Of Waffle Fries and Marriage Rights

So, I am really in the thick of the Chick-fil-A hulabaloo.  I worked for a summer at said fast food chain, selling chicken sandwiches and waffle fries.  Now, I'm a straight ally of the LGBTQ community living in Logan Square, the Chicago neighborhood that has now moved into the spotlight as one of our aldermen has promised to block the building of a new Chick-fil-A (the city's 2nd franchise) on Elston, just east of the Kennedy Expressway.  Alderman Moreno, and now Mayor Emanuel, are saying that they have no interest in allowing a franchise run by a family who flaunt their "Christian family values" and donate unapologetically to groups that work against gay marriage.  Mayor Tom Menino of Boston is also joining in, pledging to keep Chick-fil-A out of Boston and, in particular, off the Freedom Trail.

So, my two cents.  First, the Cathy family (who own Chick-fil-A) are most assuredly and unapologetically opposed to gay marriage.  And probably civil unions, adoption rights, partnership benefits, and God only knows how many other things when it comes to LGBTQ people.  This is, of course, defended as being traditional "family values," which is essentially the argument that Ozzie and Harriet had the only sort of acceptable family structure, and everyone else is sinning.  I should point out that the scriptures provide a wide variety of family models, most of which would be abhorrent to the average 21st century U.S. American of any religious background.  Lest we forget, things such as polygamy, concubinage, the seizure of women in war for forced marriage, and all kind of restrictions on women's rights are "biblical."  They don't jive nearly as well with the New Testament family codes...but then again, most arguments against homosexuality come from the Old Testament.  Life is complicated, and exploring this topic is not the principle focus of this entry.

All that said, I'm not shy about identifying myself as a straight ally who supports full rights, of every sort, for all people regardless of their sexual orientation.  I DON'T think a couple of cherry-picked verses that are ripped out of their historical context and aren't being properly interpreted through the Gospel ought to guide our convictions about whether or not LGBTQ folks are entitled to the same rights as the rest of us.  I have no interest in giving my money to the Cathy family just so they can donate it to a cause I find abhorrent.  I won't spend a cent of my money at Chick-fil-A until I can rest assured that my money won't go toward the continued denial of basic freedoms to people who love people of the same gender.

However, I will confess that I have some serious issues with denying people permits to build their businesses because of disagreement over how the corporate management of the company donates their money.  On the one hand, I would love to see Chick-fil-A get shown up.  I would love not to have a Chick-fil-A in my neighborhood.  On the other, I do wonder about the First Amendment here, and object to political action like this in protest over the values and political donations of a given corporation when that corporation at least follows the laws and does not discriminate in its hiring practices or against clients.  Like I said, I find it abhorrent...but I really do wonder if the best way to address that is a permit denial.  It IS a limitation of freedom of speech; what will the nation look like if we start making all our business permit decisions based off how the politicians issuing them feel about the stated political beliefs of the business owner?  I really do think that's the wrong road to go down because it DOES limit freedom of speech.  I'd rather we mobilize and not give them a dime of our business.  That's MY freedom of speech in action.