Chick-Fil-A, because you knew I couldn't leave this alone.

Disclaimer:  Yes, many friends of mine have various views on this topic.  I'm not looking to alienate anyone, although for all the ugly crap I've seen posted online, or heard said, by people I actually like over the course of the past few days, I think this will be pretty mild. Also, keep in mind, I had my wisdom teeth out this morning under general anesthesia, and am sort of groggy, so excuse any typos.

So Chick-Fil-A (herein and throughout called CFA) hates the gays?  Shocker.  A company that closes all its stores on Sundays, openly promotes that they're Christian owned, and has been known to have a clause about "sexual deviance" in their employment paperwork, hates the gays. Who'd have thunk it?

With that said, I don't actually have a problem with that.  Fine.  Hate the gays.  I don't.  I happen to love the gays, but I also understand that gay rights are the last frontier of civil rights, and that we're in the throes of the fight for those rights at this very moment.  I know that most of the people who think being gay is a sin, or an abomination, or whatever thing they are calling it today, will learn to accept it, or at least look away, within the years that follow LGBT Americans being conferred full civil rights, including the right to marry.  People will get used to it, just like they've gotten used to a lack of slave ownership, women voting, using the same bathrooms as people of other races, and even the shocking and appalling legality of interracial marriage. (For anyone who doesn't know, I'm joking about it being shocking and appalling.  I have many things in common with my husband, but race isn't one of them.)  Anyway, the idea is, this gay hating is going to die down, and I'm not going to rail against it too hard in general, unless it's really in my face, because these people are going to get the idea.  I have enough faith in the world to believe that good wins over evil eventually, and that LGBT people will have the right to do whatever we hetero types do, and that it will be within the next few years.

The issue with CFA is not that the CEO's son said that he's anti-gay.  Let us be very clear that nobody is saying he shouldn't have said that, or trying to get in the way of his free speech.  He can say whatever he wants.

Now, here is the first issue with it.  It is also our right to boycott the company in light of this fact.  Why on earth would I want to give a dime to a company whose owners honestly believe that my kids' favorite uncles should just go to hell, just because they're gay?  The fact that some fundie Christian assholios have the stones to say, usually with a smug smile on their face, "Well, tolerance goes both ways." and imply that we should continue funneling money to these homophobic losers, is ridiculous.  Do you buy condoms at Planned Parenthood just for kicks, because hey, they're cheaper there, and tolerance goes both ways, even though it goes totally against your personal philosophy to buy from an organization that performs abortions?  Of course not!  I'd never expect you to.  Go buy your Trojans somewhere else, and I'll buy my chicken somewhere else.  This is America, and we have that choice.  Expecting that we'll spend money with a company whose morals we find absolutely disgusting, is ridiculous, and I'd never ask it of you.

The second issue with it is that what this guy said is not even the tip of the iceberg.  Honestly, if it were just words, I'd have read the news story, shrugged, said something like, "Big surprise there", and gone about my business.  The real issue, and this is what I'm having the hardest time getting people to understand, is that CFA donates millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations every year.  One is the Family Research Center, which is officially classified as a hate group (against gays).  Yeah, that's exactly who I want to spend my money with.  Granted, I know my couple times a year CFA purchases probably put less than two cents toward that initiative, but that's two cents too many.  Why should we be expected to let this slide, not boycott, not tell people about it, and just say, "Hey, it's their choice.  It's a free country."  That's totally idiotic.  Oh, and please tell me about the last time you expressed total acceptance toward the KKK.  I mean, they're just doing their thing, and their opinions and actions are generally within the realm of legality as well.  Tolerance goes both ways, you know.  No?

As ugly as it has gotten, maybe this CFA thing is just what America needed to finally bring LGBT rights front and center, and get over our collective hang-ups with it.  Sure, the social conservatives are railing hard against it, but I get the feeling that it's their last stand.  Some of my staunchly Republican friends are even disgusted with what CFA donates to, and have taken the "leave the gays alone and let them marry, then shut up about it" position, which I totally respect.  Change is happening.  I feel like this is just one part of it.  Nobody ever said it would be pretty.  Hang on, guys.  It seems we're in for a bit of a ride, but I think the rewards will be worth it when we're no longer the most backward country in the entire western world.