Chick-fil-A
Well, crap.
I don’t know if that magical restaurant chain of Chick-Fil-A has made it to the West Coast yet, but in these here parts, it is just a fantastic place to get fast food that doesn’t taste like fast food. The restaurants are clean, the personnel is unbelievably friendly and helpful, and the menu. . . .
Mmmmm. Chick-fil-A. Everything on the menu is insanely good.
We go to Chick-fil-A all the time. All. The. Time. It’s super kid-friendly, yummy, fast, and convenient.
We’ve always known that the $4 billion company is owned and run by conservative Christians, which I thought was a plus. The helpfulness and kindness of the staff (a staff person there once brought me a high chair and then thoroughly sanitized it with antibacterial wipes while I juggled Charlotte) goes way beyond anything you’ll find elsewhere, they answer EVERY thank you with a “my pleasure” instead of a grunt, and the atmosphere is just . . . well, friendly.
The other abnormal thing about Chick-fil-A? It’s closed on Sunday, reflecting the owners’ belief that staff are entitled to a Sabbath, a day of rest. I love this and think it’s brilliant to protect workers’ access to a day with their families, going to church, porch sitting, football watching, or whatever their day of rest entails.
But, as my wise husband said, “Apparently, with the good—being closed on Sundays—comes the bad.” The Chick-fil-A owners have overtly come out (pun intended) and slammed gay marriage, as it is their American right to do. Sure, I doubted that we shared similar views on this topic, but surely that’s no reason to boycott the place. Right? I mean, my dad and I are on opposite sides of the gay-marriage-is-okay spectrum, but neither of us have banished the other from our lives. Ya know?
But. Here’s what the president and CEO of Chick-fil-A said:
“I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage . . . I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about."
Alrighty then.
He went on to say, “"We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives.” No surprise there, and apparently everyone in the higher ranks is still on Wife #1—which means only men are in leadership positions (surprise, surprise), or some of Chick-fil-A’s female work force are lesbians legally married to their (first) wives.
I suspect it’s the former.
Anyway, I get it. Though my mom was of the teensy yet practical “for goodness sake, you’re born straight or gay—sheesh” contingent, I grew up in a conservative church, where most ranged from outwardly disliking gays and lesbians to aiming to (albeit surprisingly lovingly) pray the gay away.
Neither option seems right to me, nor do they seem right to Chris, and we are both unapologetically in favor in same-sex marriage and full legal rights of gays and lesbians.
I’m perfectly comfortable on where I stand when it comes to same-sex marriage, but goodness, I just didn’t know what to do about Chick-fil-A. Do we boycott it? And if so, on what grounds? I mean, everybody is entitled to free speech.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that yes, my small, chicken-eating family needs to stop frequenting Chick-fil-A. Why? Well, Chick-fil-A has every right to say what it wants and to take a stand on and fund whatever anti-gay/”pro-marriage” groups it wants, but the CEO deliberately aligned the restaurant with disenfranchising gay folks. The company uses some of its profits to fund anti-gay groups. The weekly $19 we spend there can go elsewhere.
If only my post ended there. Since all the hoopla started, the mayors of Chicago and Boston self-righteously declared that Chick-fil-A restaurants ain’t welcome to open in their cities, and they would do what they could to block it. Although I plan to avoid eating at Chick-fil-A for at least the time being, the mayors’ moves are utter B.S. First, they do not speak for every dweller of their city, especially those who think traditional marriage should be upheld, or those who enjoy a remarkably well-made chicken sandwich. Using clout to push an agenda that stymies the development of business based on personal opinions? Well, it’s a typical democrat move, I’ll grant them that.
I favor individual rights and decisions, not the government (e.g., big-city mayors) telling me where I should eat. Eating at or boycotting Chick-fil-A is a personal choice, nothing more. As left-leaning Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank intelligently put it on POTUS, the mayors of Boston and Chicago (along with Mike Huckabee, who wants all the conservative Christians in our obese nation to stuff themselves with Chick-fil-A on August 1 as a sign of support) are fueling a culture war, when really, people should feel free to get themselves some tasty nuggets without declaring which side they’re on.
All that said, our family has deliberately eaten elsewhere since the Cathy anti-gay incident. I don’t love the idea of adding to the controversy, but I do feel compelled to at least reduce our Chick-fil-A patronage. In the past week, Chick-fil-A has dialed back its anti-gay stance as a tactical, business-minded move, which I think was appropriate and a step in the right direction to getting this to blow over.
I’m not sure when we’ll be able to go to Chick-fil-A again, but goodness, I hope it’s soon. Have you ever tried their banana milkshakes? Or their waffle fries?
I’m hungry. Frankly, I could really use some Chick-fil-A.
