Mike Huckabee is not necessarily a good ally for Chick-Fil-A

Mike Huckabee

Chick-Fil-A has a new ally in the controversy regarding the gay community.

Former Arkansas governor and current radio show host Mike Huckabee is announcing a “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day."

Huckabee is calling for folks to eat at Chick-Fil-A on August 1 to support the company from what he calls “vitriolic assaults":

I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A company because the CEO [sic], Dan Cathy, made comments recently in which he affirmed his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld. The Cathy family, let by Chick Fil-A founder Truett Cathy, are a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles and whose story is the true American success story… I ask you to join me in speaking out on Wednesday, August 1 “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day.” No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1.

As Huckabee rushes to the defense of Chick-Fil-A, he conveniently omits the reason as to why the gay community is angry at the company. He conveniently does not mention how Chick-Fil-A donated nearly $2 million to anti-gay hate groups and ex-gay groups in 2010 .

And he omits any specific mention of the viciously anti-gay comments of Chick-Fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, who claimed that gays are helping to invite "God's judgement" on the country.

Huckabee's failure to mention these things could be seen as merely an accidental slight on his part.
But not necessarily.

He committed the same willful distortion in 2010.

Sen. Jim DeMint doesn't like being called out for his homophobia

Sen. Jim DeMint

It's about time.

Looks like some fun has come down my way and wouldn't you know it, Sen. Jim DeMint is involved.

From the Charleston Post and Courier:

Supporters of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint have contacted Charleston area television stations urging them to pull the plug on an ad featuring a comment DeMint made about homosexuals teaching in public schools, according to the group that produced the ad.

The local stations have continued to air the 30-second piece, said Warren Redman-Gress, director of the Charleston-based Alliance for Full Acceptance.

“We are really thankful the TV stations see the value in what we’re doing, and, in that first salvo, have stood by us,” he said.

The ad begins with a hypothetical question: “What if you saw this headline? ‘Senator Jim DeMint: Jews Should Not Teach Public School,’” and then swaps the word “Gay” for “Jews” in the headline.

DeMint supporters argued the ad falsely portrays DeMint as anti Semitic.

The ad refers to a controversial 2004 remark that DeMint made about a state GOP platform item saying gays should not teach in public schools. Asked about that platform during a televised debate, DeMint said, “I don’t think they should,” adding that government should not endorse particular behaviors. “We need the folks that are teaching in schools to represent our values.”

Sen. DeMint's whine is so pitiful that I doubt anyone is falling for it. But here is the ad so you can judge for yourself:




Personally, I think that no one watching the ad would mistake Sen DeMint for being anti-Semitic. A serious homophobe, yes. But anti-Semitic? No.

Of course reasonable people should ask what's the difference between being anti-Semitic and homophobic?

Neither are things one should aspire to be, particularly if one is a United States senator.

Regardless of color, shape, or form, bigotry is bigotry.

Please help AFFA keep all 3 of their ads on local TV

you can view them at 

www.affa-sc.org/imagine

http://www.affa-sc.org/affa/donate.htm

'NOM trotting out old claim of gay parental abuse' and other Monday midday news briefs

A picture that you can all enjoy and send to your friends!

Muppets Abandon Chick-fil-A Because Of Its Anti-Gay Policies - If there was any justice, Miss Piggy would karate Brian Brown.

 A new, nakedly hostile NOM era has 'Dawned' - I've written many times of this woman's claims of abuse by her gay father . But now with NOM, refuting this woman's generalizations will take on new urgency. 

 Related post on Dawn Stefanowicz -  Attack on lgbt parenting ignores the bigger issue 

  Gay in Cameroon: after beatings in prison, rejection at home - We need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Cameroon.  

AIDS 2012: “Keep the Promise” march draws more than 2,000 - A successful march pinpoints an important issue.

Hat tip to one of my Facebook buddies for the Brian Brown pic.

NOM wants you to 'Eat Mor Chikin'

Brian Brown want you to 'Eat Mor Chikin'

Say what you will about the National Organization for Marriage, the organization deserves some type of an award for brazen audacity. NOM has gone from demanding that businesses stay neutral in the fight over marriage equality to inviting its followers to support a business because said business is in line with its views against marriage equality. I read the following on its blog:

Thanks to your recent efforts at DumpStarbucks.com and DumpGeneralMills.com, we've shown the cultural elite, the gay millionaires who fund anti-marriage initiatives, and the biased media that the defenders of marriage are willing to put our money where our mouth is.

Well, this Wednesday, we have a chance to do it again—and this time even more literally—by coming out in support of National Eat at Chick-fil-A Day.

Imagine if folks all across the country united together in support of heroes like Dan and Truett Cathy that stand for strengthening marriage and family!

Imagine the potential impact of the message that companies favoring the radical redefinition of marriage risk fallout with their customers—combined with the message that heroes who stand for marriage and family cannot be silenced!

Imagine how clearly that message would be heard across the nation if Chick-fil-A reported record sales this Wednesday!

Well, let's not just imagine it—let's make it happen.

On his radio show this week, Mike Huckabee called on his listeners to support the principled stand of the Cathy family by making this coming Wednesday (July 25th) "National Eat at Chick-fil-A Day."

