Pope Leo assigns conservative archbishop who denied Pelosi the Eucharist to key Vatican role



Pope Leo XIV has overseen a shakeup at the Vatican sure to vex progressives: assigning an American conservative who has fought against the LGBT agenda and abortion activism to the Catholic Church's highest court.

Weeks after excommunicating all members of the Society of St. Pius X and declaring it a schismatic sect, the Vatican announced a number of resignations and appointments.

'It is a position of great prestige and trust within the Catholic Church.'

While declining to renew the term of Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark — a progressive cleric who has tipped his biretta to the LGBT community and championed migrant causes — Pope Leo XIV appointed on July 25 seven new members to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Among the new members are a pair of American bishops — San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Bishop Edward Lohse of Kalamazoo — and two Spanish canon lawyers who belong to Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic institution.

These appointments do not require a relocation to Rome.

Maggie Gallagher, executive director of the Cordileone-founded Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, told Blaze News that "the Apostolic Signatura is essentially the Supreme Court of the Catholic Church (except that the Pope may intervene and overturn a court ruling)."

"It doesn't issue rulings on Catholic teachings, but on cases against individuals including for example judgements of nullity for marriages, and charges against other judges, etc," continued Gallagher. "It is a position of great prestige and trust within the Catholic Church and the appointment of Archbishop Cordileone is clear indication that Pope Leo appreciates his competence and his leadership."

Gallagher added that Archbishop Cordileone's appointment "does not mean of course that the Pope agrees with all the positions he has taken, but he is clearly signaling that these views do not put you on the outs with Rome, and that is a great relief to many Catholics in the United States, especially for Catholics attached to the traditional Latin Mass."

Cordileone, the San Diego native whom President Donald Trump appointed last year to serve on the advisory board of the White House's Religious Liberty Commission, is the archbishop who was harassed by California radicals for denying communion to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a professed Catholic within the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

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In May 2022, Archbishop Cordileone — who has referred to abortion in America as a "genocide on life in the womb" — provided Pelosi with a refresher on the Church's moral teaching that abortion is a "grave moral evil," and stressed that there can be no more extreme example of "throwaway culture" than "when direct attacks on human life are enshrined in a nation’s law, celebrated by society, and even paid for by the government."

Citing canon law — which states that those "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion" — as well as the instruction of Pope Benedict XVI, the American archbishop said it was his responsibility to bar the Democrat from what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the "source and summit of the Christian life":

After numerous attempts to speak with her to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing, and the danger to her own soul she is risking, I have determined that the point has come in which I must make a public declaration that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ''rights” and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance.

Pelosi remained unrepentant and attacked Archbishop Cordileone on the network then known as MSNBC, complaining, "Our archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights too."

Archbishop Cordileone is on the radar of GLAAD and other non-straight activist organizations, not only for his defense of the Catholic teaching that "all sexual acts outside of a marriage between one man and one woman are morally wrong and do not serve the good of the person or society," but for his rejection of gender ideology, long-standing defense of the institution of marriage, and advocacy for protecting the First Amendment freedoms of those opposed to the LGBT agenda.

In addition to holding fast to the teachings of the Church, Archbishop Cordileone has called — especially in the wake of the SSPX schism — for greater Catholic access to the traditional Latin Mass.

Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement on Saturday, "I am deeply grateful to the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, for this appointment as a member of the Supreme Apostolic Signatura. I receive this responsibility with a profound sense of stewardship, recognizing that every office in the Church is entrusted for the service of Christ, His people, and the mission of the Gospel."

"The Supreme Apostolic Signatura assists the Holy Father in safeguarding the proper administration of justice within the life of the Church," continued the archbishop. "Justice in the Church is never merely legal; it is ordered toward the salvation of souls, the protection of the rights of the faithful, and the strengthening of ecclesial communion. I am honored to contribute to that important mission."

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Apple and Google told to take down these illegal — and exploitative — apps



Apple and Google were on the receiving end of multiple letters telling them to stop allowing abusive apps to be available on their platforms.

