Starbucks has provided employees coverage for gender reassignment surgery since 2013.
On Feb. 27, 2024, a Facebook user posted (archived) a photo of a Starbucks coffee cup that showed a small sticker that said "we're hiring" and that the company offers healthcare plans for employees ("partners") that include "coverage for gender reassignment surgery and more." The user remarked of the sticker, "Know this as you enjoy your next overpriced cup of Starbucks."
The oldest known post (archived) of the picture appeared to be from July 2021, when it was posted by former Republican Texas State Rep. Jonathan Stickland. Stickland remarked of the photo, "Just wanted Starbucks fans to be aware. Lord help and forgive us." Stickland credited the picture to a person named Kevin Whitt. It's unclear where and when the photo was originally taken.
A reverse-image search of the photo showed that it had been posted in February 2024 by other users on X and Instagram. For example, one X user whose bio mentioned an "unvaxxed" vaccination status, Christian faith and "MAGA" political affiliation, posted (archived) of the Starbucks cup photo, "I will drink McDonald's coffee before I will give Starbucks another cent of my money."
First, the truth of this matter was that Starbucks has provided its employees coverage for gender reassignment surgery since 2013, according to the company's own website. Starbucks expanded its coverage in 2018 "to include procedures that were previously considered cosmetic — including hair removal, facial feminization and hair transplants, among others," another page on the company's website said.
Second, in regard to the user on X who mentioned McDonald's as being their alternative to Starbucks, that user might be surprised to learn that the McDonald's website also says it offers employees and their families "a variety of health and wellbeing programs," including coverage for "gender transition and affirming care," as well as access to "the queer and trans-led Included Health's LGBTQ+ Health care team."
Third, quite a few large companies that people in the U.S. might come across in their daily lives offer coverage for gender-affirming care or have expressed support of programs that offer such care, including, for example Amazon, Google and Meta, as both Pink News and InHerSight.com previously reported.
Further, in March 2022, The Texas Tribune reported that 60 corporations had published an open letter in a Sunday edition of Dallas Morning News calling on Gov. Greg Abbott "to 'abandon anti-LGBTQ+ efforts' after he authorized state investigations of families who allow transgender kids to receive gender-affirming care." The list of those corporations included Adobe, Apple, Capital One, IBM, IKEA, Intel, Macy's, Microsoft, PayPal, Pinterest, Yahoo, Yelp and The Walt Disney Company, among many others.
For further reading, we previously reported that accusations of Starbucks being "anti-Christmas" usually leave out one very big fact about the company's history.