Wednesday, August 01, 2012

You never lose when you stand up to homophobia and lies


Today is Mike Huckabee's ridiculous "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" and it's probably going to be a hit.

Of course what would one expect. His call to support the restaurant chain on this day has been echoed and endorsed by several religious right and anti-gay groups as well as some ignorant religious entities.

So while these folks will no doubt inundate the media with videos and photos of today's event, I would like to reassure my lgbtq community and our allies not to worry.

You see we have won already. And when I say that we have won, I don't mean the intangible way that the title of my piece implies.

Our goal has never been about "shutting down Chick-Fil-A."

Our goal has always been to make people aware of just who Chick-Fil-A supports because this issue goes way beyond chicken.

With the money garnered from their customers, Chick-Fil-A supports organizations who

pushes for fake "ex-gay" therapies,

thinks that gays should be criminalized, and

smears the gay community by connecting us to pedophiles.

That's what's so ironic about Huckabee and those who support his "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day."  While they claim to support Chick-Fil-A because the restaurant supposedly embraces "Christian values," very few  commented on the organizations supported by Chick-Fil-A.

And one other thing.  All of the hyping they have done for Chick-Fil-A has actually helped us bring attention to our grievances.

So to my lgbtq community and our allies, please take what you hear about today from the religious right with a grain of salt as you continue to boycott Chick-Fil-A and educate people on who exactly the restaurant does support.

And above all in everything that you do, show dignity and self-respect.

Because in the long run, those are the two things this boycott is all about.

Editor's note - For those who need information to give to anyone wanting to know why the gay community is boycotting (no matter if that person is a Chick-Fil-A supporter or a member of the press), the following links will help you:

Simple answers to the questions about the Chick-Fil-A boycott

What Chick-Fil-A's money supports - a video montage of homophobia



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1 comment:

RJ said...

Alvin, you're bang on when you say it was never about driving them out of business, but about calling national attention to their behind the scenes anti-gay shenanigans. And that it did! For the last few weeks that's been a constant focus in the media. Anyone Googling Chick-fil-A from hereon in will get an eyeful. And it's going to be hard for them to get this particular stain out of their corporate image, if at all.

As for the supporters, well, christians don't tend to stick with these things for very long. Hence the failure of every one of their boycotts. Once this all dies down I'd like to see the Chick-fil-A numbers.