The City of San Francisco said it had been contacting the tech giants for almost a year to get them to stop, but they have continued to provide access to the apps while raking in profits.

'Apple and Google have a responsibility to be proactive and vigilant to prevent sexual abuse.'

San Francisco accused both companies of "processing payments for illegal purchases" that allow users to digitally alter pictures using AI to unclothe whomever is in the photograph.

Commonly referred to as "nudify" apps, the city reportedly ordered dozens of the programs to be removed, as Apple and Google have continued to make money off them.

"Apple and Google are profiting off apps that exploit women and girls by generating nonconsensual intimate deepfakes," San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu told TechCrunch. "While the companies cut ties with some problematic apps, Apple and Google have a responsibility to be proactive and vigilant to prevent sexual abuse."

Dozens of states have codified protections after Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sponsored the TAKE IT DOWN Act in early 2025, which passed with a vote of 409-2 in the House and unanimously in the Senate.

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The law made it a federal crime to knowingly publish, or threaten to publish, nonconsensual intimate imagery using a computer service, no matter if it is real or fake. Penalties include up to two years in prison for adult victims and three years if the victim is a minor.

According to Stack Cybersecurity, 30 states have enacted these protections, while 46 states have their own laws targeting AI-generated media.

An Apple spokesman told TechCrunch that such apps were forbidden from the App Store and that the company has immediately removed three of those suggested by San Francisco.

"[We] are in the process of terminating their developer accounts from our program. We are in contact with four others that need to address policy violations or risk being removed as well," the spokesman said.

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At the same time, Google said that all five apps referenced by the California city were suspended from Google Play.

"When violations are reported to us, we investigate and take swift action, which in the case of these apps has included suspending hundreds of violating apps and restricting related search terms like 'nudify' on our store."

Meta began cracking down on such imagery in 2025, when deepfake "nudify" ads started popping up on its social media platform.

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Your recovery may depend on the pharmacist down the street



As a physical therapist, I have seen the same problem countless times. A patient makes steady progress for months, then suddenly plateaus. The exercises have not changed. The injury has not worsened. The patient is doing everything right, yet lingering pain or weakness will not budge.

After some investigation, we often find the cause: a medication problem. A prescription changed. A refill was delayed. A side effect went unrecognized. The patient’s body began responding differently, and the rehabilitation plan stalled.

Protecting pharmacy access is not a favor to one industry. It is part of protecting the patient’s path back to health.

Physical therapy, prescribing, and pharmacy cannot operate as separate worlds. Most patients who enter my clinic have at least one chronic condition, one prescription, or both. Medication can affect pain, balance, fatigue, inflammation, and healing. The pharmacist who understands a patient’s history and drug regimen belongs on the care team, not outside it.

Physical therapy can often reduce pain and restore movement without long-term reliance on medication. But after surgery or during a complicated recovery, pharmaceutical support may play an essential role. Patients do best when movement, hands-on care, and medication work together deliberately rather than through guesswork.

Recovery already asks a great deal of patients. A death in the family, an unexpected bill, or a difficult work schedule can disrupt appointments and home exercise. Those obstacles are hard, but patients can usually manage them with planning and support.

A collapsing pharmacy network is different. Patients cannot will a closed counter back into service, reach an unavailable pharmacist, or fill a prescription that remains trapped in a broken system.

Look at San Francisco, which now faces a “pharmacy crisis.” National chains have closed locations, while independent pharmacies struggle to survive. In Missouri, state officials are suing CVS and other pharmacy benefit managers over insulin pricing. Lawmakers may intend to lower costs, but poorly designed interventions can destabilize the same pharmacy networks patients depend on.

The ownership model is secondary. A national chain and a neighborhood independent may operate differently, but either can provide essential access. When either disappears, patients lose timely refills, answers about side effects, and help resolving dosing questions. In physical therapy, that can mean slower progress, cautious loading, missed sessions, and avoidable setbacks.

A short-staffed pharmacy creates similar problems. Patients struggle to reach prescribers and may wait days for guidance. Pharmacists often serve as the most accessible medication experts in the health care system, but accessibility requires someone behind the counter with enough time to listen.

