Chick-fil-A-ed by Jayesh Mehta
Chick-fil-A, the company that can’t spell, is in the news, and won’t seem to leave it. First it was Dan Cathy stating:
“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. We give God thanks for that…we know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”
I do like how he clarifies that they are married to their first wives, as opposed to unmarried to their second and third wives. Apparently he believes that divorce or remarrying are also wrong, but I’ll leave that alone.
After Mr. Cathy’s (why am I getting an image of a drawing of a girl with low self-esteem and some kind of jittery disorder?) statement, the Jim Henson Company pulled out of its partnership with Chick-fil-A, stating:
The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors. Lisa Henson, our CEO is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD.
Then gay and lesbian advocacy groups decided that they would call for a boycott of the franchise. So, now things should be done, and everyone can go back to their regularly scheduled lives…but, wait, what’s that over there? Oh, yeah, Chick-fil-A’s counter protest. Read Here A “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day”! Ok, good for them. But wait, a counter-counter protest?! Can it be?! Yes it is, “Kiss Mor Chiks”, where same-sex partners will kiss in front of various Chick-fil-A stores. No word on what divorcees and remarried couples will do yet.
All this because Mr. Cathy (feels weird to put a Mr. in front of Cathy) couldn’t keep his mouth shut. No, I’m not saying that he doesn’t have a right to his opinions; he absolutely does. The problem is, why say this at all? It’s your personal belief, but serves no benefit to your company. If he had read my book about giving out too much information (shameless plug, but it here), he wouldn’t be in this mess. Is he not going to serve a lesbian if she comes up to order? There’s no taint on their money. You can’t get cooties from it (although other germs are available regardless of sexual orientation). So why alienate them? I haven’t expressed my personal opinions on non-traditional marriages here, and I don’t plan to, although if you ask me, I may tell you, or you can infer. I am not giving anyone quotable statements. It doesn’t benefit me, or you to say anything, so why would I? And Mr. Cathy (is that short for Catherine?), eat less chiken, and by my buk (a gratuitous, shameless plug).
Jayesh.
