LAWSUIT: Starbucks Fired Woman For Refusing To Wear LGBTQ T-Shirt

(JustPatriots.com)- A new lawsuit filed by a former Starbucks employee in New Jersey suggests that the coffee chain tried to force her to wear an “LGBTQ” Pride t-shirt and fired her when she refused.

Betsy Fresse, who worked in a Starbucks coffee shop in Hoboken in 2018 but transferred to a Glen Ridge, New Jersey, shop in June 2019, says in the lawsuit that managers of the store knew she was a Christian. Fresse said that she requested some evenings and Sundays off work so she could attend church, meaning bosses were very much aware of her religious beliefs that would make her averse to wearing t-shirts with far-left political messages on them.

In the Glen Ridge shop, she said a store manager held a meeting in which members of staff were presented with the new Starbucks LGBTQ Pride t-shirts. As the last one to leave, Fresse says she asked the manager whether wearing the shirt was necessary and the manager informed her that it was not.

Weeks later, however, Fresse said she was contacted by the Starbucks ethics and compliance team who asked her why she refused to wear the shirt. She told them that her religious beliefs prevented her from wearing it, and was fired soon after on August 22. Fresse claims she was terminated because “her comportment was not in compliance with Starbucks’ core values.”

…would they have fired a Muslim who refused to wear the t-shirt over their religious beliefs? Just asking!

NBC reports that Fresse filed a complaint about her termination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February of this year, and approved to file the lawsuit in August.

Starbucks, however, says that Fresse’s claim is “without merit” and that they would argue against her in court.

“Starbucks does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation,” a spokesperson said about the case. “No part of our dress code requires partners to wear any approved items that they have not personally selected.”

Do you believe them?

It wouldn’t be the first time they pulled tricks like this. It was only this summer that Starbucks changed its policy to allow staff to wear Black Lives Matter pins and merchandise at work, despite saying at first that it would not be allowed.