ATLANTA — There is a controversy brewing at a local Starbucks.
Employees at Ansley Mall location in midtown Atlanta say they were told they could not hang pride decorations for pride month inside the store.
But the Starbucks corporation says that’s categorically untrue.
“This is a long-standing tradition,” Starbucks shift supervisor Amanda Rivera said.
Rivera told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington that the orders from her store manager were straight to the point.
“We’ve been told because we don’t have a ladder, we can’t hang up our pride decorations,” Rivera said. “We were also told that Starbucks doesn’t want us to have anything apart from how the store was designed.”
Rivera said, as always, she wanted to hang rainbow pride decorations inside the Starbucks store at Ansley Mall for gay pride month.
“Every year for roughly the past 10 years, we’ve been decorating our store for pride. This is a very inclusive neighborhood,” Rivera said.
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Starbucks customer Barry warren agrees.
“I think it would fit the area and that it would celebrate our community,” Warren said.
Starbucks media relations sent Washington a lengthy statement Wednesday, saying, in part:
“We unwaveringly support the LGBTQIA2+ community. There has been no change to any policy on this matter and we continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities including for U.S. Pride month in June.
“Starbucks has a history that includes more than four decades of recognizing and celebrating our diverse partners and customers – including year-round support for the LGBTQIA2+ community.”
Rivera said she isn’t buying it.
“This is a safe and accepting place, and it still is, but we’re just not allowed to show it,” Rivera said.
Starbucks Workers United backed up Rivera’s assertion, saying: “Despite Starbucks claiming that there has been no policy change, workers across the country are speaking out and proving otherwise.”
River said she’s sure if she went ahead and hung up a gay pride flag inside the store, she would be asked to take it down.
In their statement, Starbucks said that it is not aware of any banned decorations at any store.
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