Christian woman says she was fired from Starbucks over conservative values: 'Against my faith to lie'
A TikTok user recently revealed that she was fired from her position at Starbucks over her Christian values – and she's now speaking out about it.
Taylor Trice, who posts videos under the handle @edbl22, spoke to Fox News Digital about her 2022 termination on Wednesday. She explained that she was initially interested in working at Starbucks because it offered tuition assistance for Arizona State University's online program.
"Prior to working at Starbucks, I knew nothing about it except that it was considered a bougie coffee shop," Trice explained in an interview. "So I didn't know that it was a very liberal company."
In her TikTok video, which racked up nearly 53,000 likes, the ex-barista said that the work-related issues stemmed from disagreements about how the Starbucks location celebrated Pride Month.
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"I was used to Starbucks putting out their decorations and stuff during the month of June," she said. "It was just that this particular year, they went a little bit beyond the rainbow, and things were starting to taste sour and not sweet."
Speaking to Fox, Trice explained that she was concerned about the adult content in the coffee shop's Pride Month displays. At the time, she worked at a Starbucks café in Apex, North Carolina.
Trice said that a few of her coworkers agreed that a glass wall describing different sexual orientations wasn't family-friendly. Another aspect of the Pride Month display was a chalkboard that included fringe pronouns like ze/zim, xe/xum – and even it/its.
"[These] are less common but still valid," the chalkboard read. "And you can always mix'n'match!"
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Trice said that management was "getting very defensive" when she respectfully raised her concerns, even though there was no malice on her part.
"I had given them a warning saying like…you guys might want to be careful because this can be taken the wrong way," Trice said. "We have families and children coming in here, and they'll read that, and it's just…probably not best for public display to have that written on the glass walls."
Another problem arose over Starbucks' enforcement of its preferred pronoun policy. The young Christian explained that she was willing to call customers by their names and avoid using certain pronouns as a sign of respect, but that using "wrong" pronouns went against her conscience.
"I take my faith seriously, and I try to be as much like Jesus as I can," she said. "According to my faith, you're not supposed to lie."
"I'm willing to call you by your name. I'm willing to avoid using the pronouns you don't want me to use, but it's against my faith to lie and say… someone is a woman if they're a man or if someone is a man if they're a woman."
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Trice recalled that her managers approached her to let her know that customers had made complaints about her. The night before she was fired, she had a prescient dream about losing her job.
"There was a complaint that someone had made that, 'Oh, I just feel like she is not comfortable with my identity,' which I do not understand because I would talk to everyone there all the time," she told Fox News Digital. "I was never making insults towards them or anything."
Trice added that she wishes no ill will on her old manager or her ex-coworkers – and reports that she has received loads of support since sharing her story online.
"I received a lot of support, and I was very grateful for that, to see that I'm not alone in the way that I think," she described.
"You know, obviously there was some backlash…but it was just really refreshing to see that, you know, I'm not alone in how I view this situation and how I view what the Bible says."
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"I think God has provided for me ever since, I've been able to work with other Christians, and right now I'm a house cleaner, and I really like it. I'm proud of speaking up…. I just consider it as something that helps me to grow my faith."
Trice also emphasized that her decision not to follow the preferred pronoun policy was not discriminatory.
"I'm hoping that people from the LGBT community can understand that we're not against you loving someone. It's all about just remaining within the order that God set in place," she said.
When Fox News Digital reached out to Starbucks, the multinational chain said it "will not comment on this private employment matter."
"However, Starbucks has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind in our stores, and we’re committed to fostering an environment where everyone is welcome, respected and valued," a Starbucks spokesperson said.
"We expect all partners (employees) to abide by company policies and standards, including our anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies."
Fox News Digital reached out to the manager of the Apex Starbucks location, but has not heard back.
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