When those questions go unanswered, therapists are left working around uncertainty. We may not know whether dizziness comes from the exercise program, the underlying condition, or a new medication. We may have to delay progress because safe rehabilitation does not permit guessing.

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I see the opposite when pharmacy access works. Sometimes a pharmacist’s clarification or a small medication adjustment helps a patient move past the last trace of a limp. Sometimes it allows a musician to use his fingers comfortably again. When the pharmacy side of the plan aligns with physical therapy, patients can recover faster without adding unnecessary costs or complications.

The care I provide is important, but recovery succeeds through cooperation. Physical therapists restore movement. Prescribers diagnose and choose treatments. Pharmacists catch interactions, explain side effects, and help patients use medications safely. Large chains and local independents both employ professionals who perform that work every day.

Pharmacists have become “integral to chronic disease management.” Policymakers should treat them that way. Any reform aimed at drug prices, corporate practices, or pharmacy benefit managers should begin with a basic test: Will patients retain reliable access to a pharmacist?

When the answer is no, the consequences reach far beyond the pharmacy counter. They appear in rehabilitation clinics, physician offices, emergency rooms, and patients’ homes.

Good rehabilitation depends on movement expertise and medication expertise working together. Protecting pharmacy access is not a favor to one industry. It is part of protecting the patient’s path back to health.

Restaurant ignites fierce debate for charging parents for unruly kids: 'We said the quiet part out loud'



A California restaurant sparked a heated debate after instituting a policy to charge parents who fail to control their unruly children.

Chez Xue is a Chinese restaurant in Foster City — approximately 20 miles south of San Francisco.

'We are a casual restaurant, but we’re not a Chuck E. Cheese.'

Chez Xue has a policy that warns parents that they may be asked to leave the restaurant if their children are disobedient. The restaurant also cautioned that it will "hold parents financially liable for all damage caused by their children to restaurant property."

Chez Xue said on the restaurant's website: "Please control your children."

"Chez Xue is a family-friendly restaurant," the site said. "However, we are not a playground."

"Please ensure children REMAIN SEATED at all times and be respectful of fellow guests and the dining environment," the restaurant stated.

The notice declared, "Running around, shouting, making noise with utensils, etc. WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!"

"Guests not respecting this policy may be asked to leave," the Chez Xue restaurant said.

The eatery warned, "We will hold parents financially liable for all damage caused by their children to restaurant property."

The Los Angeles Times reported that the policy was instituted about a year ago when the restaurant's owner, You You Xue, caught a customer changing a baby's diaper on the top of a dining booth in the middle of the restaurant. After that incident, Xue knew he had to do something.

Xue, who does not have kids, got fed up with children "fooling around and basically trashing the place" while parents allowed their kids to be disorderly.

"We are a casual restaurant, but we’re not a Chuck E. Cheese," Xue told the Los Angeles Times.

The policy recently went viral after a patron posted screenshots of the restaurant's menu on the X social media platform.

The menu provided examples of "recent damages" caused by children at the restaurant.

In April 2025, parents were charged $327.03 because their child shattered a credit card machine when the kid picked it up and dropped it on the ground.

In December 2025, a kid used a utensil to carve drawings into a tabletop, and the parents were charged $109.38.

The restaurant charged a parent $5.47 after a child broke a teacup in January 2026.

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The internet was staunchly divided over the establishment's policy.

One netizen wrote on X, "If your kids are smashing credit card machines and carving things into furniture, they don't belong in restaurants. End of conversation."

Someone else said, "On the one hand, yes, absolutely, please raise respectful kids. In support! On the other hand, kids will be kids, and ~$500/yr in damages feels like a reasonable cost of doing business as a family-friendly restaurant."

Commenters were vocal on the restaurant's Instagram page about the policy.

One person wrote, "BRAVO on your policy fining families for disruptive children."

Another one said, "This is incredibly discouraging for people with children who have disabilities."

Someone proclaimed, "GREAT POLICY!"

Users on the restaurant review website Yelp were divided on the new policy.

