It's not the only chicken in town
Excerpt from my blog -- NorthsideChip's corner. (http://northsidechip.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/the-olympics-are-kickin-anaheim-cops-give-a-lickin-and-whats-this-to-do-about-chicken/)
I loves me some Chick-fil-A. Whenever I’m in a town that has a Chick-fil-A, I’m eating some Chick-fil-A. I like the chicken sandwich, the chicken nuggets and those waffle fries. Yeah, its “bad” for you…But its just tastes so good.
That is what makes giving it up so darn hard.
Chick-fil-A Dan Cathy. A very successful businessman and a devout Christian. The man talks the talk and walks his walk, right down to not opening on a Sunday. Recently, he spoke out on the issue of the gay marriage. Fearlessly and forcefully he said, “Well, guilty as charged… “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives,”
He’s put Chick-fil-A’s financial wherewithal in line with his maxillary orifice. According to the group Equality Matters, Chick-fil-A has put some serious profits behind a number of organizations that could be taken to be “anti-gay”. They made over $2 million in donations to such groups in 2010 alone. Their donations include some very interesting cadres, including one cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group”.
I don’t have a problem with what Dan Cathy’s views are. They are his. I don’t have a problem with Chick-fil-A throwing some money to a lot of groups like Focus of the Family or the Family Research Council. My personal view on both groups is that their “Focus of the Family” too often does not include mine for some glaring and obvious reasons. Nonetheless, a private business has a right to do as they see fit in the causes they choose to support. For this reason I am opposed to the sudden cry of city chief executives in Boston and Chicago to “ban” Chick-fil-A from there respective cities. Now, Boston Mayor Tom Menino (affectionately referred to by Bostonians as “Mumbles”) backpedaled citing the simple fact that he can’t infringe in the right of a business to set up shop where they legally can.
Chick-fil-A has a right to their views and a right to their advocacy for their views.
I have a right as consumer to buy or not to buy. I choose not to buy, mainly because of the issue behind the curtain.
I’ve said it before the whole idea of the pushing of the “defense of marriage” issue is really a trojan horse to me. What I saw in my hometown, Omaha, Nebraska in the last few months confirms this. Like many cities, Omaha had a hole in their anti-discrimination laws, and a city councilman decided it was time to close that hole. The upgraded ordinance would include protections for GLBT citizens in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, etc. None of the laws even touch the subject of marriage. Yet the opposition immediately go to “Them goldarn homo-sex-y’alls want to violate marriage!” when marriage isn’t even a part of the issue at hand.
That word “marriage” to many people, myself included, is a very serious, solemn, and loaded term. To many it is very sacred to the core. It should be.
HOWEVER, I do not believe that the state should regulate this. No one should receive any benefit or debit from the state based on what is largely a religious designation, and marriage is a religious designation. Yet, if we are going to give official state-sanctioned benefits based on this designation then it should be open to all.
Look behind the curtain, and you find that “marriage” is a poison pill, a ruse, and that is why I have the stand I have. I believe, perhaps naively, that most people want to be fair. Most people have a sense of fair play. If you present something discriminatory towards them, they would say…”You know, I may not understand or agree with their ‘lifestyle’ or who they are…But I’m not going to be unfair to them either. Live and let live.”
BUT, inject something is volatile and polarizing as “marriage” into the fray, and you can get people who normally wouldn’t agree with discrimination, to agree with it, even when marriage is not the topic of contention. In the cases I saw in Omaha and now is happening down I-80 in Lincoln and a number of similar debates across our nation, that is what you are seeing.
Chick-fil-A will continuing to do brisk business. There’s plenty of people in this country who agree. There’s a “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day” in the rumor mill to be planned by some prominent conservative groups. I’m hearing quite a few people who say they’re going buy, buy, buy because Chick-fil-A is defending us from the Gay Agenda(TM), whatever the heck that is.
I give a lot of respect to Dan Cathy for being open about his beliefs. That’s a good thing, because for people who believe in humanity and fairness for all, we know where we stand.
But for me? I will put my financial wherewithall in line with my maxillary orifice. Chick-fil-A isn’t the only game in town.
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