong, religious ethos”.
According to polling data from YouGov, 39 per cent of Britons do not believe in any sort of God or spiritual power compared with 28 per cent who do. Forty-six per cent of Britons do not believe the UK is a Christian country, while 34 per cent believe it is.
Additionally, as of June 2023, 77 per cent of Britons think that same-sex relationships are just as valid as heterosexual relationships.
A source close to the company told the FT that the chain’s religious policies, including closure on Sundays for religious reasons, would apply in the UK.
The company is hoping to move past the incident in 2019 and work to “positively influence the places we call home”, said Joanna Symonds, Chick-fil-A’s head of UK operations.
“This will be the same for our stores in the UK,” she added.
The Chartered Insitute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), an association of human resource professionals have published new guidance on how businesses can promote trans and non-binary inclusion in the workplace.
The guide provides professionals, employers, and people managers with the information needed to take an informed and proactive approach to supporting transgender and non-binary people at work, as part of a broader diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policy. It also provides insights from people with lived experience to help employers understand the issues and challenges facing these individuals.
Data from the CIPD shows that 55 per cent of trans employees have experienced harassment and discrimination while at work. Additionally, 18 per cent of trans employees say that they feel psychologically unsafe.
The guide covers the key areas of the entire lifecycle of an employee – from recruitment through to progression – as well as suggestions to build a more inclusive workplace culture.
Commenting on the new guidelines, Peter Cheese, chief executive at the CIPD said: “It’s the responsibility of every employer to recognise the challenges faced by all marginalised groups, including transgender and non-binary people, and take every measure to provide safe and inclusive environments where everyone can thrive.”
An acknowledgement of gender-critical beliefs
The guide highlights that employers in England, Scotland, and Wales have a legal responsibility to create a safe working environment for all employees, regardless of their protected characteristics. The Equality Act 2010 protects all employees from discrimination and harassment on the basis of their protected characteristics, which include age, disability, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, gender, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
However, the guide does mention that under the same act, gender-critical views may be protected as “holding these views is not in itself unlawful discrimination.” The guide does note though, that holding those views doesn’t give anyone the right to “manifest” any of those views in a discriminatory way at work.
For example, intentional deadnaming is considered unlawful, as is refusing to use a colleague’s correct name or pronouns or revealing personal information.
The guide advises business leaders to be very clear on the boundaries between “acceptable differences of beliefs and unacceptable manifestations of behaviour in the workplace.”
The guide suggests that individual employers have a clear definition of what could be considered transphobic to clarify the standards for behaviour.
Use the lived experience to shape policy
Elsewhere in the guide, the CIPD urges businesses to consult outside experts and employees with lived experience when shaping new DE&I policies. By actively listening, business leaders can “develop and intersectional perspective” and “identify any particular aspects which may not be clearly understood and/or fully accepted by others who hold alternative views.”
The guide also suggests how HR teams and business leaders can support employees who are transitioning. They highlight long waiting times for gender-affirming care through the NHS and the “bullying, harassment and hostility, which is most likely to occur at the point of transition but can happen at any time.”
The CIPD advises creating a transitioning-at-work policy to support both line managers and colleagues. They say the policy should go beyond the possible medical needs and also consider the lived experience, best practices for support and data protection for employees going through a legal name change.
The CIPD’s guidelines come as many household brands in the UK are announcing new policies that offer specific support to trans and non-binary employees. Earlier this summer, electronics retailer Currys revealed that they will offer an additional six weeks of paid leaveto cover appointments, surgeries and recovery time.
Compassion and understanding are the key
For Thea Bardot, a non-binary business owner and founder of Lightning Travel, the guidance from the CIPD some one of the strongest they’ve ever seen.
“The methodology is robust, with trans and non-binary people having been consulted, as well as organisations specialising in inclusion and awareness and this is evident in the recommendations made.”
They tell PinkNews: “The guidance puts people first, making it clear that for real change to be made in this space compassion and understanding are key, that conversation should be encouraged and that training is essential.”
Bardot appreciates that the CIPD addresses the polarising issue of gender-critical beliefs and the guide “acknowledges that while some people may hold this view it does not mean that it is lawful for those views to be communicated in a way which is discriminatory.”
“I consider this to be essential reading, especially for those involved in recruitment, HR and people management,” Bardot concludes.
“It provides an invaluable framework enabling companies to begin a crucial conversation which so many are currently avoiding. Tackling this subject head-on will benefit everyone within the organisation, not just those who are gender diverse.”
