In Malaysia and Indonesia, hard-line Muslim groups are urging a boycott of Starbucks because it champions same-sex marriage.
The Malaysian group, Perkasa, said this week it wants its 500,000 members to boycott Starbucks coffee shops; Indonesia’s second largest mainstream Muslim group, Muhammadiyah, with roughly 29 million members, also called for a Starbucks ban.
The ire of the Muslim groups was elicited by comments from former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in 2013, when he told a shareholder who was concerned about the chain’s support for same-sex marriage, “Not every decision is an economic decision. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people. … If you feel respectfully that you can get a higher return [than] the 38% you got last year, it’s a free country. You could sell your shares at Starbucks and buy shares in other companies.”
In 2012, Starbucks joined Microsoft and Nike in support of a bill that made Washington the seventh state to legalize gay marriage.
Perkasa stated that the Malaysian government should revoke the trading license given to Starbucks as well as other companies championing same-sex marriage, including Microsoft and Apple; Amini Amir Abdullah, the chief of Perkasa’s Islamic affairs bureau, said the ban on Starbucks resulted from gay rights flouting Islam and Malaysia’s constitution. In Malaysia, sodomy is punishable by up to 20 years in prison; in Indonesia, a case before the Constitutional Court seeks to criminalize gay sex.
A Starbucks spokesperson responded to the ban, asserting, “Though we are founded in the United States, we are a global company with over 300,000 partners and 26,000 stores in 75 markets around the world. In all countries where we do business, we are proud to be a part of the fabric of the local community, and we strive to be respectful of local customs and traditions while staying true to Starbucks long-standing values and purpose.”