Do Fries Go With That Hate?

I’m not sure if you’ve ever had Chick-fil-A fried chicken but it’s actually pretty good however, I want to be clear why they will no longer be receiving my money. In case you haven’t heard, the owner of the fried chicken chain recently made comments about not supporting gay marriage. Specifically he said, "We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit, and that doesn’t include Adam & Steve. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives, thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles." Fine, I have no problem with that in fact I commend him and his family members for their marriage longevity but apparently in Mr. Cathy’s world, gay people don’t have families, Christians don’t get divorces and in fact the whole world is Christian. He went on to say he would probably fire an employee or terminate an operator who “has been sinful,” well disregarding the legality of such terminations the man could end up with no employees to run his restaurants…or maybe he just meant those who commit selective sins.

So is this the new business model? You alienate a segment of the population thereby limiting your clientele and income. A better question is would you support a business that admittedly contributed to hate groups? Let me be more specific, would you support a business that contributed to the KKK? I don’t want to get into a debate on the issue of gay rights vs. civil rights, I previously addressed that issue but I will say hate is hate and bigotry is bigotry no matter how it’s concealed or to whom it’s directed. Between 2003 & 2010 Chick-fil-A donated more than $5,000,000 to anti-gay hate groups, $2,000,000 in 2010 alone. Groups like the Family Research Council and Exodus International. In an effort to promote their hatred and fan the flames of homophobia, these groups foster and advocate inaccuracies’ regarding gay people. Exodus International promotes the idea that gays can change their sexual orientation an idea completely discredited by the legitimate scientific community. However, legitimate scientific research doesn’t prevent them from charging insecure gay people thousands of dollars for this phony reparative therapy which includes shock treatment and drugs to decrease sex drive. In order to support the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) the Family Research Council distorted research to compare gay men to pedophiles. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council has stated that pedophilia is a “homosexual problem.” In a 2009 attack on gay seniors the Family Research Council falsely promoted the idea that gay people don’t live long enough to become seniors. Your guess is as good as mine why they would promote such a ridiculous and idiotic notion. They also endorsed a fraudulent study that stated parenting by gay couples would be harmful to children and that it would be better if a child was raised parentless or in group homes as opposed to being raised by loving committed same-sex couples.

The bottom line is Chick-fil-A obviously doesn’t value my patronage. A company that so blatantly insults and offends its customers and supports hate speech and bigoted groups doesn’t deserve my money. I have no respect for a regressive organization that claims to be built on following and emulating a loving and accepting God and then does the exact opposite and instead only treats a select portion of their clientele with dignity and respect. Still, it’s a free country, first amendment rights, blah, blah, blah. The man is free to promote his stone-casting values cloaked in the bible as much as he wants but free speech sometimes includes repercussions. I also have the freedom to speak out against him and more importantly take my business elsewhere. By the way Chick-fil-A might want to take a note from history. In the 60’s there was a restaurant that refused to change with the times. They were blatant with their racist imagery and their attitudes regarding the civil rights movement. If Chick-fil-A isn’t careful they may just disappear. When was the last time you saw a Sambos Restaurant?