Katherine Milon was strolling Philadelphia’s picturesque Pine Street when she saw the awning for Giovanni’s Room. Wait, that’s a gay book, Milon thought. This is a gay bookstore!
Soon after, Milon began volunteering at the venerable queer and feminist bookseller — named for James Baldwin’s classic 1956 novel — becoming co-manager a few years later. In the past five years, Milon has witnessed COVID decimate business, the store’s pivot to e-commerce during the pandemic, the return of foot traffic in 2021, and, just this summer, the 50th anniversary of Giovanni’s Room, which is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ bookstore in the nation. A joyous block party in front of the location heralded Giovanni’s half-century, with live readings, performances, and parties marking the occasion.
For the store, a love of literature and the embrace of the local queer community has staved off a fate that’s befallen similar spaces across the country — only about 50 LGBTQ+ bookstores remain. But the people behind Giovanni’s Room, from the earliest owners to current management, also made decisions that ensured the store’s survival. The store actually closed its doors in 2014 when it could no longer turn a profit. That’s when Philly AIDS Thrift, a local 501c3 that offers donations, proceeds, and microloans to communities affected by HIV, offered to partner up.
“What they proposed at the time was to create an integrated business model where we still order and sell new books, but we also have thrifted goods available in the store and that helps cut back on overhead,” Milon says. “We have a room with all the new books but we have people coming in to buy 29 cent cassette tapes or looking at our thrifted clothing, so there’s a real community feel.”
That type of creative thinking has carried through from Giovanni’s earliest days when it was opened in 1973 by three members of the Gay Activists Alliance, Bernie Boyle, Dan Scherbo, and Tom Wilson Weinberg, who were enamored with the Oscar Wilde bookstore in New York City (which closed in 2009). But running a queer business in the early ’70s was extremely challenging.
“This was during the time when if you’re opening a gay bar or club it was clandestine,” Milon says. “You had to go down alleyways or know someone who could get you in. So this was a gay business where the windows were open and they had the stock in the windows. They let you know who they were and what they were doing.”
The owners had to do battle with censorship and a society that labeled anything about gay life “pornographic.” (How little has changed.)
“We actually got in trouble with the first couple rounds of landlords because they would see the kinds of books sold and suddenly the rent would go up 3,000 percent,” Milon says.
Boyle, Scherbo, and Weinberg would soon sell the business to Pat Hill, a local lesbian activist. Hill encountered her own troubles keeping the business afloat, going on welfare at one point.
There were more ownership changes through the years, but Milon describes the 1990s as Giovanni’s glory days, when gay authors like Leslie Feinberg and Michael Cunningham were churning out hits, and the internet hadn’t yet widely affected consumer culture. Following the hybrid thrift store/bookstore model, things looked up, partly thanks to a team of volunteers who helped staff the store for next to nothing. Then, came COVID. After the lockdowns lifted, “if we had five customers in the store [total], it was a good day.”
Thankfully, foot traffic returned in 2021, improved even more last year, and “2023 has been off the charts,” Milon says. It helps that Giovanni’s Room is more than a bookstore; it remains a locus of queer life in Philadelphia, with in-person readings, an in-person book club, and various other events that keep people coming back and spending money. Queer author bell hooks remains a perennial favorite, and, of course, Baldwin. Contemporary writers like Brandon Taylor, Torrey Peters, Julia Serrano, and Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper books are also big sellers. Milon uses Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues book as an example of the community’s embrace of her store; while the 1993 novel is available for free on Feinberg’s website, people still line up to buy the printed version from Giovanni’s Room.
“This is definitely a store the community has kept alive through sheer love and dedication,” Milon says. “When they moved into the latest building, volunteers built our main staircase, cut the shop windows, cut the door. We are literally the product of the community coming together year after year, decade after decade, to keep us alive.”
The new owner of two historically pro-LGBTQ+ bars has come under fire for making a number of donations to the Republican Party, totalling nearly $10,000.
A former employee of The Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub, two LGBTQ-friendly establishments in Columbus, Ohio, called out new owner Michael Purdum for contributing thousands of dollars to Republican Party officials.
Nicholas Elkovitch detailed the accusations in a Facebook message on 25 August, following his dismissal after nearly nine years of working in various roles at both establishments, including as restaurant manager, promotions director and entertainment booker.
He said that several other senior members had also been dismissed following Purdum’s purchase of the businesses.
