People INCLUSION Supporting LGBTQ+ Partners Before joining Starbucks as a store manager in Southern California, FY21 Results: Starbucks scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Joe spent 15 years in the restaurant business, eight of them as a Corporate Equality Index. chef. When COVID-19 became a pandemic and everyone started For more than three decades, Starbucks has been committed to building wearing masks, Joe realized he was suddenly deprived of his primary a culture where everyone is welcome. We stand as an ally to the lesbian, communication tool: reading lips. gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community – affirming every way Joe, 28, was born in Guam, unable to fully hear sounds — especially people may choose to identify. In FY21, Starbucks received a 100% score on whispers or anything said behind him. Doctors eventually diagnosed the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index based on corporate him with otosclerosis, a condition caused by the abnormal growth of the policies and practices for LGBTQ equality for the 11th year. Starbucks also $ tiny bones inside the ears that commonly contributes to hearing loss. donated 50,000 to the Lavender Rights Project to support providing low- cost legal services for transgender and queer low-income people and other “Growing up, I was classified as Deaf,” Joe says. “I was very ashamed $ marginalized communities in Washington state and 50,000 to the National of my hearing. I was embarrassed. I thought if people found out, they Center for Transgender Equality to increase understanding and acceptance of wouldn’t want to be my friend, wouldn’t want to talk to me, wouldn’t trans people across the United States. want to hire me. So I taught myself how to read lips, read the room. I taught myself things to be and feel normal. I wore hearing aids as a little kid, but after a while I would take them off when I got to school... I saw how other kids would act toward kids with disabilities.” Recently, his twin girls — with the help of his wife and father-in-law — gifted him with a new pair of hearing aids. They were an unexpected blessing. They also gave him the confidence to seek out community and a career outside his comfort zone, which led him to Starbucks. “I started to embrace my Deafness and decided I want to learn more about it and inspire other people with Deafness,” Joe says. “Who knows, maybe there’s a handful of partners out there who are afraid or embarrassed to share. I want to let them know it’s all right. We’re all just people at the end of the day.”