When my children were little, this conversation occurred more times than I can count.
Me (as we leave church): Where do you guys want to eat?
Wayne Kevin: Chick Fil A!
Me: They are closed on Sundays. Pick something else.
[insert toddler grumbling and failure to understand here]
Him: Why?
Me: Because they believe that Sundays are for worship and rest.
Him: That’s stupid.
Although these interactions always frustrated me from the standpoint that it is so hard to explain to a little kid why a business’s values are such that they close on Sundays, I also, underneath the conversation, was always giving Chick Fil A a pat on the back for sticking to their guns. Our world is 24/7 in so many ways. It’s not like we were going to starve; they were standing up for what they believed in and improving the quality of life for their employees at the same time. It was, to me, a good thing.
Those same children are now 13 and 16. They have not asked me about the current media furor over Chick Fil A. My daughter has been out of town throughout it all, and my son remained locked in his usual Minecraft haze until leaving town today for a week.
But it will come up soon enough. One of them will want to go to Chick Fil A, a favorite restaurant of theirs. If I agree, I will check in on FourSquare. In doing so I will worry that I am a) offending my friends who believe in marriage equality b) sending a message to my friends who oppose marriage equality that implies I agree with their position and c) giving my money to an organization who will eventually (possibly) use part of it to espouse a cause I would never knowingly support.
I have been giving a lot of thought to the intersection of businesses I support and the message my patronage of these businesses means. There are businesses I visit much more often than Chick Fil A – Publix, various convenience stores where I buy gas, Walgreens and CVS to name a few. I have no clue how their owners feel about any moral or civil matter.
Which gets me back to Dan Cathy, Chick Fil A’s COO. In recent statements, he reiterated his long-held belief that the only acceptable model of marriage is marriage between a man and a woman. He does have a right to say what he believes. What this situation has done for me has made me go back a few years, poke around in various other press pieces, and try to put this current furor in some kind of broader context.
I have read about how the Jim Henson Company has decided not to partner with Chick Fil A to provide children’s meal toys and has donated the amount their income from the partnership to GLAAD.
I have read Sean Breslin’s post that, in my opinion, strikes a thoughtful balance between acknowledging Dan Cathy’s right of free speech, reminding us that the young people working at CFA are not the ones creating this problem, and teasing out the difference between purchasing a fast food meal and condemning an entire segment of society.
I have read this HuffPo article summarizing the current flap, quoting the original statement made by Dan Cathy, and taking the temperature of some diners.
I have read this April 2011 article about the pitfalls faced by Chick Fil A’s attempts to maintain “functional neutrality” when its donations to a marriage seminar led by the Pennsylvania Family Institute led to protests by college campuses and a retraction of a speaking invitation that had been issued to Dan Cathy by a Chamber of Commerce.
I read this article, that contrasts devout Southern Baptist Dan Cathy’s approach to leading Chick Fil A with Devout Mormon Bill Marriott’s approach to leading Marriott.
I read this article, by Ken Coleman, to whom Dan Cathy made the remarks about gay marriage that touched off this most recent wave of notoriety. I had never heard of Ken Coleman until I read this, but I agree with his statement, “Stand for what you believe in and engage in the public discourse but do so with civility and true tolerance for those who see the world differently.”
I read this article that analyzed the social media management perspective of this issue. And took from the article this quote that I love (and I don’t mean just about chicken sandwich tweets): “If there is no honesty within social media than [sic] there is no message.”
I revisited this issue from 2011, when Chick Fil A took on a Vermont folk artist and his “Eat More Kale” tshirts for copyright infringement.
I read this 10-year-old article, in which Dan Cathy talks about Chick Fil A’s philosophies, values, and business plans. (The corporation has been consistent; its current positions are not anything new.)
I read this 2010 article about the chain and how its management interweaves beliefs with business.
I read several articles that referred to the out of court settlement reached after a Muslim CFA manager sued CFA for discrimination when he was fired after refusing to participate in a group prayer. It is one thing for an organization’s leader to express a personal opinion about marriage equality. It is a completely different and more insidious thing to force employees to participate in faith traditions that they do not embrace. (I can never get Barbara Ehrenrich’s stint at Wal Mart, including forced (uncompensated) work before clocking in, out of my mind when I reluctantly shop there.)
It has become challenging to follow the flood of press items about the current issues faced by CFA and make a decision about whether or not I will change my practices. I have decided this:
Just like I sent JC Penney an email to express my appreciation for them using families of all compositions in their advertising, I am going to share this blog post with Chick Fil A to express my opinion as a consumer. I want them to know that as much as I adore their responsive customer service, I am paying attention to how they treat everyone, their employees and their customers. My expectations have been raised that they will aspire to aspire to do what they said on their Facebook Page:
The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.
If you want to chat about this, let’s find a middle ground and throw a little revenue the way of a local business. If we choose wisely, we can look each other in the eyes over great food, and practice civility and tolerance while funneling money back into our own community.
It’s really the least we can do for one another.

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Hi. I found you through your comment on my post on BlogHer. Enjoyed your excellent, well-sourced post here!
Thank you, Aimee.
Excellent blog entry Paula. You have really done your homework on this one to make a very insightful post. I fully support CFA’s freedom of speech just as I have always supported the Phelp’s/Westboro Baptist right to their free speech. I am also adamantly against proposed government regulations aimed at CFA for speaking their mind. I personally choose not to eat there now(really enjoyed their food) & hold no grudges against those that choose to eat there. My sadness comes from the Appreciation Day. It just seems a tad mean-spirited to me. It goes against what I was taught as a youngster. That was to be humble about your religion and not to gloat about how good of a Christian you are. Isn’t there a specific Bible that speaks to just that thing?
Thank you, Poonther. I really appreciate your reading this and your comments. I think if Christ were physically around today (s)he would have some strong words for a lot of Christians reminding us to be kind to one another above all else.
As always a heartfelt and thoughtful post, Paula!
Thank you, Amy.