In 2022, Purdum, who owns the Old Bag of Nails restaurant group, purchased Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub.
Alongside allegations that the new owners would turn the pro-LGBTQ+ businesses into “Republican-owned” spaces, the former employee also shared a number of screenshots that detail Purdum’s donations to local and national GOP groups.
Among the donations are a set of payments to Republican Ohio attorney general Dave Yost from 2018 to 2021 totally at least $7,000, as well as $500 to the Republican National Committee in 2012, and $500 to former US speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, in 2011.
Gingrich has made a number of anti-LGBTQ+ remarks in the past, including a tirade in 2021 in which he claimed president Joe Biden was “attacking” anti-LGBTQ+ pundits by waving Pride flags at embassies.
“They will never be the pro-gay, pro-trans, pro-Black spaces they used to be because it might negatively impact the view of their fish-fry pubs in the suburbs,” Elkovitch wrote.
“What was once a PROUD gay-owned space, is now a Republican-owned space that must ask permission to defend its own community.”
In a statement provided to the Columbus Dispatch, Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub executive manager, Joey Steward, refuted the allegations made against Purdum and the newly acquired businesses.
“The goal since the acquisition of the two venues has been to maintain the business operations and enhance the culture of being a safe and welcoming space for the LGBTQIA+ staff and community.
“One way we have executed this goal is by maintaining staff continuity as evidenced by the leadership team expansion in adherence with our philosophy of promoting existing staff members from within these two venues.”
Responding to the backlash following Elkovitch’s post, the Union Cafe shared a statement on Instagram saying that it wished to “set the record straight”.
“Michael Purdum has made occasional contributions to Republican candidates over the years, all of which were done prior to the purchase and involvement with these two venues,” the statement read.
“Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub provides donations to LGBTQIA+ organisations, entertainers, and individuals throughout the year.
“Michael Purdum is, and will continue to be, a dedicated ally to our community and is committed to maintaining these venues as safe spaces.”
An LGBTQ+ owned cosmetics brand has cut ties with Alice Cooper in the wake of wildly anti-trans remarks the rock star made in a recent interview.
In a statement posted to its official Instagram page on Friday, Vampyre Cosmetics announced that it has canceled a collaboration with the 75-year-old singer, known for his theatrical stage persona and goth makeup.
“In light of recent statements by Alice Cooper we will no longer be doing a makeup collaboration,” the brand’s post reads. “We stand with all members of the LGBTQIA+ community and believe everyone should have access to healthcare. All pre-order sales will be refunded.”
On its website, Vampyre Cosmetics describes itself as “proudly women owned, disabled owned and LGBT+ owned,” and in their Instagram bio they describe their products as “for all races, ages and genders.”
According to Billboard, the brand launched its presale for the collaboration on August 14, with Cooper announcing the collection on his official website a few days later. The products have now been removed from Vampyre Cosmetics’ website.
Last week, Cooper made headlines for a going on a vile anti-trans rant in an interview with Stereogum. The “School’s Out” singer was asked to weigh in on recent anti-trans statements made on social media by fellow veteran shock rockers Paul Stanley of Kiss and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, both of whom have since attempted to walk back their comments.
Cooper said he agreed with Snider and Stanley’s initial comments, suggesting that kids coming out as transgender or nonbinary at a young age is “a fad.” The “social contagion” narrative that more young people are coming out as trans due to peer pressure and exposure to trans-affirming messages on social media continues to be propagated by Republican politicians and anti-trans activists, despite being widely discredited by experts.
Cooper went on to reference a litany of right-wing anti-trans misinformation and conspiracy theories, including the thoroughly debunked hoax that schools are installing litter boxes for students who identify as cats, and the idea that trans women pose a threat to cisgender women in public bathrooms.
As of Monday, Cooper, who is currently promoting a new album, has not responded to the backlash to his remarks.
Chick-fil-A is one of the top 10 largest fast-food chains in the U.S. with a widely loved offering of chicken sandwiches and an estimated 2022 revenue of $6.4 billion, according to Zippia.com. However, the company has also had a long history of supporting anti-LGBTQ+ causes.
Here’s an overview of its queerphobic actions and how social pressure has caused the company to shift its attention away from anti-LGBTQ+ efforts in recent years.
