This Chick-fil-A Situation Has Officially Gone Too Far

Unless you’ve being living under a rock over the past couple weeks, you have probably heard about Chick-fil-A and their CEO’s stance on gay marriage (another RC columnist, Samantha Lee, even wrote about it here).

In case you’ve been M.I.A., here’s what Dan Cathy, CEO of the fast food chain, said on the Ken Coleman program regarding gay marriage, “I think we’re inviting God’s judgment when we shake our fist at him, you know? We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage. And I pray on God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful arrogant attitude to think we would have the audacity to try and redefine what marriage is all about.” He also added that we were inviting “the devil” into our homes.

Yeah. I’ll give you a minute to absorb this.

So, you can only imagine how everyone in the news media world took it. That’s right, they blew up like crazy. It was everywhere and everyone was talking about it. People were tweeting both hate and support for the Dan Cathy’s view, except for one thing, instead of people boycotting Dan Cathy, people decided to boycott Chick-fil-A, as though Chick-fil-A itself made this statement. That somehow our chicken sandwiches and nuggets jumped out and lectured us about gay marriage and God.

And as a result, we had “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” where people flooded to Chick-fil-A in support of the CEO’s belief or his right to say it. Also, the LGBT community decided to flood Facebook and Twitter with same-sex couples kissing in front of Chick-fil-As. We’ve had protests and vandalism like the Chick-fil-A in Torrence, Calfornia that had the words “Tastes Like Hate” spray painted on the side of the building.

Then there was the moment when I think most of us realized that it was time to settle down:  A man named Adam Smith videotaped himself basically berating a Chick-fil-A employee for what the CEO said about same-sex marriage and then put it on YouTube. The employee that he embarrassed handled it better than I would have and she deserves a raise or praise for how she handled that man.

You don’t have to agree with the CEO’s views on gay marriage. And just because you go eat at a Chick-fil-A doesn’t mean your supporting that belief. You are supporting those employees who are probably making minimum wage at a job that most people look down on. One of the things that makes America great is the fact that every person has the right say (almost) anything they want. It’s part of our constitution and it’s the First Amendment: Freedom of Speech. We are all privileged to that right. People shouldn’t freak out when some exercises that right. And I know that it’s hard because we think, “How can Dan Cathy believe that?” But he does. I’m not friends with him, and his “hate,” as some people are referring to it as, doesn’t impact my life or the lives of my gay friends.

You don’t have to agree with what someone says, but you should respect the fact they have the right to say it. Below is a segment of The Daily Show where host, Jon Stewart, probably sums up this crazy situation the best and I hope we can take a step back and try to settle down – just a little.