Chicken Shit

There is an interesting controversy that has been dominating the headlines lately.  In a nutshell, the president of the Chik-Fil-A restaurant chain does not support gay marriage and donates considerable amounts of money to organizations who lobby against such unions.  The problem that I see is that no one seems to understand the whole situation.  I'll admit that I myself didn't really understand it completely until just this morning when I decided to do the research.  So now I'm prepared to tell you exactly what's going on.  

So, with any debate, there are two sides.  You have Chik-Fil-A and its supporters, who are opposed to same-sex marriage.  Then you have the supporters of same-sex marriage.  The entire thing has become political, with conservative politicians taking pictures of themselves eating at this restaurant to show their support for their views.  These conservatives, and these supports of what Chik-Fil-A are doing, are also lambasting the opposition by saying that they are infringing upon free speech.  And sadly, in some cases they are correct in that accusation.  

Here's the thing:  If the president of Chik-Fil-A wants to say he doesn't support gay marriage, that is perfectly fine.  He can do that.  Everyone has a right to their own opinion and they are free to do whatever they want.  And that works both ways.  If I, then, want to protest Chik-Fil-A's stance by not eating at their restaurant, that is also my right.  If I want to also protest by going to Chik-Fil-A with my boyfriend and kissing him outside the front door of the restaurant, which thousands of people will be doing this very day, then that's also my right and no one can stop me from doing it.  That is why this country is so amazing.  

Calling for Chik-Fil-A's restaurants to be shut down is not okay, however.  Suppressing the organization is not okay, because they do have the right to their views.  That type of dialogue needs to stop, because it's only making things worse.  I hope the mayor of Boston, who stated he wished for such a thing to happen, realizes this and backtracks.  Equality cannot be achieved in this way, because what you're asking for in calling for the restaurant's closure is not equality in itself.  

But, there is a REASON why such radical demands have been made, and this is where the very tricky problem arises.  As I said, the president of that restaurant can believe whatever he wants.  That's his right as an American.  I really don't give two flying fucks about his opinion, because he's just a little rich man sitting atop his rich company with the means of speaking to a large group of people.  Big deal.  

But the problem, the very real and serious problem with this, is where he sends his money.  Through his company, he has donated large sums of money to an organization called the Family Research Council.  I have a very serious problem with this group.  Here is a quote from their website:

"We oppose the vigorous efforts of homosexual activists to demand that homosexuality be accepted as equivalent to heterosexuality in law, in the media, and in schools. Attempts to join two men or two women in "marriage" constitute a radical redefinition and falsification of the institution, and FRC supports state and federal constitutional amendments to prevent such redefinition by courts or legislatures."

Additionally, they also lobbied against a certain bill in Congress.  This is the point, the reason, why the above drastic statements against Chik-Fil-A were made, and the reason why they seem like such an over-reaction is because most people do not know this fact.  This bill that FRC opposed was a United States condemnation of acts being carried out in Uganda against homosexuals.  Uganda was EXECUTING gays.  The United States drafted a bill in Congress to officially condemn those acts.  And the FRC lobbied AGAINST it.

Now we have a problem.

You can oppose gays all you want.  You can disagree with their lifestyle, you can hate them, you can call them names, you can protest their existence.  That's any American's given right.

But once you try to interfere with law, once you start to take away basic human rights, once you start oppressing a human being just because of who they love, then you have over-stepped your rights.  No one, absolutely NO ONE, has the right to tell another person how to live their life.  No one has a right to say one person cannot love another because some old book written by other humans who are now dead say so.

So yes, I can see why the opposition to Chik-Fil-A are acting as they do.  But what needs to happen here is clear dialogue on WHY it's a problem.  People need to be informed of what they're supporting.  I have a feeling that a lot of those people flocking to Chik-Fil-A are doing so because all they see is what in their minds are a bunch of whiny gays complaining that someone doesn't like them, or being hypocritical by demanding equal rights but only when it's for them and not against them.  Or whatever.  The point is, I think if everyone knew WHY this was a problem, the queue at Chik-Fil-A would be a bit shorter.

Not a LOT shorter, though.  I'm not naive.  I realize that over half the people in this country would probably stab me in the face if they knew they could get away with it.  But it doesn't bother me.  I'm the better person.