Please join me this Wednesday in supporting this courageous company, while at the same time sending a powerful message of support to every individual and every company with the courage to stand for marriage.

Visit your local Chick-fil-A restaurant for lunch or dinner on Wednesday. Better yet— stop and tell the manager that you're there to honor and respect the integrity, faith and courage of Dan Cathy and the Cathy family.

Show your support! Eat Mor Chikin!

A commentator on the same blog post put the issue in an eloquent perspective:

This discussion shouldn't be about the positions of Starbucks, General Mills and Chick-fil-A. The discussion should be about NOM and the double standard they seem to applaud. If NOM had never mentioned the "neutral stance" this discussion wouldn't even take place. But since they shook their finger at Starbucks and Gen. Mills for speaking out and supporting marriage equality, NOM has effectively said: "even though Chick-fil-A is not neutral, we are going to break our own principles and applaud them for not staying neutral on the subject." So the question is, why would we take NOM's principles seriously if they don't seem to do themselves?

How Chick-Fil-A screwed up and ignited a firestorm

Dan Cathy of Chick-Fil-A switches from chicken to crow.

Well no more lemonade and waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A for me because of the company's insulting of the gay community.

For those who haven't been keeping up, please get your head out of that cave, take those fingers out of your ears, and check out this lovely piece by Forbes magazine on how Chick-Fil-A flunked crisis management BIG TIME:

It’s no secret that fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A donates to anti-gay Christian charities — the chain has been getting flak from gay-rights groups for a while now on that. But this week, the company flunked crisis PR 101 and spawned a social-media firestorm with its inept handling of the issue. If there was a gay person — or supporter — left in the U.S.A. with a Facebook account who didn’t know about the boycott of Chick-Fil-A, there isn’t now.

The flames were re-ignited Tuesday when company president Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press he is “guilty as charged” of donating to anti-gay charities. Then the company tried to fix the problem with an announcement on Chick-Fil-A’s Facebook page that sent the whole controversy massively viral. Here’s the exact verbiage:

“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. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

“Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.

“Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”

Translation: “We’d like to close our eyes now, count to ten, and you should forget all about our fervently avowed political views — which we won’t be changing — and go back to eating our chicken a lot.”

Which didn’t work.

This non-response didn’t answer the questions on many people’s minds: Will the company stop donating to groups that are actively opposing gay-marriage laws, and controversial “gay-curing” groups such as Exodus International? Also, how are gay employees treated at the company given the corporate culture?

By essentially refusing to address the issues its founder raised, Chick-Fil-A just made a lot of people madder.

You can say that again.

Click here for the rest of the Forbes magazine article.

Let us fight for the right to love, not to destroy

I'm sorry but I can't post any news briefs today.

My heart and prayers go out to all of those caught up in that awful madness in Aurora, CO. I simply can't comprehend why someone would take it upon himself to do what this man did. Did he think that his cause was so righteous that it was perfectly okay to attack a bunch of innocent people?

I know I am not alone with my puzzlement or my prayers for those caught up in this tragedy. And I hope I am not alone in my soul-searching.

We all must learn something from this, particularly those of us who fight for lgbtq equality. There are times when we (myself included) personalize our fight against certain individuals due to their nasty comments and lies. While we are perfectly justified in pointing out hypocrisies, let's never personalize our fight so much that we lose perspective in what exactly are we fighting against and for.

Our struggle for equality is not against any person or religion. Our struggle for equality is against fear and ignorance. It's against entitlement and thoughts of supremacy which deceives people into thinking that they own the patent on the words "morality," "love," "values," and "family." We fight not to destroy nor to hate but for the right to love.

Because it is our right.

The following video is dedicated to us all, but especially the victims of the recent tragedy. Remember that we are ALL pulling for you:

THESE bigots have too much time on their hands

From Right Wing Watch comes something so ridiculous that there are no words:

The Public Advocate, the fervently anti-gay group led by Virginia politician Eugene Delgaudio, devised a protest song, complete with references to Jerry Sandusky and child abuse, to condemn Ernst &Young CEO James Turley’s attempt to overturn the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay members, a ban that was recently reaffirmed:

Transcript:

We've heard about dear Turley's plan,
And we're here to say,
It's sad that such a senseless man
Is with the B.S.A!

Morally, Morally,
That's the way we like.
Do not touch our girls and boys,
Just go take a hike.

We have seen just what can come
When anyone at all
Can get quite close to little ones
And frankly, we're appalled!

Morally, Morally,
What will it be like
If we let the unsavory
Get close to our dear tykes?

Morally, Morally,
That's the way we like.
Do not touch our girls and boys,
Just go take a hike.

You say that we should open doors
And welcome one and all.
With no attention to the boors
Who'll make our children bawl.

Morally, Morally,
Whatever shall be done
If we hire Sandusky,
and let him near our sons?

Morally, Morally,
That's the way we like.
Do not touch our girls and boys,
Just go take a hike.

Public Advocate is the same group which recently stole a gay couple's wedding photo to use in a homophobic ad.

Between you and me, I don't think P. Diddy will be pushing a remix of that song any time soon.