Note: Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude is a weekly(ish) feature about food, food and more FOOD. No, I am not an expert, but I do enjoy talking about food prep, cooking food, eating food and making sweet love to food. Okay, maybe not the "sweet love" part. After all, this is not meant to be an homage to 9 1/2 Weeks.
Recipe Index can be found here.
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Shortly after my son was born, I told my husband if it turned out that our son was gay, I would probably have to cut off a good portion of my family. I was serious then and I still stand by those words. Oh sure, I had always been a supporter of the LGBT community. However, when I became a parent, I became an advocate with a clarity I had not possessed previously. I finally understood that it is not only about LGBT rights, but rather, human rights. Every member of the LGBT community is someone else's child and it was not enough for me to simply stand up for my own child's "potential" rights. No worries. I will not bore you (yet again) with details on my feelings regarding these issues, I have already written extensively about them in posts published here and here.
But this does bring me to the entire Chik-Fil-A "thing" and since it involves delicious chicken , I decided to place it here on Friday. Yes. As a family, we will no longer eat at Chik-Fil-A until they cease contributing to hate groups. Yes, the CEO has the right to say what he wants on just about any topic he wants. This is not about free speech. This is about a restaurant that has explicitly stated they do not want a certain segment of the population in their restaurants. And yes, that is EXACTLY what they have stated. The restaurant contributes to hate groups which seek to disenfranchise the LGBT population and it is inarguable they would welcome this group into their restaurants. Otherwise, how would that scenario work? "Um, sorry about that money that went to murdering gay Africans, enjoy your chicken sandwich??" After all, if Chik-Fil-A contributed to the KKK, it would be doubtful they would welcome African-Americans in their restaurants. Right?
Right.
I discussed this with my children in very simple terms -- Chik-Fil-A does not welcome people we care about into their restaurants and I mentioned names. Both of my children agreed that we really should not give our money to people who do not welcome our friends.
And I think that's all I have to say about that.
I do want to end with a few links that truly resonated with me on this particular issue.
First and foremost, Zoot wrote two eloquent pieces on her opinions regarding this:
It's Not About Ethical Spending...It's About Embarrassment Spending
and
Why I Cried
Zoot's posts meant a lot to me -- this is a topic that we have discussed before, off-line, the whole "how do we decide where to draw the line on boycotts?" After all, most companies are probably giving money to organizations and causes with which I do not agree.
And Owldolatrous Productions wrote this:
The Chick Fellatio: Stuck in the Craw
This is probably one of the best posts I have read on this. Period. (Hat tip to my friend Kara for the link. Kara gives me hope for Christians and shows me constantly that not all religious people are small-minded folks. Thank you, Kara.)
8 comments:
The way this has played out has been really disturbing. For all the people who went the other day, to "just support free speech," did they also shop at JC Penney after the Million Moms people called for a boycott? Have they been eating their gay Oreos, too? Or is "free speech" not really the issue for them?
And, GAH, free speech isn't the damn issue at all, because no one is arresting Cathy for his bigotry. I wish they'd put the same energy into reading comprehension.
My boycott is meaningless, because I've never eaten there, but when I rode my bike past the place this morning I hissed at it.
Awwww....thanks. And maybe it will give you even more hope to know that I can easily name at least a dozen close friends/people I go to church with that would fall into what I would consider the "not-small-minded Christian" category. One of them is my pastor. I am thankful every day for these people - they allow me to feel good about using the label "Christian" for myself and know that I can be a faithful Christian without compromising what my heart knows about loving others.
This was the most heartbreaking post I saw: http://janedevin.com/2012/08/01/being-gay-in-tucson-hurts/
And by the way, Hamburger Mary's is offering the most delicious Southern-style chicken sandwich and waffle fries you've ever had. In case you're looking for an alternative.
As a Christian, I find it horribly, horribly wrong that a Christian organization is speaking out against the LGBT community. It's not our place to judge and even more importantly, the "sin" of being gay is not worse than any other sin, which the CEO is surely guilty of many things.
I don't know Kara, but luckily there are people like her and her pastor, as well as my pastor, who can hopefully show that not all Christians are like that.
I'm interested in hearing more about the discussion with your kids.
Ooof, Average Jane, that post you linked to was painful. Especially since I consider Tucson very gay-friendly.
But she should be locking her gate. Property crime in this city is out of freaking control.
My 3 yr old is such a picky eater, but when she asked for chicken nuggets from CFA yesterday (we've eaten there a couple of times recently), I told her they are out of chicken. I want my girl to eat protein, but I won't give my money to a hate-group supporting company.
Very well put Kelli. I love the clarity of pointing out how motherhood makes us an advocate for all. Having my kids grow up and having to have these complex conversations with them only brings to light what a tough job motherhood is.
I too have found the Owldolatrous post to be one of the more thorough and well written pieces in this recent mess.
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