A commenter stated, "Coming on here because I am so happy that the owner is standing up to parents and making them be accountable for their parenting. This is a practice that needs to be serviced everywhere. We have all seen too many examples of parents not watching or caring what their children do! Kudos to you."

Another person said, "Not a family restaurant! If you want to live in a kidless world, I guess this spot is for you. Don't forget you were a kid once and I am sure your parents brought you to restaurants before."

Someone added, "I hope more restaurants implement policies like this. The world and restaurant scene would be a much better place!"

Xue told the New York Post, "My staff, my servers were being forced to parent children on behalf of other parents. That's not their job."

Xue added, "Parenting has become so relaxed, and I know if I acted some ways these children are acting, I would have gotten my a** beat."

"We don’t blame the kids — I’m very proud of the fact that this is an unpretentious restaurant where people can come with their whole families," Xue explained. "It’s to remind this very small group of parents who are not doing their jobs: Please do your job so we can do ours."

Xue noted that he takes no pleasure in having to confront parents who are not disciplining their kids.

"I don’t want to be put in that position," Xue told the Los Angeles Times. "It's so awkward to go up to a parent and say something so obvious."

Xue told the Los Angeles Times that the general reaction to the policy has been overwhelmingly positive.

Xue revealed that the number of incidents "has fallen considerably to basically zero" since introducing the policy.

Xue stated, "We said the quiet part out loud. We said something that a lot of people are thinking, and we’ve come forward and spoken on behalf of other restaurants and on behalf of customers who have had a meal ruined by a loud child."

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San Francisco police injured after 'Trans March' mob allegedly tried to stop cops from arresting 2 suspects



The arrest of two suspects during San Francisco's Trans March led to police clashing with marchers who were trying to free the suspects, according to police.

The two suspects were arrested, three marchers were arrested, and two of the police officers were injured while trying to deal with the crowd.

'People were dancing, children were running around. It was just joyful. And suddenly the police came running. Some of them had their guns drawn, batons out.'

Police said the two were seen vandalizing property with spray paint and that one suspect had assaulted and spray-painted another marcher. When they attempted to arrest the suspects, marchers surrounded them and obstructed the officers in an attempt to free the suspects.

A woman who witnessed the melee Friday told KRON-TV that the police should have let the suspects go rather than fight back against the marchers.

"I'm crying because it was just so shocking to see such a peaceful, beautiful event just be basically run over by police out of nowhere over somebody spray-painting," said the woman, who wanted to be known by the name Missy.

She said she went to the march with her transgender-identifying child before the police ruined it.

"People were dancing, children were running around. It was just joyful. And suddenly the police came running. Some of them had their guns drawn, batons out," she added.

Two people were arrested on suspicion of obstruction of police, and three were arrested for alleged vandalism and assault.

"I get that in large crowds police have a heightened sense of awareness and reaction and all of that, but the guy was spray-painting. I just don't feel it was necessary," the woman added.

The San Francisco Police Dept. released a statement about the incident:

The SFPD always respects individuals’ First Amendment rights to protest; however, criminal activity will not be tolerated in San Francisco. Additionally, the SFPD is unwavering in its support for the LGBTQ+ community and will continue to protect and serve every community in San Francisco.

One livestreamer recorded himself screaming at police officers and demanding to know why they would arrest transgender-identifying people in the transgender district.

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Missy was upset that the police tried to arrest people committing crimes instead of standing by transgender-identifying marchers.

"We don't need our police officers being unpredictable," she added. "We need them to stand side by side with us."

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A New Grand Jury Report Shows How The California Model Is Failing

A local government spends hundreds of millions of dollars on the homeless through a giant network of NGOs, and no one is really watching them.

Gays, We Brought The Backlash On Ourselves

It's long past time that gays settle down. Stop asking the nation to indulge your preoccupations and preferences. They've come to resent it.

Rufo report confirms: Yes, illegal aliens are receiving FREE sex-change procedures in Newsom’s California



On April 16, BlazeTV host and independent journalist Christopher Rufo published a shocking report titled “California Provides Sex-Change Procedures to Homeless Illegal Aliens.”

