Would you like a side of morals with your chicken sandwich?
A new fast food restaurant has opened in Lynnwood: Chick-fil-A.
This chicken selling franchise sits right next to Lowes, reeling in MTHS students as customers day after day.
But when the consumer gets out their wallet and hands that $5.25 to the cashier, it’s not just a chicken sandwich they’re buying. The money is also being given to an anti-LGBT corporation that is funded from the profit.
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy said in an interview with Ken Coleman that he believes supporting same sex marriage is “inviting God’s judgment on our nation and shaking our fist at Him.” Cathy also called gay marriage “twisted up kind of stuff.”
Okay, so this man doesn’t support gay marriage. So what?
Well, as the president of Chick-fil-A, he does hold a lot of power. And what Cathy does with that power is where the consumer comes into the picture.
According to EqualityMatters.org, Chick-fil-A donated nearly $2 million in 2009 to various anti-gay organizations, such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), that do, in fact, use 100 percent of their money to oppress gay people in the United States.
For instance, the FCA holds a National College Conference every year. Conference Program Director Danny Burns described the conference as one in which “God freed some people from homosexuality, sexual sins, addictions and even ushered newcomers into His Kingdom.”
Burns’ comment is suggesting that homosexuality is a sin. Do you really want to be giving this man your money?
But, aren’t Chick-fil-A corporate leaders just using their First Amendment right to run a company based from the Bible? Well, no. There’s a fine line between free exercise of religion and breaking the law.
In a 2011 court case, a former Chick-fil-A employee stated that she had been fired because her supervisor, Jeff Howard, wanted her to be a “stay-home mother.” The employee was later replaced with a man, the woman said.
Blatant misogyny and firing someone because you do not agree with the values they hold at home is not protected by the First Amendment. It’s a violation of the law. No corporation should be allowed to subjectively fire their employees.
Being apathetic about the oppression happening all over the world, doesn’t get you off the hook either. Not caring about the oppression happening all over the world toward gay people is much worse than not knowing.
Not knowing about Chick-fil-A doesn’t make you evil, however. I’ll be of the first to admit that I don’t look into every fast food restaurant I visit in order to see their stance on politics. However, multiple rallies opposing Chick-fil-A and their beliefs have been held outside the Lynnwood location.
If the sight of people holding signs that read things such as “Evil Fil A” doesn’t catch your eye, I’m not sure what will. After seeing something like that, most would at least Google the controversy involved with it.
Okay, yes, Chick-fil-A is bad. But how is not buying a $5.25 chicken sandwich supposed to fix anything? Just because I, one person, choose to not go there, it won’t shut down Chick-fil-A. It’s just one chicken sandwich.
Despite this horribly flawed logic, I really don’t see why you would want to spend money at a fast food chain that both donates to and supports companies that are widely famous for oppressing gay people.
A single person not buying from a hugely popular fast food chain will not stop it, yes. But if everyone had that attitude and mind set, nothing would get done.
If every student at MTHS believes this and buys “just one chicken sandwich,” Chick-fil-A grows more and more. And more and more LGBT citizens in America are oppressed. And it only costs $5.25.
Eat your heart out, but not at Chick-fil-A.
