Starbucks was thanked for its support
of gay marriage on Wednesday with a giant card signed by over 640,000
people.
The groups SumOfUs.org
and Washington United for Marriage delivered the card to Starbucks'
Seattle headquarters yesterday at noon.
The card was accepted by two Starbucks
representatives.
“We are long-standing supporters of a
culture of diversity, and inclusion and equality for everybody, and
I'll share this with our fellow leaders,” said James Olsen, vice
president of Global Corporate Communications at Starbucks. “Thank
you very much.”
The campaign to thank the coffee giant
was launched in response to the National Organization for Marriage's
(NOM) “Dump Starbucks” boycott.
Starbucks has said the boycott was
having no impact on its business.
“We're not seeing any impact,”
Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson told Seattle alternative The
Stranger.
“We knew that people would stand with
Starbucks for standing up for marriage equality, but this response is
amazing,” said Zach Silk, campaign manager for Washington United
for Marriage. “This kind of consumer support shows why so many
Washington companies recognize that all loving, committed couples
should have the freedom to marry.”
As of Thursday afternoon, supporters
were outpacing opponents 22 to 1, with more than 642,000 people
signing the thank you card and just over 28,300 pledging to avoid
Starbucks shops and its retail products.
NOM is also fighting off criticism that
it pursued a strategy to pit
minority groups against gay marriage supporters.