Muslim organizations in Malaysia and Indonesia have called for a boycott of local Starbucks over the corporation's support for LGBT rights.
The leaders of Muhammadiyah, the second-largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, have even urged the government to revoke Starbucks' business license thanks to its stance on gay rights, TODAY reports.
Anwar Abbas, the group's head of economic affairs, told the news source: "The ideology, business and view that they support are against our ideology."
Yunahar Ilyas, another leader of the organization, called on "Muslims to not drink in Starbucks so that the income is not used to strengthen LGBT campaigns".
In Malaysia, meanwhile, a group called Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia has asked the government to "re-evaluate the trading license given to companies that support same-sex marriages and LGBT", the news source reports.
Starbucks has been a proponent of LGBT rights for years. For example, company representatives sent a letter to the governor of the US state of North Carolina last year after officials signed a bill that targeted transgender people.
Both Malaysia and Indonesia have seen a rise in religious conservatism in recent years. In late May, for instance, two men in the Indonesian province of Aceh were caned for having homosexual sex, while a recent court ruling restricts the country's central government from reversing local sharia ordinances. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, government officials launched a competition encouraging entrants to create videos about "preventing" homosexuality.
[Photo via Eat Lah]
