Chicken Shit Sandwich

I like fried chicken.  Whether home made, chain restaurant, fast food or a local dive, fried chicken can be very good.  There are many regional variations -- from the spicy New Orleans style to the rich and bland Maryland -- but the chicken is good.

One Southern chain, Chick-fil-A (known for their humorous 'protest' ads), has damn good chicken sandwiches.  And salads.  And I knew that they were a right wing company but, unless a company has done something really egregious (such as Walmart's stand on unions and their refusal to support their workers), or supports and funds hate groups, I tend to shy away from boycotting a company because of politics or social issues.  Chick-fil-A has, for me, just crossed that line.


Chick-fil-A is a supporter of Focus on the Family.  Focus on the Family (is it just me, or is any group with the word 'family,' 'liberty,' or 'freedom' in the name scary as hell?), run by Rev. James Dobson, openly works to defeat human rights advances around the country, and sponsors an ex-gay ministry program, Love Won Out, a conference series (read that as profit (not prophet) driven) with the goals of (from their own web site):

. . . aiding parents who want to learn how to better love their sons or daughters without compromising their faith; helping people who want to better understand the many factors that can lead to someone adopting a homosexual identity; and assisting those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions and want to discover how they might also start upon the path ― a difficult path, as noted above ― to overcoming those desires.

They claim they are not out to 'cure' gays which is (in my book) absolute and total bullshit.  They seek to use guilt and fear to force people to deny who they are. 

As part of their support of Focus on the Fascists Family, Chick-fil-A is sponsoring two conferences here in Pennsylvania (one in Camp Hill (just outside Harrisburg) and the other in Reading).  The focus of the conference (presented by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, and sponsored by Chick-fil-A)?  "The Art of Marriage will help couples apply what the Bible teaches about marriage in a powerful way."

The 'heart of god's design'?  Sounds like radical right-wing Christianist dominionism to me.  But what does The Pennsylvania Family Institute stand for?  Or, more properly, what do they stand against?  Human rights:

"The only way that we can get the people to decide this issue is through the ballot box," said Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which strongly supports a  statewide ban on gay marriages similar to one enacted in the neighboring states of Ohio and West Virginia.

He said that the measure is critical for defending and strengthening families in Pennsylvania. "Marriage as defined as between a man and a woman has proven to be the best for the health, education and welfare of children," he said.

So The Pennsylvania Family Institute has started up a misinformation campaign to ensure that, if gay marriage does come to a vote, it will be defeated.  I guess they know that constitutional law is not on the side of those seeking to continue to deny equal human rights.  Just as prohibitions against Baptists or atheists holding public office have been struck down or changed, just as slavery and segregation have been banned, as women's suffrage and voting rights for all have been put into law (some through the courts, some through legislation (and upheld through the courts)), so will the fundamental human right of marriage between consenting adults.

I have, in the past, occasionally eaten at Chick-fil-A restaurants.  I do not plan to eat there again.  And I sent Chick-fil-A the following communication through their Contact Us page at the company's website:

Please end the financing of the anti-human rights organization, Focus on the Family and end your corporate sponsorship of The Pennsylvania Family Institutes attempts to deny human rights to citizens of Pennsylvania in the upcoming The Art Of Marriage seminars.

'Tain't much but if enough of us email them, it may help them understand that this is not a religious issue, gay marriage is a human rights issue.  And their support of anti-human rights organizations, hate groups, is pretty damn chicken shit.