Henson issues statement about Chick-Fila-A

[dwmckim]

I too also was a registered Republican in the 90's. Mainly because when it came down to having the choice of which primaries i wanted to vote in, i figured it was best to do so in the Republican primaries so i could cast my vote for the ones that were more common sense and relatively "sane" instead of a more extreme whackjob.

But eventually Arizona changed its laws to where we now have open primaries so i've been registered independent ever since.

 

[CensoredAlso]

See folks? Contrary to popular belief, it's the Democrats who do more to promote peace and unity, NOT the Republicans.

From where I sit both parties have one goal - get your votes.

 

[Drtooth]

Ain't that the truth!

I think what this does is create another clear choice between presidential candidates. Romney's stance is certainly clear on this issue, but neither he nor the Republicans have been running on it since Obama's stance. It's odd. Very odd. Maybe their gearing up for the debates. It's amusing that both candidates have had a change of heart on this issue. Romney onces supported gay marriage and Obama didn't until recently. However, Obama never said that he'd oppose it if agreed upon by states. Still it never sat right with me.​

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Here's the thing. It came out (I don't know where) that when he was a senator, he did support gay marriage or something to that extent. Either voted on a bill or something, I can't remember the specifics since someone mentioned it somewhere in passing. But when it came to presidential politics, that's where it gets complicated. I'm sure he'd like to support gay marriage, but we're still in the era where that's political suicide. So basically he took a meandering, wishy washy approach so he could get votes. A LOT of people voted for Bush ONLY because of his stance on Gay Marriage, it just having been made legal in MA. Now, the conspiracy theorist in me rightfully thinks that Romney had a hand in that, NOT vetoing or overriding the law as Governor, but then whining about it just as the election started up. Hmmmm... pretty sneaky, Romtana Max. Obama just basically came out and said that he does indeed support it for 2 reasons. Joe Biden painted him into a corner (no wonder why he was mulling over replacing him with Hillary), and to strengthen his liberal base so they don't vote for some pie in the sky independent that will just take away votes from him.​

Believe it or not I was a registered Republican in Texas. It didn't register in California or as a Democrat until the last campaign. I'd like to be an independent, but there's so much of those in SF and they're identified with the more militant aspects of the Occupy movement.

I'd be an indie too, if Romney didn't scare the crap out of me as president. I'd even rather Bush back than him. Romtana Max was a TERRIBLE governor, and he basically left the state he was elected to serve to run as a candidate in 2008, bad mouthing our supposed left wing ideals to everyone in as many red states as possible, leaving us with a puppet governor for about 2 years. That's right! He didn't finish his term! Well... except for irresponsibly slashing our budget, putting us in a complete economic tailspin that it took a Dem governor 2 terms to sort of fix.

I hear that true libertarianism supposedly allows for gay marriage, as illegalizing it would be the very same government overreach they always complain about... as is going to war and even our idiotic and wasteful attempt at a war on drugs. But I suspect that's just to get the younger generation to vote for them. I don't exactly trust it.

 

[jvcarroll]

I found this in my Facebook feed. Happy Muppets Appreciation Day everyone!​

Like Big Bird's sign says, "Muppets Everyone!"​

 

[Oscarfan]

Why did they put a blue-collar Porky Pig in there?

 

[Bannanasketch]

From the photos I've seen on facebook, Chick-fil-a is being packed today.

I also found this interesting post on Chick-fil-a's facebook page:
"

I'm gay and I think that Chick Fil A being strong with what they believe in is awesome. I may not agree with it but who cares, its their money that their using from their privately owned company to do so. Instead of complaining about this one company out of many that donated money to certain causes, you all could be looking for ways to support your cause. You're for gay rights? Awesome go donate money! Chick Fil A happens to be against it, so they donate money also. I don't see Chick Fil A banning gay people all because they have different beliefs. Do you? Nope! I eat there and they haven't complained about me for being gay! I'm sure they love my business just the same as a straight persons. So relax, not everybody will always have the same beliefs as everybody else, its called life. People believe in different things. That's what makes life fun and worth livining."​

 

[D'Snowth]

As I've said a million times before, I don't go to Chick-fil-A to discuss religion, politics, or the Great Pumpkin, I go there to eat, and since it happens to be one of my favorite fast food places, I still plan on going there.

 

[Bannanasketch]

As I've said a million times before, I don't go to Chick-fil-A to discuss religion, politics, or the Great Pumpkin, I go there to eat, and since it happens to be one of my favorite fast food places, I still plan on going there.

Completely agreed. I may not have agreed with Oreo's stance but I'll still eat Oreos because they taste good. Whatever a company's stance on an issue, I don't care because if their product is good, I'm still gonna buy it.

 

[jvcarroll]

From the photos I've seen on facebook, Chick-fil-a is being packed today.

