Christian Woman Says Starbucks Fired Her for Opposing LGBT Display, Pronoun Policy
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Apr 05, 2024
A Christian woman who once worked at a Starbucks location in North Carolina says she was fired after speaking out against an LGBT Pride display and against the company’s pronoun policy.
Taylor Trice said in a now-viral video that she told her bosses at the Apex, N.C., store that she didn’t oppose using a customer’s name but that she opposed using preferred pronouns because it amounted to lying.
“I take my faith seriously, and I try to be as much like Jesus as I can,” she told Fox News Digital. “According to my faith, you're not supposed to lie. I'm willing to call you by your name. I'm willing to avoid using the pronouns you don't want me to use, but it's against my faith to lie and say… someone is a woman if they're a man or if someone is a man if they're a woman."
She opposed the store’s LGBT Pride display, asserting it contained edgy content and wasn’t family-friendly. The display went “beyond the rainbow,” she said.
“I had given them a warning saying like… you guys might want to be careful because this can be taken the wrong way,” Trice said. “We have families and children coming in here, and they'll read that, and it's just… probably not best for public display to have that written on the glass walls.”
Starbucks management, she said, grew “very defensive.”
“Prior to working at Starbucks, I knew nothing about it except that it was considered a bougie coffee shop,” Trice told Fox News Digital. “So I didn't know that it was a very liberal company.”
She was fired following a complaint, she said.
“There was a complaint that someone had made that, ‘Oh, I just feel like she is not comfortable with my identity,’ which I do not understand because I would talk to everyone there all the time,” she said. “I was never making insults towards them or anything.”
Trice has since found another job. She said she’s not mad at her former co-workers.
“I actually had a lot of fun with them, and I love them, and all I want to see is for them to be in heaven.”
A Starbucks spokesperson told Fox News Digital it “will not comment on this private employment matter.”
“However, Starbucks has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind in our stores, and we’re committed to fostering an environment where everyone is welcome, respected and valued,” the spokesperson said. “We expect all partners [employees[ to abide by company policies and standards, including our anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies.”
Image credit: ©Szymon12455/Unsplash
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
