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My friends posting about their support for Chick-Fil-A has had me in a quandary this week.
It starts like this:
"Gay rights are human rights." - Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State
"All men are created equal." - US Declaration of Independence
This is not a political issue. It's not some difference of opinion about a few percentage points in the tax rate. This is a civil rights issue. An issue of equal rights versus discrimination.
It falls under the same category as the fights last century over getting women the right to vote and ending racial segregation. These fights aren't exactly the same, but they all fall into the category of civil rights and equality. And they are all fights that we are going to continue to have in this century. But we've taken big steps in the right direction, and I firmly believe that we will continue to do so. And that those who oppose equal rights are on the wrong side of morality and the wrong side of history.
Equal pay for women, equal access to voting for minorities, equal rights for same-sex couples - These are not political issues. They are rights. It just so happens that one party has opposed itself to all three.
My uncle married a Black woman. In my grandparents' time, that would not just have been illegal but unconstitutional in several states. Think about how that looks now. Our grandchildren will look back at this point in history and they will see opposition to gay marriage in the same light.
The outcry against Chick-Fil-A is not just because the CEO made a few comments. The organization has spent millions opposing gay rights and supporting anti-gay groups. They have even supported a group which has pushed for a law in Uganda that would kill people for the crime of being gay.
When you stand up to support Chick-Fil-A, you are not standing up against some Liberal boycott. You are standing up to support bigotry and ignorance.
You can tell me that the Bible defines marriage in a certain way. I'll tell you that the Bible supports polygamy, and further orders that a man should marry his brother's widow and that a woman must marry her rapist. You can tell me that Leviticus declares homosexual acts to be an abomination unto the Lord. I'll tell you that the same book declares shrimp to be an abomination unto the Lord. You can keep quoting, and I'll point you to the laws about keeping slaves, including the part where, if a slave refuses to leave your household after a lifetime of servitude has earned him his freedom, you must nail him to your front door by the ear. (That's one image that has stayed with me since Hebrew school...) Religious tenets change or get left behind. For any number of reasons.
But fine. Your religion opposes gay marriage. Don't marry a gay person. But don't deny that right to someone else who doesn't share your religion, but who does want to be in a committed relationship and who does want to enjoy the same legal rights as you do. You don't get to legislate your religious beliefs any more than I get to outlaw Red Lobster even though half their menu is strictly outlawed by my religion.
You don't get to bully or discriminate against people for who they are, for how they were born. Not for having dark skin. Not for having female body parts. Not for being attracted to people of the same sex.
All of this is clear. So how does it leave me in a quandary? I have friends who say that if you stand against equal rights, then you should defriend them now because they won't associate with bigots. But if ignorance is the problem, then turning our backs will not solve it. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It took me a while. It wasn't easy. But that's the conclusion I've come to. I'm not going to defriend you for supporting discrimination. If you want to defriend me over what I've said here, go ahead. That's your choice. But, whether you do or not, I hope you'll be willing to reexamine your beliefs. (That's something we should all be more than willing to do.) And I hope that, in time, you'll learn and you'll join the rest of us in the new millennium.
__________________________
Further reading:
Chick-Fil-A and discrimination: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/07/26/589841/memo-to-the-media-and-the-ambivalent-chick-fil-a-condemns-discriminates-and-campaigns-against-lgbt-people/
Biblical Marriage: http://samuel-warde.com/2012/08/biblical-marriage-made-easy-for-conservatives/
"Chick-Fil-A Mea Culpa: I Have Changed My Mind" http://ideas.time.com/2012/08/01/chick-fil-a-mea-culpa-i-have-changed-my-mind/
It starts like this:
"Gay rights are human rights." - Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State
"All men are created equal." - US Declaration of Independence
This is not a political issue. It's not some difference of opinion about a few percentage points in the tax rate. This is a civil rights issue. An issue of equal rights versus discrimination.
It falls under the same category as the fights last century over getting women the right to vote and ending racial segregation. These fights aren't exactly the same, but they all fall into the category of civil rights and equality. And they are all fights that we are going to continue to have in this century. But we've taken big steps in the right direction, and I firmly believe that we will continue to do so. And that those who oppose equal rights are on the wrong side of morality and the wrong side of history.
Equal pay for women, equal access to voting for minorities, equal rights for same-sex couples - These are not political issues. They are rights. It just so happens that one party has opposed itself to all three.
My uncle married a Black woman. In my grandparents' time, that would not just have been illegal but unconstitutional in several states. Think about how that looks now. Our grandchildren will look back at this point in history and they will see opposition to gay marriage in the same light.
The outcry against Chick-Fil-A is not just because the CEO made a few comments. The organization has spent millions opposing gay rights and supporting anti-gay groups. They have even supported a group which has pushed for a law in Uganda that would kill people for the crime of being gay.
When you stand up to support Chick-Fil-A, you are not standing up against some Liberal boycott. You are standing up to support bigotry and ignorance.
You can tell me that the Bible defines marriage in a certain way. I'll tell you that the Bible supports polygamy, and further orders that a man should marry his brother's widow and that a woman must marry her rapist. You can tell me that Leviticus declares homosexual acts to be an abomination unto the Lord. I'll tell you that the same book declares shrimp to be an abomination unto the Lord. You can keep quoting, and I'll point you to the laws about keeping slaves, including the part where, if a slave refuses to leave your household after a lifetime of servitude has earned him his freedom, you must nail him to your front door by the ear. (That's one image that has stayed with me since Hebrew school...) Religious tenets change or get left behind. For any number of reasons.
But fine. Your religion opposes gay marriage. Don't marry a gay person. But don't deny that right to someone else who doesn't share your religion, but who does want to be in a committed relationship and who does want to enjoy the same legal rights as you do. You don't get to legislate your religious beliefs any more than I get to outlaw Red Lobster even though half their menu is strictly outlawed by my religion.
You don't get to bully or discriminate against people for who they are, for how they were born. Not for having dark skin. Not for having female body parts. Not for being attracted to people of the same sex.
All of this is clear. So how does it leave me in a quandary? I have friends who say that if you stand against equal rights, then you should defriend them now because they won't associate with bigots. But if ignorance is the problem, then turning our backs will not solve it. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It took me a while. It wasn't easy. But that's the conclusion I've come to. I'm not going to defriend you for supporting discrimination. If you want to defriend me over what I've said here, go ahead. That's your choice. But, whether you do or not, I hope you'll be willing to reexamine your beliefs. (That's something we should all be more than willing to do.) And I hope that, in time, you'll learn and you'll join the rest of us in the new millennium.
__________________________
Further reading:
Chick-Fil-A and discrimination: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/07/26/589841/memo-to-the-media-and-the-ambivalent-chick-fil-a-condemns-discriminates-and-campaigns-against-lgbt-people/
Biblical Marriage: http://samuel-warde.com/2012/08/biblical-marriage-made-easy-for-conservatives/
"Chick-Fil-A Mea Culpa: I Have Changed My Mind" http://ideas.time.com/2012/08/01/chick-fil-a-mea-culpa-i-have-changed-my-mind/