I also found this interesting post on Chick-fil-a's facebook page:
"

I'm gay and I think that Chick Fil A being strong with what they believe in is awesome. I may not agree with it but who cares, its their money that their using from their privately owned company to do so. Instead of complaining about this one company out of many that donated money to certain causes, you all could be looking for ways to support your cause. You're for gay rights? Awesome go donate money! Chick Fil A happens to be against it, so they donate money also. I don't see Chick Fil A banning gay people all because they have different beliefs. Do you? Nope! I eat there and they haven't complained about me for being gay! I'm sure they love my business just the same as a straight persons. So relax, not everybody will always have the same beliefs as everybody else, its called life. People believe in different things. That's what makes life fun and worth livining."​

With a little fact checking your facebook friend would discover that CFA is notorious in its hiring discrimination for all sorts of reasons stemming from their faith-based principles.

Short answer:


This really isn't about words, Christians or even gay marriage in particular. This is about CFA's connection to a full-fledged anti-gay campaign to remove even the most basic civil rights* from LGBT people based on religious grounds.


Long answer:

Gays have no problem with Christians. In fact, they account for many of our lifelong best friends, beloved family members and some of us Christians as too! This subject has never been an either/or debate for LGBT people. We are not against Christians or their marriages, but we are continually being attacked.

Many companies support many things, but they do not publicize them for good reason even if it is their right to do so. CFA let down their employees and apolitical business partners by taking such an unprofessional public stance on a polarizing topic. They forced everybody into a corner. It's just fast food, people! If or when Jesus comes back, I can bet you it won't be in the form of a fatty chicken sandwich!

Ultimately, Chick-Fil-A is like that casual friend who has too much to drink at a bar and starts picking unprovoked fights with other patrons. Sadly, we all know that guy! Everybody who came with them is left to decide whether to support him, get in the middle of the fight or flee. It's just not fair to to that to anybody. I have no patience for bullies who throw a suckerpunch at someone when they're not looking and then claim reverse-bullying when they complain! That's what this is.


I'm not calling for a boycott of CFA, but let's not pretend that this is a polite difference of opinion or a simple freedom of speech issue. CFA's leadership has communicated, with both words and money, that gays should be second-class citizens. The outcry would be severe if these words were pointed at any other minority. This really isn't a Christian argument. This is not really a marriage argument.

*Here are items of a call to action against the LGBT comunity from CFA and its Winshape-supported "charities" Focus on the Family, Exodus International and the Family Research Council:

• They want to criminalize gay behavior. There is no middle ground.
• They directly compare gay people to pedophiles and not in an "all sin is sin" way.
• They believe that the existence of gays infects civilization and that God's wrath will befall a nation that is tolerant of them.
• They want to remove gay people from any form of advertising, position of power or influence.
• They support the anti-gay treatment of public school students on righteous grounds.
• They believe that the marriage of gay people will lead to fewer straight people getting married, more straight divorces and more children out of wedlock.
• They supported the genocide and imprisonment of gays in Uganda.
• One of FRC's prominent spokesmen even advocated for the deportment of America's gays

I almost posted some of these very clips yesterday, but left it be. All of this can be easily sourced. Go to Google and look it up or go to YouTube and hear it directly from these high-level representatives of these "Christian" organizations.

If that's not hate, I don't know what is.

Again, the LGBT community really has no problem with even the most extreme Christian beliefs on the subject of gay people. The problem is that these words and the money behind them have promised to threaten our basic freedoms.

 

[D'Snowth]

• They believe that the marriage of gay people will lead to fewer straight people getting married, more straight divorces and more children out of wedlock.

Well, there was a study done recently that suggests that as more and more gay couples are wanting to get married, more and more straight couples are NOT wanting to get married, and I'll tell you, you look around these parts, you half of the kiddies you see around here are pushed in buggies by young, trailer-trash couples who clearly had those babies "by accident".

That, to me, has NOTHING to do with gay people, or gay rights, or what gays are supposedly doing to the world, or anything, it's just a big example of how far today's society has deteriorated, decayed, declined, and corrupted. Less straight couples are getting married because they don't take their relationships seriously anymore, all they think is important is getting in bed as much as they can, and more often than not, they results in these "accidental" children, and in even less cases, those couples may get married afterwards to "right the wrong" *coughNatalie Portman and that other guy*cough*. Like Good Afternoon America (which I didn't know existed) did a report today to see if chivalry really is dead or not... to me, it appears to be so. Heck, there's now this mentality people have today that if men practice manners or chilvary, they must be gay, because apparently "real men" don't practice politeness... I was brought up with manners, politeness, chilvary, etc, it's expected of me to hold doors for people, hold chairs out for ladies, and all that jazz, I do it because it's in me.

And again, none of this has been brought on by the gay community or anything, these are all the shortcomings and transgretions of people on their own will, and often, their will consists of nothing more than selfish and reckless desires.