I’m relatively certain that anyone who reads this blog has
been waiting for me to say something about Chik-Fil-A.
So here it is: first, I have a hard time patronizing any
business that can’t freaking SPELL. (True story: I once refused to have my hair
done at a very nice salon because there was a typo on their signage. I can’t
HELP it, y’all.) So for that reason alone, delicious waffle fries aside, I had
a hard time giving them my hard earned cash money.
Second: I don’t support bigotry.
There are many people – including people in my own family –
who argue passionately that Mr Chik-Fil-A is allowed to say and believe what he
wants, which I agree with WHOLEHEARTEDLY. This is America, people. You get to
say and believe whatever you like. YAY!
You also get to bear the responsibility for what you say and
believe.
However. I’m going to say it again: THIS IS AMERICA. Where
we, in theory at least, should believe in equal rights. Our track record on “all
people deserve the same bunch of rights” is, well, not so great, but we have
made progress in the areas of gender and race and religion.
Many Americans get stuck on the issue of sexuality for
religious reasons. And to that I call bullshit. Show me someone who says they
follow all of the rules of their religion and I’ll show you a liar. The pastor
at my church used to take bottles purchased in New Hampshire and redeem them
in Maine – a practice which, last I checked, wasn’t entirely legal – and I’m
pretty sure that “not breaking the law” is against his religion. I know lots of
pious Christians with craptastic driving records. I know many a divorced
Christian. I know Christians who gamble, Christians who drink, Christians who
curse like sailors and who have affairs and who steal and who do any number of
things because it’s what people do.
Here’s what I learned in my fundamentalist church, growing
up: all sins are equal. If you’re mean to your sister, that’s the same as
stabbing someone. Which, perhaps, is crazy, but since many people who oppose
equal rights for the LGBTQ community are fundamentalists, let’s roll with that.
Here’s the other thing they stressed: We’re all sinners. Every last one of us.
Basically, to be a fundamentalist is to say that you’re a sucky human being and
you’re going to keep right on sinning but God loves you anyway, and that your
sins are the same as everyone else’s. They’re all equal.
Of course, my friends the fundies don’t necessarily attach
that bit of wisdom to gay rights. Because apparently, they’re mostly willing to
overlook the sins of themselves and their churchgoing friends, but not those of
people they deem “other”.
To be honest, the issue for me has never been “gay marriage”
but the fact that, as a nation, we continue to allow discrimination against a
specific group of people based on who they’re sleeping with. Not only is this
not awesome? It’s kind of dumb. What someone does in their bedroom (or
wherever, I’m not judging) with another consenting adult is no one’s damn
business. It hurts NO ONE. Two guys making out on a street corner is no more
appalling than seeing a man and a woman make out on a street corner – either way,
I’m going to yell “Get a ROOM!”
So by acknowledging that he doesn’t support gay rights, and
that he gives money to groups that work to deny equal rights to gay people, Dan
Cathy has outed himself as a bigot.
And as I said, I don’t knowingly support bigotry. Think of
it this way: if he had come out and acknowledged that he gave money to groups
trying to prevent people of colour from having equal rights, it would be
denounced as horrific, archaic, unacceptable – because it would be.
It is unacceptable to work towards preventing civil rights
for anyone in America, whether you agree with their lifestyle or not.
That’s the problem with Chik-Fil-A. That’s the issue.
I wish I could make more people understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment