Today is August 1st, 2012, and Mike Huckabee, esteemed former Governor of the great state of Arkansas has requested that everyone go out and support Chick-Fil-A today in response to a public backlash towards anti-gay statements made by its CEO, Dan Cathy.
Dan Cathy said that Chick-Fil-A supports the traditional, Biblical family and family values. His company gives millions to support organizations who work towards the goal of keeping this intact. Many of these organizations also actively strive to restrict the rights of the LGBT community.
So today, my Facebook newsfeed is filled with postings and pictures of people celebrating "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" under the guise of supporting "free speech and 1st Amendment rights". I think it is totally embarassing, and doing it in the name of "free speech" is a cop-out. No one is saying that Dan Cathy shouldn't have been allowed to say what he said...the outrage stems from the bigotry that filled the statement. I'm proud to say that I will never go to Chick-Fil-A again, and that none of my dollars will ever indirectly support the active marginalization of a cross-section of Americans who deserve the same rights that I am able to enjoy.
I'm from Arkansas, and so many of my Facebook friends are saying they support Chick-Fil-A because they support free speech - it is totally infuriating, because we all know that Mike Huckabee called for this showing of support to demonstrate some sort of distorted mainstream American notion of the importance of "family values." Um...I have values that are equally as vaild, and they are nowhere near the same. This conservative hijacking of the word "values" is much more offensive to me than two people loving each other, no matter who they are.
To be an American is fantastic, mostly because of the freedoms guaranteed to us by our Constitution, including the freedom of speech (which is NOT under attack, here, by the way). But our Constitution also holds two other very important clauses, the Establishment and Exercise Clauses, which are my favorite two. They state that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an organization of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." So basing any legislative or constitutionality arguments on any religious doctrine should be deemed moot from the beginning.
Dan Cathy and the bevy of organizations which his company supports have an agenda that is in direct conflict with these two clauses. They want to legislate bigotry and create a second-class of Americans who are not eligible for the same rights as other Americans. America is a representative democracy and a republic, not a theocracy. We are not a Christian nation, we are a nation made up of many different religions, Christianity being the majority. There is a huge difference, and this crusade to impose religious ideology through legislative means is one of the biggest reasons that the statements made by Dan Cathy have caused such an uproar.
So, Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day attendees: I hope you enjoy your combo meal of tasty fried chicken, bigotry, and hate with a side of that delicious Polynesian sauce that I will never taste again.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
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