So for what it’s worth here, I’m going to take a stance on a volatile issue – full well knowing a great many of my Facebook friends disagree with me. First, and most importantly, who am I to tell a gay or lesbian couple that they can’t marry? I have friends and family who are gay and lesbian – but in my mind they aren’t in those categories – they’re my friends and my family. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – governments should not make laws that limit the freedoms of it’s citizens – especially when those laws target a specific subset of the citizenry. It’s wrong, plain and simple. If you disagree with that on religious grounds – you’ve got that right. And frankly, your church has the right not to recognize or perform that ceremony. That’s their right as well. The heart of the issue here is that like we have done to so many other subsets of our citizenry in the past – we are discriminating against this one population. That must end and thinking must change.
Now, on to this business about chicken sandwiches and Chick Fil A. I think the real problem here is that corporations have no place in the public arena. If you disagree with me, fine. I don’t really care. I say that the weight of your political voice should not be directly proportional to the size of your fortune. But that’s another issue.
What bothers me so much is the outpouring of “support” for Chick Fil A. I’m sorry, but when one group of Americans show up in droves to tell another group “We don’t like you, we don’t value you, we’d rather you just go away and not come back,” that’s hateful. What bothers me is that those people standing in line for hours to buy a chicken sandwich see themselves as some sort of righteous crusaders. Standing in line for hours to buy fast food, of which probably $0.00001 will go to groups that actively seek to do away with the precious few rights and protections in our laws that have been afforded to gay and lesbian Americans.
As for me? I’ve decided fast food is bad for me, so I’m boycotting all fast food restaurants and avoiding national chains when possible (except for the Waffle House, because the Waffle House is awesome). And while I’m not specifically “boycotting” Chick Fil A per se, as long as the public perceives a visit to Chick Fil A as a stand against the rights of gay and lesbian Americans, then I cannot in good conscience visit that establishment. It’s unfortunate, because they are one of the few businesses that seems to put forth a good product but has also spent the time to train their employees to treat the customer with respect and make them feel valued.
Kind of ironic, isn’t it?