A history of Chick-fil-A’s controversial actions
Since 2003, the WinShape Foundation, a charity co-founded by Chick-fil-A’s now-deceased founder S. Truett Cathy and his wife Jeanette Cathy, has donated over $1 million to groups that actively oppose same-sex marriage, including Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum; the anti-LGBTQ Christian group Focus on the Family; the SLPC-certified hate group Family Research Council; the now-defunct ex-gay therapy group Exodus International; the exclusively for-heterosexuals-only Marriage & Family Legacy Fund; and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), a religious groups whose “sexual purity policy” prohibits any homosexual acts.
In 2009, Chick Fil-a doubled that amount to $2 million. In January 2011, Chick-fil-A co-sponsored a marriage conference with the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a group that opposes expanded LGBTQ+ civil rights. In 2012, Chick-fil-A executives promised to stop supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations.
However, The Chick-fil-A Foundation’s IRS filings from 2015 revealed that the foundation donated $1 million to the FCA; $200,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a Georgia-based residential home for troubled youth which said that child abuse causes homosexuality; and $130,000 to the Salvation Army, a religious international charity that has long opposed same-sex marriage and anti-LGBTQ housing discrimination protectionswhile supporting religious exemptions from LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws. In 2017, Chick-fil-A’s donations to these groups equaled nearly $2 million.
Dan Cathy’s statements against same-sex marriage
YouTube screenshotDan Cathy
In 2012, Chick fil-A’s then-president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy made repeated comments against same-sex marriage. On June 16, 2012, Cathy said on The Ken Coleman Show that the United States was “inviting God’s judgment” upon it by redefining marriage to include same-sex spouses. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about,” Cathy said.
In a July 2, 2012 interview with Biblical Recorder, Dan Cathy said he was “guilty as charged”when asked about Chick-fil-A’s “support of the traditional family.” In June 2013, the day the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Cathy tweeted (and quickly deleted), “Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies.”
By 2014, Cathy said it was a “mistake” to involve his company in the public debate against same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, even into 2021, Cathy — who still serves as the company’s chairman — continued using his money to fund the National Christian Charitable Foundation and its “dark money operations” supporting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
Chick-fil-A’s corporate policies and employee treatment
Shutterstock
Chick-fil-A’s current statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) says that the company doesn’t allow employment discrimination or harassment based on “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression,” or other personal characteristics, like religion.
Despite this, in 2002, a Muslim employee of a Houston location sued the chain, alleging that he had been fired for refusing to pray to Jesus with other employees — the company settled the suit out of court. In 2022, a transgender female Chick-fil-A employee sued the restaurant chain after her co-worker allegedly began making violent, racist, and queerphobic threats.
LGBTQ+ Chick-fil-A employees have variously spoken out for and against the company. One anonymous gay worker discouraged boycotts, noting that they would mostly harm the chain’s LGBTQ+ employees, but also accused the restaurant’s anti-gay and Christian supporters of being self-righteous, arrogant, and blind to LGBTQ+ suffering.
Several gay employees said some customers offered homophobic words of support for the business while other people yelled at employees for supporting a homophobic company. Others said that their Chick-fil-A co-workers and supervisors didn’t tolerate homophobic behavior from colleagues.
Chick-fil-A’s philanthropy shifts show the power of consumer advocacy
Twitter/Greg AbbottTexas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) surrounded by Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A’s supporters have encouraged the company to embrace its anti-gay social stances, while its critics have urged the company to turn away from its anti-LGBTQ+ practices.
In 2012, gay activists and allies staged a national boycott of the chain after one location donated food to a seminar hosted by the anti-gay Pennsylvania Family Institute. To combat the boycotts, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) declared August 1, 2012 as Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.
In support of the day, Huckabee wrote, “Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the godly values we espouse…. Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same-sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant.”
The chain said the day’s resulting sales helped set a record for profits.
On August 3, 2012, however, gay rights activists around the nation held kiss-in protests in opposition to the restaurant’s anti-LGBTQ+ donations and Dan Cathy’s views against same-sex marriage. Some of the protests occurred inside and outside of the restaurants. Other LGBTQ+ allies encouraged people to donate money that they would’ve spent at the restaurant to queer organizations like GLAAD.
Chick-fil-A announced in 2017 that that would be the last year in which it would donate to the Paul Anderson Youth Home. In a November 18, 2019 interview, Chick-fil-A president Tim Tassopoulos said the company would no longer donate to the FCA and The Salvation Army. Tassopoulos also said Chick-fil-A would continue to donate to “faith-based [and] non-faith-based” groups.
