Starbucks accused of firing employee who opposed pronouns

A former Starbucks employee claims she was fired after objecting to a pride month display she felt was not family-friendly and refusing to abide by a policy requiring her to use a trans-identifying individual’s “preferred pronouns” due to her Christian beliefs. 

Taylor Trice opened up in a viral TikTok video Monday about how she was fired from a Starbucks for refusing to go along with LGBT promotions that she felt didn’t “go along with God’s word.” 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Trice said she started working for Starbucks because the company offered tuition assistance for Arizona State University’s online program. In 2022, she was fired from Starbucks in Apex, North Carolina, after working for the company for two years.

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“Prior to working at Starbucks, I knew nothing about it except that it was considered a bougie coffee shop,” Trice said in the interview published Tuesday. “So I didn’t know that it was a very liberal company.”

Starbucks did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment inquiring about the reason for Trice’s termination.

According to Trice, the Starbucks where she worked put up a glass wall during pride month in June that described various sexual orientations, saying families with kids would be able to see the display. 

She said that the display explained the sexual attractions of people who identified as “demisexual,” adding that she would have still opposed the display if it said “heterosexual.”

“I just felt like that didn’t need to be added to the decorations,” Trice said. 

Trice said her co-workers got defensive. She believes they thought she was a “homophobic Christian” and became “salty” towards her. 

Another issue with the company concerned a policy requiring her to use the “preferred pronouns” of individuals who identify as the opposite sex.

Trice said that she was willing to call a trans-identifying individual by name or avoid using pronouns, but her faith would not allow her to lie. 

“So, that means if I see you are a man, and I call you a woman, that is lying,” she said. “That is identifying you as something that God did not create you to be. And it’s identifying you as something that Satan wants to identify you as, and Satan’s ultimate goal is to confuse you and deceive you about your identity.” 

Trice said the power of a “small sin” can’t be underestimated.

“So, with all those factors combined, I say, respectfully, hey, ‘I’m willing to call you by your name; I’m willing to avoid using pronouns, but it’s against my faith to lie and say that you are a woman if I know that you are a man.'” 

She told Fox News that managers said customers made complaints against her, such as they believed she wasn’t comfortable with their “identity.” 

“I do not understand because I would talk to everyone there all the time,” she told the outlet. “I was never making insults towards them or anything.” 

Trice said she felt God warned her about what was to come, as the day before her store manager called her into a meeting with the district manager, she had a dream that she was in trouble at work. During the meeting, Trice’s employers informed her that people had accused her of “homophobia.” 

“As predicted, I got fired,” she said. “I’m not saying this to bash my old co-workers or my old manager. 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.” 

In November 2020, a Christian woman in New Jersey named Betsy Fresse filed a lawsuit against Starbucks when the coffee chain allegedly fired her for refusing on religious grounds to wear an LGBT pride shirt as part of her uniform.