Thu, 11:57: Note the exchange in the comments of the Facebook post (bit.ly/3P7YDzH): in response to PCC's announcement of our new Inclusive Trade Program, which includes GLBTQIA+-owned businesses, a customer quite sensibly brings up recent homophobic comments made at a Sammamish Planning Commission public meeting by the owner of one of the brands we sell—and we then discontinued the products.
I had been asked only two days ago to send a full list of Tanoor skus to our Director of Marketing, without any context. Now I know why.
It would be tempting to say that taking swift action like this is tricky, but I'm actually pleased by PCC's response. We can't possibly roll out an "Inclusive Trade" program and then turn around and tolerate something like this. Also: this is a far cry from my early days at PCC, when it was a matter of policy not to take any public position on any particular issue outside of food production sustainability. (A naive approach, given how intertwined prejudice and racism are with quality food production and availability.)
Side note: The Stranger posted an article about the incident on Tuesday (bit.ly/43xMSqC) that included a bit that I found very funny: "On June 1, Fayed described queer people as 'wealthy,' 'well-connected' disease-spreaders who infest and 'poison' the minds of children in schools and through movies and television. He invoked his faith-based belief that people choose to be gay against God’s intentions, which is ridiculous. Everyone knows we choose to be gay to please the devil."
PCC Community Markets Launches Inclusive Trade Program