Publix Super Markets apologized to a pair of LGBTQ activists after a bakery clerk in an Orlando store declined to decorate a cake with the word “trans.”
According to WESH 2, corporate executives for the Lakeland-based grocery chain recently admitted that employees “should have fulfilled” their request after the employees had noted that the company policy was not to do so.
It’s unclear if Publix, at the corporate level or within the store, disciplined the unnamed employees involved.
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The controversy began on April 26, when the founders of Peer Support Space, an Orlando LGBTQ group that formed after the 2016 massacre at the Pulse, wanted a sheet cake to celebrate a “trans joy” event.
One of the activists, Dandelion Hill, who identifies as trans, asked the clerk to write “Trans people deserve joy” on the cake.
The clerk stalled, and a manager was called in. The manager reportedly told Hill, “I’m sorry, we can’t write that. Publix is not allowed to take a stance on this issue.”
Eventually, the clerk wrote, “People deserve joy,” and gave the activists extra icing so they could write the word “trans” on the cake themselves.
A few days later, Yasmin Flasterstein, the other activist who accompanied Hill, posted on Facebook, “I was extremely disappointed that Publix would do this. … This is shameful. It was a slap in the face of the reality of the state of the world on a day where a joyful event ALMOST let me have a break from all that. We very politely pleaded, literal tears in our eyes, to please write the message. They refused.”
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In separate messages to Flasterstein, Publix replied, “Thank you for sharing your concern with us. We are sorry that our associates did not handle your request appropriately. Please message us for more details, and we will gladly make the cake.”
“Our policy indicates that our associates may write statements that are not copyrighted or trademarked, support a charitable cause, are factual, and considered to have a positive connotation,” the company continued. “As we indicated in our Facebook conversation, our associates should have fulfilled your request.”
Publix also expressed “sincere apologies” for the incident.
According to The Blaze, Flasterstein sent a follow-up letter to Publix. Among the demands, Flasterstein wanted to know:
- “What, in your views, makes [trans people] not worthy of the very human need of experiencing joy?”
- “What is the policy for cake writing? What is deemed appropriate or inappropriate?”
- “Where does the LGBTQ+ community fit within your diversity culture?”
- “[W]hat will you do to keep this from happening again?”
The letter also added, “We demand that you do better.”
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