In response to Tassopoulos’s announcement, the Christian consumer organization 2nd Vote denounced and boycotted Chick-fil-A for pledging not to donate to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations. The American Family Association also circulated a petition which stated, “It looks like you (Chick-fil-A) are abandoning Christian values and agreeing with homosexual activists who say believing the Bible makes you a hater. Please clarify that you still hold to biblical teachings regarding human sexuality, marriage, and family, and reinstate these Christian ministries.”
In a statement released in 2020, the Chick-fil-A Foundation announced that it would donate $9 million equally to promote youth education through Junior Achievement USA, combat youth homelessness via the LGBTQ+-inclusive charity Covenant House International, and fight hunger by giving to local food banks in cities where it opened new locations.
The anti-LGBTQ+ Family Research Council (FRC) criticized Chick-fil-A for publicly withdrawing its support from the FCA and Salvation Army and announcing its support for Covenant House International, something the FRC called “an endorsement of an LGBT agenda.”
Assessing Chick-fil-A’s progress & its potential for change
ShutterstockFast food chain Chick-fil-A is owned by religious conservatives and closed on Sundays.
While Chick-fil-A’s donation strategy has changed for the time being, it still carries an image of being anti-gay. This image has led city airports and college campuses to protest the openings of new Chick-fil-A restaurants. In response, conservative politicians have continued to defend the company’s Christian beliefs.
Apart from rehabbing its public image, the company could do more to welcome its own LGBTQ+ employees.
In 2019, the LGBTQ+ rights organization the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the queer media watchdog group GLAAD both said that they wanted Chick-fil-A to implement fair hiring practices, transparency about donations, and proof that Chick-fil-A has actually stopped donating to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations.
The company could certainly do more to become more LGBTQ+-inclusive. The company has never participated in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index measuring the company’s own queer-inclusive workplace policies. The company also has no internal employee resource groups for addressing the needs of LGBTQ+-identified team members. It’s unclear if the company offers LGBTQ+-inclusive anti-discrimination training or equal employee benefits, like parental leave and domestic partner benefits, regardless of workers’ sexual orientations or gender identities.
Other businesses have contrasted themselves with Chick-fil-A to highlight their own inclusive business practices and the importance of informed consumption and supporting LGBTQ+-friendly businesses.
In June 2021, for instance, Burger King launched the Ch’King sandwich, which closely resembled Chick-fil-A’s trademark chicken sandwich. In a June 3, 2021 tweet, Burger King wrote, “The #ChKing says LGBTQ+ rights!” It also announced that it would donate 40₵ to the HRC for every Ch’King sandwich sold (with a maximum donation of $250,000).
In September 2022, Alexandre’s Bar in the Dallas gayborhood of Oak Lawn announced the sale of its own “Chick-fil-gAy” sandwich that was only available on Sundays (the day on which all Chick-fil-A locations are closed).
Recent polling shows that 70% of non-LGBTQ+ Americans believe that companies should publicly support the queer community through inclusive policies, advertising, and sponsorships — this belief held especially true for younger consumers. In short, Chick-fil-A could invest in its future by continuing to distance itself from its past anti-gay actions.
Diversity is delicious, homophobia is not
Chick-fil-A has given to groups that oppose LGBTQ+ identities and civil rights. Its current chairman, Dan Cathy, has also made several statements against same-sex marriage. This has tarnished the company’s image, even as it has gradually distanced itself from these positions.
While the company remains very successful, its recent changes in donation and anti-discrimination policies show the impact that consumers have made by advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and supporting inclusive business practices. LGBTQ+ people and allies support and remain loyal to companies that support their queer employees and the larger queer community. It pays to research and patronize such supportive businesses so we can all put our money where our mouths are.
More than half of LGBTQ+ social media users are turning their backs on mainstream platforms over toxicity and safety concerns, a new report indicates.
Communia – the world’s first social media platform for women and marginalised genders – published its “exposé on women’s and marginalised genders’ social media experiences” report on Monday (10 July).
The research, which was conducted between 20-22 June 2023, surveyed 2,058 women and marginalised genders – including 237 LGBTQ+ people – in the UK who are current or past users of social media.
The survey saw almost two in three (60 per cent) of LGBTQ+ respondents state that they are turning their backs on mainstream social platforms due to safety concerns or toxic environments.
Just over a third (34 per cent) of straight respondents said the same.
