Store giant tries to shut very cross dresser protest site

Keep on tranny trucking

By Drew Cullen • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 18th December 2001 22:53 GMT

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A lorry driver fired for wearing women's clothes away from work is firing back with a web site attacking his former employer, Winn-Dixie Stores. The US supermarket chain is seeking to shut it down.

Peter Oiler, the trannie trucker who worked for the company for 21 years, is the figurehead of ShameOnWinnDixie.com, a web site supported and maintained by American Civil Liberties Union activists.

Today the site published a letter (warning PDF) from Winn-Dixie's corporate attorney demanding the immediate closure of the site. Matt Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project, said the demands were groundless.

ShameOnWinnDixie.com has been live for 14 months. The site publishes the work phone numbers of "former supervisors and executives involved in firing him", and encourages people to call them. And for the last two holiday seasons, supporters have picketed outside Winn-Dixie stores.

"Winn-Dixie thought nobody would notice when Peter
Oiler got fired. Now the company is realizing that its image is being badly tarnished by its own bigotry," the web site says. Quite.

The ACLU has filed a discrimination suit against Winn-Dixie, which goes to trial next year. ®

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