“It feels like one of those stories that is like right-wing Mad Libs, where you take all of the most intense right-wing trigger words, you smash them into a sentence. But in this case, it's not imaginary. It's all real,” he says.

On this episode of “Rufo & Lomez,” Rufo and co-host Jonathan Keeperman break down the shocking details of the report, react to the on-the-ground footage, and discuss how California voters have become so morally submissive that they now tolerate — and fund — even the most absurd and humiliating policies.

Rufo begins by playing a video clip of his co-author and City Journal colleague Jonathan Choe interviewing a homeless illegal immigrant from Mexico who identifies as a transgender woman and calls himself Jacqueline.

The man confirms that he received both hormones and breast implants for free in California via Medi-Cal.

“Even though you're undocumented, you can get it,” he said, adding that he’s “waiting” for bottom surgery.

According to Rufo’s reporting, Jacqueline is one of many homeless illegal aliens living in San Francisco’s publicly funded shelters who have received such procedures at the expense of the California taxpayer. On-the-ground interviews and video also confirmed that word is spreading south of the border, encouraging trans-identifying migrants to come for these free procedures.

“[Choe] actually went to a number of homeless shelters in San Francisco, and at each homeless shelter, he found transgender illegal migrants who told him very directly, ‘We're here to get hormones, breast implants,’ and, as Jacqueline says, ‘bottom surgery,”’ says Rufo.

He then plays a second video featuring another transgender-identifying illegal alien named Lyca — a biological male from Honduras who says he came to the United States explicitly to take advantage of the taxpayer-funded benefits that will pay for his transition. He candidly admitted that Medi-Cal is currently paying for his hormone therapy.

Both Rufo and Keeperman agree that California voters have become so afraid of moral backlash that they’re now greenlighting policies that are abjectly insane.

“The California taxpayer is in a findom relationship with the state,” says Keeperman.

A financial domination relationship is a BDSM kink in which a submissive person gives money or gifts to a dominant person without expecting sexual favors in return. Like other related kinks, the submissive party seeks gratification through humiliation.

Keeperman argues that this same twisted dynamic is at play between the California government and its constituents.

“If you live in California and you're, like, a good secular cosmopolitan lib … the moral decision-making is incredibly difficult. … Every decision, every behavior, every utterance is freighted with meaning and the potential for sort of catastrophic loss, or you'll be accused of being immoral,” he explains.

“They’ve reached total fatigue, and the state just makes these demands of them — like you have to support on tax day the surgeries for transgender illegals — and they're comforted by this because it's like this relief,” Keeperman adds.

Rufo agrees. “The California voter is in a completely submissive moral position. It will accept any moral demand, any moral imposition, any moral cost.”

“California voters have essentially given a blanket yes, and then the layer of activists, administrators, and fanatics within the California state government processes the paperwork, so that in the end, trans illegals are getting free castration surgeries in San Francisco,” he continues.

Keeperman counters, “But the thing is, it's not just that it's yes to anything; it's yes to things that are the most humiliating and the most extractive and the least practically or pragmatically productive.”

“So it's not like they're pining for, you know, efficient infrastructure and public transportation. I mean, I'm sure they say they want that, but that's not what gets done,” he continues. “What gets done instead is this kind of stuff, which is just facially absurd.”

Rufo says the reason genuinely beneficial initiatives, like improved public transportation, never actually happen is because “building train tracks is hard,” while “cutting the penises off of illegal migrants” isn’t.

“As I discovered in a previous story in Oregon — I imagine the same is happening now in San Francisco — they've actually developed surgical castration robots, and they can castrate,” he says, "and in a single operating room, they can do two of these castrations per day now using these castration robots.”

To learn more, watch the episode above.

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Top Schumer aide joins Big Tech team whose CEO once called for Trump to deploy National Guard in San Francisco



A longtime communications director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is leaving Capitol Hill for the tech world.

Interestingly, the move comes six months after the CEO of the company he's joining apologized for suggesting President Trump should send troops into California.

'My earlier comment came from an abundance of caution.'

