Oregon Live: Just a little more than a year after it opened, the Moreland Farmers Pantry is closing. “MFP is closing its doors soon,” says the grocer’s latest Facebook post. “Come in to get great deals on products before its all gone! We thank all of our customers and local vendors/farmers who supported the store.”
Residents of Portland’s Westmoreland neighborhood were originally excited for the arrival of a 5,000-square-foot store stocked — as it advertised — with non-genetically modified products. But excitement turned to anger for some after comments on the owner’s personal Facebook page were made public.
In a 2013 post by owner Chauncy Childs, operating under a pseudonym, she said that although she doesn’t judge gay people or their desire to be married, and it isn’t her place to form opinions about their lifestyle, she thought gay marriage would cause our civilization to “disintegrate because we are abandoning our principles as a society.”
After a neighbor posted a video of this and similar comments Childs posted on social media, some locals said they wouldn’t shop at the new market.
According to a July 2014 KOIN-TV article, business at the store was slow after it opened, possibly because of a boycott. Meanwhile, the owners – Childs and her husband John Childs – tried to make it clear that their personal views as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wouldn’t affect how they ran their store.
According to Proud Queer Monthly magazine, the Childses later made a donation to Portland’s nonprofit Equity Foundation, which fights for social, economic and political equity for the LGBTQ community. Though one of the foundation’s board members resigned over the donation, the board ultimately voted to keep it.
The market also hired gay workers: “I’m gay and I work at Moreland Farmers Pantry,” wrote a woman in the Portland Mercury’s I, Anonymous blog. She said she and her co-workers, some of whom were also gay, were tired of people shouting obscenities at the store, accusing them of being homophobes.
“Do you really support gay rights?” she wrote. “Awesome, me too. … Stop being so close-minded when you pretend to be progressive.”
Reaction to the grocer’s looming closure has been varied. Some were ecstatic: One Facebook user wrote, “This is so freaking awesome. Bigotry doesn’t sell in Portland.” Others were disappointed: “I am so so sad to see that things have come to a close at MFP. I hope everyone who boycotted the store realizes how much they did for gay rights (notice the sarcasm).”
The grocer declined to comment for this story.
DCG