My Take on the Chick-fil-A Controversy

Now that this Chick-fil-A controversy seems to be settling down a bit, I would like to weigh in with my opinion on the matter.  The company's COO, Dan Cathy, had expressed his view in an interview that he believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  This prompted an uproar against him and his company by various parties on behalf of the LGBT community and those promoting legalized same-sex marriage.  A boycott of Chick-fil-A was called for and some mayors of major cities, including Rahm Emmanuel of Chicago, banned this chicken sandwich eatery from "his" city, apparently revealing that he (and his cohorts in other locales) see themselves as Ghaddafy-like dictators, ruling by decree as they see fit.  The reaction to this was predictable, but who would instigate it? None other than FoxRepublicanNews evangelical ideologue Mike Huckabee, who called for Cathy supporters to rally to Chick-fil-A on August 1 to show their appreciation for him.  Huckabee framed it all around respecting free speech; in essence, though, the event, marked by massive lines across the country, quickly became framed as a pro-gay/anti-gay referendum, with the "winners" (chicken sandwich buyers) drowning out the "losers" (those sinning gays and their ilk). A mass "Take that, bad guys...hurray for the good guys, we really showed them", if you will...

Here are some points from this I'd like to make:

--Dan Cathy is a rich, rich, super-rich dude who owes his good fortune to the fact that he is the SON of the company's founder and equally homophobic CEO, and now sits on top of his own little mountain making proclamations about what is morally acceptable to him about others' behavior.  That millions are so concerned about HIS "right" to run his mouth off as he likes without any negative consequence while gays in many locations in this "free" country still have to hide their sexual orientation in order to escape discrimination, intimidation, and even physical assault, speaks to me about what is wrong with this country.  The initial uproar against Cathy wasn't just for his comments about marriage, but also about the fact that he and his father, by dint of the money they make from their company, contribute massive amounts to organizations whose agendas are clearly homophobic.

--Having said that, it bears noting that the comments that Dan Cathy made did not explicitly put down gays or mock them in any way.  As a matter of fact, until just recently, liberals including John Kerry and Barack Obama had expressed their own personal opposition to gay marriage.  Now within those circles it has become politically correct to support it: good, I support gay marriage, too.  But it is wrong, in my opinion, to retroactively condemn an expressed opinion that was mainstream just a couple of years earlier and suddenly call it "hate", with boycotts and banning decreed by politicians.  Boycotting can serve as a valid protest strategy that people can choose to either participate in or not.  But for mayors to ban companies from their cities treads on free speech rights and is what triggered Huckabee's call to support this company the Wednesday before last.

--I don't believe, though, for one minute, that the mass of people who went out on that Wednesday to "support" Chick-fil-A had such highly principled notions that they were standing up for.  No, in the vast majority of these people's hearts is an intensely irrational hatred of gay people. I have seen it too many times in my life when others would display deep anger when the subject of homosexuality came up in conversations.  Ever since when, as a kid I had first heard of such a thing as homosexuality, I thought it was a little strange, something I had no personal interest in pro or con.  But I couldn't fathom why others held such a consuming, passionate hatred against homosexuals.  And I still don't.  So maybe there were some high-sounding words being thrown around on August 1, but my reaction to the throngs of "principled" Chick-fil-A customers was just plain disgust, especially at some people I personally knew who revealed their true colors to me by their action...