Alex Nguyen, Schumer's communications director for the past seven years, is headed for civilian life after nearly two decades working in the nation's capital.

According to Capitol Hill outlet Punchbowl News, Nguyen will become director of corporate communications for Salesforce, a customer service and automation-software company. Ally Biasotti, a previous national press secretary for Schumer, will take over Nguyen's old role.

In October 2025, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff apologized for saying he would welcome the deployment of National Guard troops to San Francisco — where the company is headquartered — stating, "We don't have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I'm all for it."

According to CNBC, Benioff faced blowback, and his remarks even sparked a resignation from board member Ron Conway, who reportedly told Benioff in an email that their "values were no longer aligned."

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

This prompted Benioff to walk back his comments in a post to his X page, stating that he no longer believed "the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco."

"My earlier comment came from an abundance of caution," Benioff wrote, adding that he sincerely apologized for "the concern" his remarks caused.

In a subsequent post, Benioff shared a graph purporting to show that San Francisco Police numbers had plummeted since 2019, while noting that Salesforce had pledged $1 million in sign-on bonuses to SFPD recruits.

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Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images

Nguyen's transition to the Salesforce C-suite comes amid a data breach and rumors of increased layoffs at the company.

Salesforce has confirmed that thousands of customer records were breached, allegedly through a connected third-party app. The app provides a live-chat function that connects to Salesforce to convert customer leads.

At the same time, Salesforce has disputed rumors that the breach also revealed the company was planning to cut approximately 4,000 customer support roles.

According to Storyboard 18, Salesforce said the reported figure does not refer to new layoffs but rather a planned redeployment that was initiated in September 2025.

Schumer's team did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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LGBTQ+ mob lose their minds after coffee chain decides to stop lecturing with flags and just serve coffee



Leftist radicals are throwing a temper tantrum now that a San Francisco-based coffee chain has decided to remove the LGBTQ+ Pride flag from its stores.

Philz Coffee began with a single store in the Bay Area in 2003 and has since expanded to 60 stores across California and Chicago. For some time, Philz cafes have notably displayed the Pride flag, implicitly lecturing about sexuality and gender to patrons who may simply want a cup of coffee or a pastry.

'This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are.'

But not for long.

On Wednesday, the company confirmed that all Philz stores will soon remove Pride and other flags and decor, claiming that doing so will create "a more consistent, inclusive experience."

"Our long-standing support of the LGBTQIA+ community is unchanged. We are working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor. This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are," said the statement from CEO Mahesh Sadarangani.

"Our allyship runs deeper than what is on our walls. It shows up in who we hire, how we treat one another, and in our annual Pride Month Unity celebration," Sadarangani's statement continued. "... Unity is fundamental to how we operate."

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LGBTQ+ activists have not taken the news well.

"It would be a huge mistake because the gay population won’t stand for it," one unidentified individual told KRON. "We will boycott this place if that’s the case."

"What's the experience that Philz Coffee is selling? What is it that makes them distinctive? And the focus on the flags, the focus on Pride, that really has been an important part of what Philz Coffee is all about," Berkeley professor Ann Harrison said, according to KGO.

Customer Todd Varney called the decision "pretty rotten" and speculated that it may have come as the result of "big money at the top."

SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford seemed to suggest the decision was part of a larger ongoing "global" effort against "queer" people. "There’s also a real frustration that comes with being a queer person right now — feeling like you want to respond to every headline, but not always knowing where your energy and bandwidth are best spent," Ford said. "... It may seem small, but removing a Pride flag sends a message, and for many in this neighborhood, it feels like another blow right at home."

A Change.org petition indicated that Philz "team members and customers" no longer feel "supported" by the company. "The Pride flags within the stores hold deep meaning and value to both staff and visitors, symbolizing that these locations are safe and welcoming spaces for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," it said.

Sadarangani became CEO in 2021 after private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. bought Philz from founders Phil Jaber and his son, Jacob Jaber. Freeman Spogli & Co. also own other chains such as Popeyes and El Pollo Loco, according to the New York Post.

It is unclear when the flags will be removed.

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