Community-centered coffee, just a Stone’s Throw away.

Stone's Throw Coffee is not politically neutral about human dignity.

We are a queer-centered, sober, accessible coffee shop and community space in South Knoxville. Our values are not vague. They shape who we protect, what we platform, how we hire, how we partner, what books we carry, what events we host, and what behavior we refuse to normalize.

We stand for LGBTQIA2S+ liberation, racial justice, reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, disability justice, climate justice, immigrant dignity, labor rights, public education, banned books, religious freedom, mutual aid, harm reduction, sober community, and the right of every person to live safely and honestly.

We stand against racism, fascism, white supremacy, Christian nationalism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, xenophobia, forced-birth politics, book banning, anti-science extremism, conspiracy culture, and any movement that treats marginalized people as threats instead of neighbors.

We are anti-racist

Stone’s Throw Coffee believes racism is not only individual prejudice. It is also systemic. It lives in housing, policing, schools, health care, wages, churches, workplaces, media, and public policy.

We are committed to building a space where Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian, immigrant, multiracial, and other people of color are safe, respected, represented, and heard.

Anti-racism is not a slogan. It affects our shelves, our hiring, our vendor choices, our event calendar, our partnerships, and our willingness to listen when people tell us harm has happened.

We are anti-fascist

We oppose fascism, authoritarianism, political intimidation, forced conformity, censorship, scapegoating, and the worship of power over people.

A queer-centered space cannot be neutral about fascism. Fascist movements have always targeted queer people, trans people, disabled people, immigrants, religious minorities, artists, educators, organizers, workers, and anyone who refuses to obey the approved script.

Stone’s Throw Coffee stands with communities targeted by authoritarian politics.

We are pro-choice and pro-reproductive freedom

We believe every person deserves bodily autonomy.

Stone’s Throw Coffee supports abortion access, contraception, miscarriage care, fertility care, gender-affirming care, accurate sex education, and honest medical information.

Reproductive freedom is health care. It is economic justice. It is gender justice. It is queer justice. It is a basic part of human dignity.

We reject shame-based politics that reduce people to their pregnancies, bodies, private medical choices, or ability to reproduce.

We are LGBTQIA2S+ centered

We are not simply “friendly.” We are queer-centered.

Stone’s Throw Coffee affirms queer love, trans lives, nonbinary identity, Two-Spirit people, asexual and aromantic people, intersex people, chosen family, drag, queer history, gender-expansive expression, and the right of every person to be named, addressed, and treated with dignity.

Trans people are not a debate. We believe in respecting names, pronouns, privacy, medical autonomy, and public safety. We will not host or platform anti-trans rhetoric, and we will not treat bigotry as “both sides.”

We reject the idea that queer people should be tolerated only when we are quiet, marketable, respectable, or easy to digest.

Queer people belong here fully.

We are pro-worker

Stone’s Throw Coffee believes workers deserve fair pay, safe conditions, predictable expectations, rest, respect, and freedom from harassment and exploitation.

Coffee should not depend on burnout. Hospitality workers are not disposable. Baristas, cleaners, cooks, artists, musicians, makers, organizers, and vendors all deserve dignity.

We support labor rights, unions, living wages, paid leave, and an economy built around people instead of corporate greed.

We believe housing is a human right

People cannot thrive without shelter.

Stone’s Throw Coffee believes housing is a human right, not a luxury product for landlords, developers, and corporations to exploit.

We support affordable housing, tenant protections, unhoused community care, and public investment that keeps people alive and housed.

A coffee shop cannot solve the housing crisis by itself. But we can refuse to treat poverty as a personal failure. We can support mutual aid. We can partner with people doing the work. We can make sure our language, policies, and community resources reflect the dignity of unhoused and housing-insecure neighbors.

We believe health care is a human right

Health care should not depend on wealth, employment, gender, zip code, or insurance-company permission.

Stone’s Throw Coffee supports universal health care, mental health care, reproductive health care, gender-affirming care, disability care, addiction recovery support, harm reduction, vaccines, and evidence-based medicine.

We reject medical conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine fearmongering, wellness scams, and spiritual abuse that tells people to pray away conditions that deserve care.

Our space may be planty, inclusive, herbal, and cozy. That does not mean anti-science. Comfort and ritual can coexist with medicine. Tea and herbs can sit beside vaccines and therapy. Magic does not require misinformation.

We are pro-immigrant

Immigrants are our neighbors.

Stone’s Throw Coffee supports immigrant dignity, refugee safety, asylum rights, family unity, language access, and a humane path to citizenship.

We reject xenophobia, border cruelty, detention profiteering, and political narratives that blame immigrants for problems created by greed, racism, and bad policy.

We are climate-justice centered

We believe climate change is real, urgent, and inseparable from racial justice, economic justice, disability justice, food justice, and housing justice.

Stone’s Throw Coffee supports climate action, sustainable choices, local partnerships, waste reduction, public investment, and a livable future for ordinary people, not just the wealthy.

We are not interested in greenwashing. We are interested in responsibility.

We are anti-censorship and pro-banned books

Stone’s Throw Coffee believes people deserve access to books that tell the truth.

We support banned books, queer books, Black history, feminist writing, labor history, disability writing, religious critique, survivor stories, Appalachian voices, and literature that helps people think freely.

Book bans are rarely about protecting children. They are usually about controlling which people, histories, bodies, families, and ideas are allowed to exist in public.

Our shelves will reflect curiosity, courage, and liberation.

We oppose Christian nationalism and religious extremism

Stone’s Throw Coffee welcomes people of many faiths and people of no faith.

We oppose Christian nationalism, religious extremism, spiritual abuse, forced belief, purity culture, anti-LGBTQIA2S+ theology, misogynistic theology, and the use of religion to control bodies, families, schools, libraries, workplaces, or public policy.

Faith should never be used as a weapon against someone’s safety, autonomy, or civil rights.

We believe public safety means care

Real public safety is not built by criminalizing poverty, queerness, disability, addiction, homelessness, or mental illness.

Stone’s Throw Coffee believes safer communities come from housing, health care, food access, living wages, education, mental health support, addiction recovery resources, harm reduction, and strong community relationships.

We believe in accountability when harm happens. But we reject cruelty disguised as order.

We believe in mutual aid

Charity asks, “What can I spare?”

Mutual aid asks, “What do we owe each other?”

Stone’s Throw Coffee believes in the second question.

We will support practical community care whenever possible: resource shelves, hygiene items, food support partnerships, sober social events, local fundraisers, banned-book access, community education, and space for people doing the hard work of keeping each other alive.

We are a safe space with boundaries

Stone’s Throw Coffee will be warm, but not passive.

We will not allow harassment, threats, hate speech, stalking, intimidation, predatory behavior, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, misogyny, fascist organizing, or religious harassment in our space.

You do not have to agree with everyone in the room.

You do have to respect their humanity.