Further findings show that almost half (46 per cent) of LGBTQ+ respondents feel unsafe online, compared to just under a third (29 per cent) of straight respondents.
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of respondents said they felt unsafe online due to leaving a digital footprint and data privacy.
Just under three-quarters (73 per cent) of LGBTQ+ users said they had been a victim of online abuse – more than double the proportion among straight respondents.
The survey also found more than half of the queer respondents (59 per cent) had considered cosmetic surgery as a result of social media, while more than four in five (85 per cent) said social media makes them feel less confident in their life choices. Only 54 per cent of straight respondents said the same.
The LGBTQ+ community also ranked highest for having had a partner control or try to control their digital interactions, with 61 per cent answering “yes” compared to 27 per cent of straight respondents.
‘Take important steps to improve the digital world’
Communia’s founder, Olivia DeRamus, said of the findings: “This survey should encourage big tech companies, the UK government, and consumers themselves to take important steps to improve the digital world and make it safe from predatory behaviour, hate speech, trolling, and other forms of abuse.
“I encourage the broader tech community to emulate Communia’s safety and digital well-being strategies. Suggestions include: making it as easy as possible to report abuse, verifying users’ identities, banning those who spread hate at the first incident, and uncensoring the words women need to talk about our own experiences.”
The billionaire, who bought Twitter in October 2022, quietly dropped the platform’s policyprotecting trans people from deadnaming and misgendering in April 2023.
Following his takeover, transphobic remarks were found to have risen by at least 1,458 times per day across the remainder of last year. Additionally, racist, anti-Black comments increased to a height of 3,876 times a day.
Days after the Supreme Court’s ruling that businesses can deny same-sex wedding services if it clashes with their religious views, new data says most American voters disagree with that position. Last week, the nation’s high court sided with a Colorado business owner who argued a state non-discrimination law could not compel her to make same-sex websites.
The survey, conducted by Data for Progress, found 65% of voters believe businesses should not be allowed to turn away customers who are of a particular sexual orientation because of the business owner’s personal beliefs.
Many anti-LGBTQ bills introduced and passed in state houses in recent years were pushed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group. In the 303 Creative v. Elenis case, the CEO and president of the ADF argued before the high court on behalf of the web designer.
Per the poll’s crosstabs, 64% of Republicans “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that businesses should be able to refuse services for same-sex marriages.
For Democrats, the number is 19%.
Around 40% of Republicans also say that businesses should be able to refuse services for interracial marriages and interfaith marriages.
For Democrats, that number is 15%.
Asked about baby showers for unwed mothers, 35% of Republicans says businesses should be able to refuse to provide services.
The bar where police raids sparked the 1969 Stonewall uprising has revealed why it stopped serving Bud Light – and it has nothing to do with calls for a boycott over the beer brand’s collaboration with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Co-owners of New York’s Stonewall Inn, Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly, have revealed that the bar turned its back on Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, in 2021.
At that time, the bar staged a “Keep Your Pride” campaign, which involving refusing to serve products of companies that claimed to be allies of the queer community but which also donated funds to anti-LGBTQ+ individuals.
“The reason we did that… was because they were out there waving the rainbow flag very vehemently, then turning around and contributing to anti-LGBTQ legislators, which can’t happen,” Lentz told Newsweek. “Our communities are fed up with that.”
Lentz said Bud Light’s collaboration with Mulvaney, who has 12 million followers on TikTok, “makes sense” and warned other businesses: “If you don’t market to Gen Z, then in 20 years or 30 years, your business will not exist because Gen Z is all about equality. Your consumer is ageing out.”
The backlash to the collaboration “was ridiculous,” and “the fact that they catered to it was alarming,” she added.
“But at the same time, they at least made an effort. I thought it was a great campaign.”
Dylan Mulvaney was the victim of a transphobic backlash over her social media collaboration with Bud Light. (Credit: Getty Images)
Anheuser-Busch faced a deluge of attacks from anti-trans people after they sent Mulvaney a single personalised can to celebrate the first anniversary of her “Days of Girlhood” TikTok series.
However, despite Target, Bud Light and Innocent Drinks being among the brands to face boycott calls over LGBTQ+ inclusion, stats show that most Americans appreciate and value queer people being featured in advertising.
According to GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance survey, 75 per cent of straight people feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ+ in advertising, while 60 per cent of heterosexuals agree that seeing queer people in ads makes them more comfortable with those who are different to themselves.