I don’t know if that magical restaurant chain of Chick-Fil-A has made it to the West Coast yet, but in these here parts, it is just a fantastic place to get fast food that doesn’t taste like fast food. The restaurants are clean, the personnel is unbelievably friendly and helpful, and the menu. . . .
Mmmmm. Chick-fil-A. Everything on the menu is insanely good.
We go to Chick-fil-A all the time. All. The. Time. It’s super kid-friendly, yummy, fast, and convenient.
We’ve always known that the $4 billion company is owned and run by conservative Christians, which I thought was a plus. The helpfulness and kindness of the staff (a staff person there once brought me a high chair and then thoroughly sanitized it with antibacterial wipes while I juggled Charlotte) goes way beyond anything you’ll find elsewhere, they answer EVERY thank you with a “my pleasure” instead of a grunt, and the atmosphere is just . . . well, friendly.
The other abnormal thing about Chick-fil-A? It’s closed on Sunday, reflecting the owners’ belief that staff are entitled to a Sabbath, a day of rest. I love this and think it’s brilliant to protect workers’ access to a day with their families, going to church, porch sitting, football watching, or whatever their day of rest entails.
But, as my wise husband said, “Apparently, with the good—being closed on Sundays—comes the bad.” The Chick-fil-A owners have overtly come out (pun intended) and slammed gay marriage, as it is their American right to do. Sure, I doubted that we shared similar views on this topic, but surely that’s no reason to boycott the place. Right? I mean, my dad and I are on opposite sides of the gay-marriage-is-okay spectrum, but neither of us have banished the other from our lives. Ya know?
But. Here’s what the president and CEO of Chick-fil-A said:
“I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage . . . I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about."
Alrighty then.
He went on to say, “"We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives.” No surprise there, and apparently everyone in the higher ranks is still on Wife #1—which means only men are in leadership positions (surprise, surprise), or some of Chick-fil-A’s female work force are lesbians legally married to their (first) wives.
I suspect it’s the former.
Anyway, I get it. Though my mom was of the teensy yet practical “for goodness sake, you’re born straight or gay—sheesh” contingent, I grew up in a conservative church, where most ranged from outwardly disliking gays and lesbians to aiming to (albeit surprisingly lovingly) pray the gay away.
Neither option seems right to me, nor do they seem right to Chris, and we are both unapologetically in favor in same-sex marriage and full legal rights of gays and lesbians.
I’m perfectly comfortable on where I stand when it comes to same-sex marriage, but goodness, I just didn’t know what to do about Chick-fil-A. Do we boycott it? And if so, on what grounds? I mean, everybody is entitled to free speech.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that yes, my small, chicken-eating family needs to stop frequenting Chick-fil-A. Why? Well, Chick-fil-A has every right to say what it wants and to take a stand on and fund whatever anti-gay/”pro-marriage” groups it wants, but the CEO deliberately aligned the restaurant with disenfranchising gay folks. The company uses some of its profits to fund anti-gay groups. The weekly $19 we spend there can go elsewhere.
If only my post ended there. Since all the hoopla started, the mayors of Chicago and Boston self-righteously declared that Chick-fil-A restaurants ain’t welcome to open in their cities, and they would do what they could to block it. Although I plan to avoid eating at Chick-fil-A for at least the time being, the mayors’ moves are utter B.S. First, they do not speak for every dweller of their city, especially those who think traditional marriage should be upheld, or those who enjoy a remarkably well-made chicken sandwich. Using clout to push an agenda that stymies the development of business based on personal opinions? Well, it’s a typical democrat move, I’ll grant them that.
I favor individual rights and decisions, not the government (e.g., big-city mayors) telling me where I should eat. Eating at or boycotting Chick-fil-A is a personal choice, nothing more. As left-leaning Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank intelligently put it on POTUS, the mayors of Boston and Chicago (along with Mike Huckabee, who wants all the conservative Christians in our obese nation to stuff themselves with Chick-fil-A on August 1 as a sign of support) are fueling a culture war, when really, people should feel free to get themselves some tasty nuggets without declaring which side they’re on.
All that said, our family has deliberately eaten elsewhere since the Cathy anti-gay incident. I don’t love the idea of adding to the controversy, but I do feel compelled to at least reduce our Chick-fil-A patronage. In the past week, Chick-fil-A has dialed back its anti-gay stance as a tactical, business-minded move, which I think was appropriate and a step in the right direction to getting this to blow over.
I’m not sure when we’ll be able to go to Chick-fil-A again, but goodness, I hope it’s soon. Have you ever tried their banana milkshakes? Or their waffle fries?
I’m hungry. Frankly, I could really use some Chick-fil-A.
Good post.
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