The Starbucks Coffee Co., responding to an open letter posted on the web by a Long Island customer, is investigating her claim that a gay employee was publicly pilloried and forced to quit.
"We are disheartened by the allegations reported in an East Coast Starbucks store and are taking immediate measures to investigate and take any steps necessary to make this right," read a company statement.
"The actions reported do not correspond with our values, who we are as a company or the beliefs we try to instill in our partners."
Self-proclaimed Starbucks fanatic Missy Alison, 34, of East Hampton, L.I., detailed the incident on her blog.
"I saw one of the most brazen and unapologetic displays of homophobia I have ever witnessed in my entire life," Alison wrote.
"What was most concerning about it was it was perpetuated by not one, not two but THREE of your employees and it was directed towards a fourth employee."
Alison claimed one of the Starbucks workers launched "a long, ranting homophobic rant" when the targeted employee left to got to the bathroom in the Centereach outlet.
The woman was sitting at a nearby table with her 4-year-old daughter when the incident occurred last weekend.
Starbucks said that while it intended to find out exactly what happened, it will not make public any disciplinary action.
"As this is a personnel matter, it is our policy not to provide such details regarding those steps," the company said.
