Capitalism + Common Sense = Equality

Posted by Freddie on July 2, 2007 under Uncategorized |

The Tennessee Equality Project was trumpeting a bit of good news for Out & About Newspaper, one of the most prominent local outlets for GLBT news.

In a recent battle over distribution rights, the paper wound up winning a victory in a dispute that saw them enter and then quickly asked to leave local Kroger stores. Read the full article for details. The victory was won in part with a display of economic might, in which the GLBT community and its supporters saved receipts from shoppers visiting non-Kroger stores for groceries.

Harris Teeter, however, is still drawing ire from the local GLBT community for continuing a partial reversal of distribution status for O&AN. Rightfully so, in my opinion. I prefer not to have the corporate headquarters of my local grocery stores dictating morality to me, and such moral authoritarianism in the shopping aisle is the only reason I can imagine to limit equal access for free publications of this variety. I could see preventing publications promoting hate, but O&AN is a news publication serving a community with editorial merit fully on par with any of Nashville’s other niche publications.

In the end, a strong dose of capitalism bolstered the common sense outcome for area Kroger stores, and I can only hope that common sense wins out in the case of Harris Teeter. Comments to Harris Teeter can be directed here.