Confessions: I Support Gay Marriage. I Eat at Chick-Fil-A.
I've been reading a lot of rants lately about boycotting Chick-Fil-A because their CEO upholds a belief in "traditional marriage" and thinks that gay marriage is likely to be the beginning of the end of America. Or about supporting Chick-Fil-A because their CEO was "brave" enough to tell everyone.
I have to disagree with everyone. Don't ban Chick-Fil-A. Don't ban gay marriage. Eat chicken. Love people.
I don't think Chick-Fil-A should be banned in any city. Not if their only vice is having owners who are vocal conservative Christians. They have the right to be what they want and tell others about it. Now, if they were refusing service to gay people that would be a different story altogether. But they're not. So... let them do business with whoever wants to do business with them. If Boston and Chicago and whoever else really don't want them there, the stores will fail. Problem solved. They should be allowed to fail. Or succeed.
I don't think gay people should be marginalized and told they can't marry. That's just how I feel. And if they disagree with the principles of a particular company, they have the right not to do business with them. But I don't know what good that will do. Not getting my chicken fix isn't going to make Chick-Fil-A all of a sudden supportive of gay rights. It's just going to mean I don't get to eat that yummy chicken.
Sometimes I think we make too much out of things. It's not like we didn't all know already that Chick-Fil-A is a Christian company (after all, we've all had a craving on Sunday that we couldn't satisfy). So shocker... the family that owns it is conservative. So are lots of people. Do you interview your baker, barber, dry cleaner, guy in the Taco Bell window and see if they're going to gay-bash you? No. You just do your business and go on with your life.
Let's just step back a little bit and get some perspective. If you (like I) love Chick-Fil-A chicken, that doesn't mean you hate gay people. It means you like that special blend of spices. If you (like I) support gay marriage, it doesn't mean you hate God. It means you love people (which, last I checked, so does God).
I do have to take issue with one other thing... just as a side note. In reading one of these many articles, I read this quote from CEO Cathy: "I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is all about." I would like to counter this statement with this: "I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to define what God is all about." Yes, I think you are arrogant and prideful and audacious if you try to suggest that you have the knowledge of where God's love begins and ends.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assert that God loves BOTH Chick-Fil-A people and gay people. And the mayors of Chicago and Boston. And the people on Fox TV. And the people on CNN and MSN and Logo. And definitely the people on Comedy Central. The people in Afghanistan and Iraq and Russia and Turkey and India and America and Canada and Britain and Finland and South Africa and Rwanda and... well clearly I can't name all the people that God loves. Nor should we try to. Just assume He loves them all. And wouldn't deny tasty chicken to any of them. And also wouldn't deny them the right to commit to and love each other.
I don't think Chick-Fil-A should be banned in any city. Not if their only vice is having owners who are vocal conservative Christians. They have the right to be what they want and tell others about it. Now, if they were refusing service to gay people that would be a different story altogether. But they're not. So... let them do business with whoever wants to do business with them. If Boston and Chicago and whoever else really don't want them there, the stores will fail. Problem solved. They should be allowed to fail. Or succeed.
I don't think gay people should be marginalized and told they can't marry. That's just how I feel. And if they disagree with the principles of a particular company, they have the right not to do business with them. But I don't know what good that will do. Not getting my chicken fix isn't going to make Chick-Fil-A all of a sudden supportive of gay rights. It's just going to mean I don't get to eat that yummy chicken.
Sometimes I think we make too much out of things. It's not like we didn't all know already that Chick-Fil-A is a Christian company (after all, we've all had a craving on Sunday that we couldn't satisfy). So shocker... the family that owns it is conservative. So are lots of people. Do you interview your baker, barber, dry cleaner, guy in the Taco Bell window and see if they're going to gay-bash you? No. You just do your business and go on with your life.
Let's just step back a little bit and get some perspective. If you (like I) love Chick-Fil-A chicken, that doesn't mean you hate gay people. It means you like that special blend of spices. If you (like I) support gay marriage, it doesn't mean you hate God. It means you love people (which, last I checked, so does God).
I do have to take issue with one other thing... just as a side note. In reading one of these many articles, I read this quote from CEO Cathy: "I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is all about." I would like to counter this statement with this: "I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to define what God is all about." Yes, I think you are arrogant and prideful and audacious if you try to suggest that you have the knowledge of where God's love begins and ends.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assert that God loves BOTH Chick-Fil-A people and gay people. And the mayors of Chicago and Boston. And the people on Fox TV. And the people on CNN and MSN and Logo. And definitely the people on Comedy Central. The people in Afghanistan and Iraq and Russia and Turkey and India and America and Canada and Britain and Finland and South Africa and Rwanda and... well clearly I can't name all the people that God loves. Nor should we try to. Just assume He loves them all. And wouldn't deny tasty chicken to any of them. And also wouldn't deny them the right to commit to and love each other.
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