Producer Paul's Ramblings

As I sat there the other day eating my Chick-Fil-A sandwich and fries, I got to thinking about some gaming friends of mine who have boycotted the company because of its anti-gay stance. They asked me why I didn’t do the same. I made a cute quip about how I would sacrifice gay marriage for a Chick-Fil-A banana pudding shake. But then I saw something the other day about the amount of money the restaurant donates to anti-gay organizations, so I did a bit more soul searching and think I’ve come up with a reason why I still eat there, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

First off, they do have damn good food. They’re probably my favorite fast food restaurant. Their secret process (which, if you didn’t know, is simply that they soak the chicken breasts in pickle juice overnight) makes for a fine-tasting sandwich. So there’s the tyranny of the stomach to consider.

But that in and of itself really isn’t a good reason. The main reason is that, and I doubt they realize this, but they are wasting their money.

That’s right. All the money they are donating to these organizations fighting against gay rights is a waste. They would be as well served to use it as toilet paper or kindling. Progress can’t be stopped, it can only be slowed down for a while. These anti-gay groups are fighting a losing battle, they’re just too stupid to see it. Gay marriage is legal in 9 states now (including a couple I would have never expected) and that number will continue to grow. I feel reasonably confident we will a federally mandated gay marriage law on the books in my lifetime.

I believe this because I believe people are inherently good and reasonable. Once you push the religious nonsense aside, there is no real sound basis for denying gay marriage or equal gay rights. People are starting to realized that, and as the old guard dies away and young people grow up and see that the world didn’t screech to an abrupt halt when their uncle married another guy, the whole idea that gay people can’t marry, or visit each other in the hospital, or claim joint tax returns, will just be silly.

Now bigotry will never die. It and ignorance are two things that hang on to their misguided lives with all their worth. You can’t totally stomp out stupid anymore than you can kill every cockroach. But you can certainly marginalize it, and make it ineffective, and put such narrow-minded people in the minority. It happened with civil rights, it happened with sufferage, and it will have with gay rights.

So Chick-Fil-A is just pissing away millions of dollars. I know they work with charities too, so it seems that money would be better served going to causes that help people, not try to oppress them. After all, I thought helping others was a cornerstone of the Christian way. Eventually they may realize that they’re throwing their money away. Until then, I’ll continue to eat their tasty sandwiches and laugh how asinine they’re being.

And the chocolate peppermint shakes are back, so it’s time to go guzzle down one of those puppies.