Walmart Changes "Gay" Review Policy

"I apologize that this situation has been created. It was a systemic oversight, in which ‘gay’ was on a list of filtered words. Certainly it makes absolute sense for you to include this word in your review. This is a no-brainer for us." - Walmart spokesman Ravi Jariwala, responding to JMG reader and It Gets Better contributor Mark King, who on Monday had his book review flagged as "profane" because he included the word "gay."

King notes that Walmart has also issued the below statement.

Recently it was brought to our attention that Mark King was unable to complete a review of the book “It Gets Better” on Walmart.com. We regret that a filter did not allow his review of the book to post and we quickly worked to resolve this technical issue. We reached out to Mark directly to discuss the issue and, as an extra measure, we have reviewed the system to ensure that it will allow the use of all appropriate words related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mark King concludes: "There is probably no national retail chain with as problematic a reputation as Walmart, and I can only imagine the topics that other advocates would have wanted me to broach with these corporate representatives. But I had one issue, one specific complaint that I asked to be addressed. And on this day, on this issue, Walmart did right by the LGBT community. Now, everybody go buy It Gets Better."

Well done, Mark! And thanks to all the JMG readers who also reached out to Walmart.