Chick-fil-A. Who would have ever thought that a fast food chicken restaurant would cause such a rift in the fabric of this nation. Until recently the only people that Chick-fil-A pissed off were mall employees on a Sunday. Now everyone has opinions and ultimately it's not going to matter what we say on Facebook because in a week or so social media will have moved on to another hot button issue.
I live in Alabama, but I am pretty liberal. I don't have a problem with what Dan Cathy said because he does have the freedom to express his viewpoints. On the other hand, the rest of the population has the right to make a big stink about it. It's not great for business what Cathy said. Pissing off any portion of the population that is in your target audience isn't business savvy. That's Public Relations 101.
I have made the decision to not eat at Chick-fil-A for the foreseeable future. Not because the CEO in his ivory tower said something I disagree with but my "beef" with the company stems from money.
I don't want to give my money to a company that in turn gives a portion of it to PACs, Super PACs, and lobbyists that campaign for discrimination. I have problems with businesses giving money secretly to organizations that I, the consumer, disagree with.
And yes it's discrimination that is going on. When a certain portion of the population is not allowed to do something that another portion of the population is allowed to do based solely on their sexual preference, that's discrimination. There is no other way around it. All citizens should be treated equally under the laws, and that is not happening right now.
Growing up in Alabama has exposed me to lots of uber-conservative people. People here are never going to accept homosexuals let alone allowing them to get married. There are people who are still raised to hate black people. I know them. I went to school with them. So to expect the majority of people in the South to open their minds to something different is almost asking the impossible.
So do what you want with your chicken. Eat it or not. Life will go on as it always does. One thing that this controversy has done is allow you to see which of your friends don't want gay people to be treated fairly and equally, because really who am I to tell anyone they cannot get married to the person they love.
