Leave Cathy Alone!

ACK! What an uproar! I've been following the drama surrounding Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy and his views on marriage. The reactions have stretched from one side of the political spectrum to the other. Then, of course, there's mine.


Cathy, and by extension all of Chick-Fil-A, supports the "biblical definition of the family unit." A perfectly reasonable stance, since without my mother and father I would not exist. Even better, Cathy acknowledged that "we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles." Also perfectly reasonable.


Some of you who know me may be thinking by this point that I've lost my mind. "Annie, you're everything these people are standing against!" Yes, I am a transgendered, bisexual Wiccan. However, the source of my freedom to be a transgendered, bisexual Wiccan is the same source as Dan Cathy's freedom to support the "biblical definition of the family unit." That would be the First Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America, Article the 3rd of the Bill of Rights: 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

 While I may not totally agree with Cathy's views -- certainly not the views he expressed to Ken Coleman -- I do agree with Ken Coleman: there's no reason to be uncivil about this matter. I've been following the gay marriage issue for years, and some of the savage invective I've heard over the issue borders on barbarism. And I could say the same of many, many issues. If the liberals and conservatives could put down their spears and stone axes for two seconds and actually discuss the issues, try to see the issues from each other's points of view, society could actually move forward. But many people have grown alarmingly intolerant, including, as Coleman pointed out, those who fight intolerance.

So, my closing comments. To Chick-Fil-A: Keep doing what you're doing -- you make a sinfully delicious chicken sandwich. To gay rights activists: take a leaf out of the Christians' book and turn the other cheek -- meaning vote with your dollars. And to everyone: we live in America, and have American freedom unlike anywhere else in the world. Exercise that freedom and say what you want to say, eat where you want to eat, love who you want to love, and worship the way you want to worship. And finally, to Dan Cathy: I will defend your right to express your discriminatory, legalistic viewpoint to my dying breath, because it is your birthright as an American -- but I expect you to do the same for me.