Posted by She Said
It is with heartfelt enthusiasm that I write to you today. You see, I need to get a few things off of my chest, and how better than with the written word to completely express the way you have made me feel over the last week?
When the news hit of your open financial support of organizations that oppose gay marriage, I felt anger, gut-wrenching anger. And it’s not like I even inadvertently supported you in your lofty goal of inequality because we don’t even have a Chick-Fil-A around here! No pennies of mine went to such a blatantly intolerant and hateful goal! Nonetheless, the anger I felt was palpable. Why be so cruel as to spend millions on stopping love? And don’t quote any biblical source for your reasoning, because I think that is a lot of blather anyway. Frankly, your “divine” book serves as nothing more than a scapegoat for your hate and intolerance, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
People on both sides of the equality debate were up on arms about your announcement! When Thomas Menino, the mayor of Boston, urged you to stay out of his city, honestly I was thrilled at first! Hooray for a loud, public voice standing up to your message of hate and intolerance by denying you access to the city! But then I realized that was not the answer. I used to work in public access television and had to educate everyone, even those with messages of hate, on how to create television shows. I did it out of a reverence for free speech. So, where I appreciate the sentiment of Menino’s letter, I do not approve of denying your rights. So see, I am truly the bigger person here because I will stand up for your right to try and deny others theirs. I know you don’t see it like this, but come on, let’s call a spade a spade. You can open up a franchise in my city even, but I vow to you today that I will never support your goal of inequality. I will never drop a dime on your fast food. I will never will take my children to your establishment, and I will openly and honestly explain to them why.
Lastly, when the blogosphere and Facebook exploded with those who oppose you and support you, your message had another unforeseen affect on me. I am originally from Texas, so you can probably correctly guess that I have some kin that proudly ate up your intolerance sold in the form of a chicken sandwich on your Chick-Fil-A appreciation day. Oh, they boasted about it on Facebook! All that did was show me what I suspected already, that they support you in your mission to prevent people from being equal. So, thanks for that. You outed the intolerance in my family. I had to go and hide some of my own family on Facebook so that the spikes in my blood pressure wouldn’t put me in the hospital! You may think I am joking, but I am not. I desperately want my family to embrace equality, to fight for it even! But instead your “appreciation day” put the proverbial nail in the coffin of my dream of a family fighting for justice.
Some say this whole thing is blown out of proportion and is stupid at its best. So, why am I writing this letter? Years from now I want it to be publically known, to my children especially, that I was on the right side of history on this. I don’t ever want them to look back and think I didn’t do anything, didn’t say anything. They will have seen their mother stand up for equality for all. I will continue to do so by exercising my right to not spend my money in your establishment and through my vote.
Regards,
Susanne
Very well said Susanne! I'm right there with you (except for the blather part, of course). :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, thank you for standing up for equality. Your kids are fortunate to be raised in your home. Hopefully they, along with my children, will have a better, more just future.
Thank you, Brett! And I meant no offense to you or your beliefs with the blather comment.
ReplyDeleteI do hope our children will have a more just future, and together I believe (I have to!) we can achieve that!
Thanks for commenting. :)
Well said. It's a weird thing, but when it comes to the kids, I actually have a hard time telling them about this stuff. I don't WANT them to know about this stuff. As far as they're concerned, same sex anything is just no biggie. Or at least not too big a deal. With every Cinderella movie that goes by, it becomes more and more clear that boys and boys or girls and girls is not "normal." Which makes me have to normalize it even more.
ReplyDeleteI was very sad when I had to tell my daughter that some people didn't like her uncle because he dated men. She looked at me like I was insane. THAT made me happy.
Nicely put! On the surface the whole thing seemed a bit absurd - imagine, using fast food chicken as a symbol for either bigotry or freedom of speech (depending on which side of the culture war you find yourself). However, on deeper reflection it is humbling and inspiring that while CEOs such as Dan Cathy can make religiously biased statements, the people who disagree with those statements can and do stand up against hate and prejudice.
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