They know that getting top talent is hard. In this area, where their corp is located, domestic partner benefits are common. Companies are supporting gay marriage. Welcome to liberal Seattle!

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Smart. And good on them.
In 30 years, when gay marriage is no longer an issue, Starbucks will be able to hold their heads up high while Chick-Fil-A will hope no one remembers their stance.

Reminds me of the public individuals and companies that stood against black civil rights in the 50's & 60's. A few decades later they were either backpeddaling or hoping no one remembered that time...

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

I wouldn't compare the two. Chick-Fil-A guy was speaking from his personal opinion, not as the CEO of the company/company stance.

No, see correction in a previous post.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I don't have a problem so long as reasonable efforts were made to notify all prospective shareholders of the socially responsible approach before they invest.

But I also think that in many cases "socially responsible" also serves as a tool to distinguish a product, especially in a saturated market.

Companies typically do by doing press releases, etc. Any person who cares about such things can find out about a company's official stand by reading the interwebs.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

A question.

He tells someone it about diversity and then tells him to pound sand because he doesn't like said persons, or anyone who thinks as he does, views?? Is that really diversity? It seems pretty clear that he is not being diverse but diverse in his mind because it fits his views or the bottom line. True diversity would need no rules.

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"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

"No, see correction in a previous post"

I think the two are somewhat comparable. Both Starbucks and Chik-Fil-A, as companies, support legislative agendas with money and other support. Chik-Fil-A's gay marriage support was through a charitable foundation associated with the company. Separately, both companies had senior reps who made statements personally. The Starbucks guy (CEO) speaking to this shareholder, and the Chik-Fil-A guy (COO) made some statements on a talk radio show.

The significant difference is that Chik-Fil-A is a family owned, and not publiclly traded (I don't think) company. No shareholders to please.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

I agree that they are similar, I was correcting the assumption that the Chick was a personal opinion when corp money was involved.

Companies have funded candidates for office which is an extension of supporting that candidate's agenda. This is no different except they specifically called out a social issue.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I think "diversity" is highly overrated. Any reasonable concept of "diversity" should not preclude persons or organizations, including companies, from taking a particular stand over other possible positions. If I don't give equal time to cannibalism in my posts (neatly skirting Godwin's law here), am I at fault for not practicing "diversity"?

If you really want to practice "diversity," I think you now owe us a post telling us why diversity is bad. ;)

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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
Which is probably why I was registering 59.67mi as I rolled into T2.

The notions of recognizing and "accepting" diversity have long provided an ample source of facepalm. How can one promote diversity by consolidating comparable, yet distinct, constituents under a common banner? Isn't that more akin to homogenization?

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"The right to party is a battle we have fought, but we'll surrender and go Amish... NOT!" -Wayne Campbell

I'd like to see a cage match between the chicken killing homo hater and brokebucks mountain man. They could where some tight shorts and get all sweaty and the first one to pop a woody gets a lifetime supply of the loser's product.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Its family money and a family company. The family has an opinion and it just so happens that they own a company.

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"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

And both SBUX and Chick-whatever are doing what they think is right for their company. People can choose to give that company money or not.

Although, now that I think about it, in a family owned business I think they have to keep their personal finances separate. So, the company is a separate entity. So this isn't a family donating their money, it is a company.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

If that's neatly skirting I would be interested in seeing some sloppy skirting.

So should we call the company intolerant for not respecting an individuals view?We aaren't talking about a belief that is held by a dozen people in the world.

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"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

At the end of the day who's money is it?

Chik-fil-a was doing what was right according to their beliefs and not what was best for the company. Their personal beliefs had no bearing on the business practices as it relatesd to the topic.

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"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

But it does have bearing if they used company funds for it. If they personally gave money from their own pockets, that's different.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

"But it does have bearing if they used company funds for it. If they personally gave money from their own pockets, that's different. "

From a legal perspective, obviously there's a difference between company and personal funds. But from a practical standpoint, in this case where there are no shareholders, company money IS family money. It's just in a different pot in the family budget.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

If they didnt discriminate then why does it matter?

On a side note I give credit to both men for not being afraid and saying what they believe in and not apologizing. I wish we had more of that because at least at some level I can respect someone who says who they are and acts accordingly. That is one of my big frustrations with politicians and ideologues. Especially the current batch in charge.

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"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

I think the whole Lewinsky thing would be an example of what you're looking for.

I'm looking at the technicalities of it, not whether their opinions are right or wrong.

Earlier in the thread the distinction between SBUX and Chick was that SBUX is public and the company is speaking up on a social issue. I don't see the difference between that and what Chick did since they are both under the umbrella of the company.

I imagine somewhere there is a tax code about this and donating in the company's name is better for them financially than donating personally. Otherwise, why do it?

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

"I imagine somewhere there is a tax code about this and donating in the company's name is better for them financially than donating personally. Otherwise, why do it?"

The donations, as I understand it, were not made in the name of the company, but in the name of the owning family's charitable foundation, the WinShape Foundation. It's tied to the restaurants, but still separate.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Ah. That's different.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce