Love Your Neighbor

I have tried my best to hold my tongue over the whole Chick-Fil-A thing. But I have found over the past few days that I feel very strongly about this, and since this is my blog, I am going to use it as an outlet to say how I feel. Read it or don't, I am not trying to change anyone's mind or beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I do not judge anyone who believes anything other than what I do.



Ahem.

This little picture sums up everything I have seen on my Facebook page over the past two weeks:

First of all, no one ever said that they were surprised that the owner of Chick-Fil-A was anti-gay marriage. They are closed on Sundays for goodness sake. Dan Cathy is a millionaire that has every right to do whatever he wants with his money.

(And I am grateful that there is a Christian-run fast food chain, because when was the last time you got good service at McDonalds or Taco Bell? Never, for me. You can't deny that Chick-Fil-A has the nicest, most helpful workers of any fast food chain.)

But the way he went about expressing his views is the thing everyone has a problem with. Here is his statement about August 1st:

ALL DAY yesterday, people were posting about being proud to support "Free Speech" and "The First Amendment" by eating at Chick-Fil-A. The thing is, there is nothing in Cathy's statement about this being about free speech. He is proud that he supports the "biblical" version of family, and that's great for him! I am so grateful to live in a country that allows us to say whatever we like without prosecution. 

But August 1st? It was not about "free speech." Cathy said, "to show your support for the traditional American family, come eat at my restaurant on August 1st." Which implies that if you don't agree you should eat elsewhere. Which I did. My chicken salad sandwich at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe was dee-licious. 

The thing that it all boils down to is this: people should not be treated badly because they are different from you. 

What's that you say? Dan Cathy has treated no one badly? Just because he is against gay marriage doesn't mean that he is bad person, right? 

I agree with you. The whole Chick-Fil-A riot is not equal to "hating" gay individuals.

But it certainly feeds it. There are people in this world who participate in hate crimes against people who are different from them, and when SO many people jump on a bandwagon to support the "traditional family," it gives the true gay-hating people a reason to validate their hate, therefore giving them a reason to continue their hate crimes. These crimes would have continued with or without this motion, but when something gains this much national attention, it can only get worse. 

And don't feed me your "free speech" bull. You didn't go to Chick-Fil-A yesterday to ONLY support free speech. We ALL support free speech, gay or straight.

This whole thing comes down to civil rights. 

Most likely, you are like me-- A white, "straight," middle class person, because we are the majority in America. If you are, you have the right to marry who you love. You have the right to vote. You have the right to say whatever you please. In your lifetime, you always have.

But what if you didn't?

To quote author Jackson Pearce, "What if the situation were reversed, and you became the minority?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABY27P12eWQ&feature=g-u-u)

What if you LOST your rights? Many people don't vote, but what if you weren't allowed to? You'd fight for it, right? 

In the bible, Mark 12:30-31 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

In my humble opinion, "love your neighbor," does not mean, "love only those who look and act like you." 

And I know what some of you will say to that, because it's already been expressed to me twice--"I know some gay people whom I DO love. But it doesn't mean I have to agree with them."

If you don't agree with them, then you are aiding in denying them their rights. Don't you want everyone you love to be as happy as possible? To be treated equally by the rest of the world? 

I do. 

(You are BY ALL MEANS welcome to your own opinion, but I am not looking for comments on this blog post. I own this page, so I can say whatever I like (free speech, right?). But let's stick with "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all," okay? Thanks.)