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You consider yourself pro-gay rights? Have you had Chick-Fil-A in the last few years?

Well, we're waiting?

  • I like the gays but I like that Chick-Fil-A grease more.

    Votes: 37 47.4%

  • Not really a fan of gay rights. Go Chick-Fil-A!

    Votes: 7 9.0%

  • Support equality for all people, therefore I won't eat Chick-Fil-A.

    Votes: 12 15.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 22 28.2%
  • Total voters
    78
You people who love CFA so much, why don't you go over there and pick up a combo meal right now?
 
WFU Lurker said:
FWIW, I'm gay and stopped going to Chick-fil-A back in 2012 (or whenever the controversy was), but when they announced that they would stop donating to those organizations I started going again. Always thought it was a little silly though...I believe there are likely many small businesses out there (including perhaps some BP gas stations...mind blown) who donate a similar percent of their profits to similar organizations.

I don't think it's very smart (or, get this, very Christian) for organizations to take a stand against gay rights...especially not organizations that likely employee thousands of gay people, as is the likely case for Chick-fil-A.
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There are only 4 or 5 CFAs in the Bay Area and they never seem to be very busy. Read the article about how they'd changed their ways and the gay activist who befriended Dan Cathy and seemed like they were heading in the right direction. Found it odd that Cathy then tweeted out something negative the day the Supreme Court decision. Why bother commenting at all? Seems like his biggest issue was that their donations had been exposed and he hadn't learned anything from the whole episode. Don't think CFA has to offset donations to marriage equality, but a reasonable donation to groups trying to stop gay teen suicides would be a decent gesture and I can't see how that would offend anyone.
 
i don't see the point in boycotting businesses because of their owners' personal beliefs. There is no way to do so in a consistent manner. Living in the south, I guarantee that the owners of more than 50% of the local businesses I patronize have anti-gay beliefs or are members of Southern Baptist churches and give part of their business profits to their church. Am I supposed to ferret all that out and find a pro-gay plumber? And if I am buying from a non-local, publicly traded giant corporation, how many of their shareholders and executives have to be ideologically pure before it's OK to buy from them? The GOP has anti-gay planks in its agenda. Is it OK for me to buy gas from companies whose executives vote for Republicans (which I'm sure 99% of oil company executives do)? Do I need to check on the charitable giving history of the CEO of Harris Teeter before I buy beer?

I think it makes sense to boycott businesses that have crappy actual business practices, like using sweatshop labor or putting dangerous chemicals in their products or whatever. Chick Fil A makes a damn good sandwich, treats its employees well, and has no history of discrimination in its actual hiring or serving practices. The owner can give his money to whoever he likes.
 
Deacon923 said:
i don't see the point in boycotting businesses because of their owners' personal beliefs. There is no way to do so in a consistent manner. Living in the south, I guarantee that the owners of more than 50% of the local businesses I patronize have anti-gay beliefs or are members of Southern Baptist churches and give part of their business profits to their church. Am I supposed to ferret all that out and find a pro-gay plumber? And if I am buying from a non-local, publicly traded giant corporation, how many of their shareholders and executives have to be ideologically pure before it's OK to buy from them? The GOP has anti-gay planks in its agenda. Is it OK for me to buy gas from companies whose executives vote for Republicans (which I'm sure 99% of oil company executives do)? Do I need to check on the charitable giving history of the CEO of Harris Teeter before I buy beer?

I think it makes sense to boycott businesses that have crappy actual business practices, like using sweatshop labor or putting dangerous chemicals in their products or whatever. Chick Fil A makes a damn good sandwich, treats its employees well, and has no history of discrimination in its actual hiring or serving practices. The owner can give his money to whoever he likes.
Click to expand...

This gets into interesting territory.

On the flip side of this, then, why would you ever buy a product based strictly on the ethos of the company backing it? The cost/value proposition is complex in these matters. In the calculus of readiness/availability/cost, the corporate ethos is fairly low down the list for most consumers, I'd think. Yet products and stores like Tom's, Whole Foods, or the free/fair trade movement, organics, etc. all sell an idea behind a supply chain or product that values social conscience, and they do quite well.

For me, I try to buy with a social conscience, which is tough to do on a budget and when faced with time or availability constraints. Conflating fried chicken with gay rights is just a tough sell for me. I'm more comfortable advocating gay rights with my personal voice and vote, and eating chicken when I want chicken than trying to make some useless social change with my miniscule fast food purchase. I could be convinced otherwise, I think, if a gay friend told me never to eat there or something like that.
 
"The owner can give his money to whoever he likes."

And I can choose to whom I give my money. Rather than giving CFA my business, I'll buy a sandwich at my friend John's place or another business.

Should one go overboard and research every product you buy? Of course not, but if business owner of any size holds repugnant positions, there are plenty of other products you can buy.
 
Haven't been to one in years. Also refuse to go to Walmart for how they treat their employees and BP for them being general fuckheads.
 
Gas companies are a great example. Fuck them and everything they stand for. Not a good one of them in the bunch. But I need to get to work in the morning, or get groceries. I'm beholden to them; we all are.

So the question becomes, can you vote one way and act as a consumer a different way?
 
Deacon923 said:
i don't see the point in boycotting businesses because of their owners' personal beliefs. There is no way to do so in a consistent manner. Living in the south, I guarantee that the owners of more than 50% of the local businesses I patronize have anti-gay beliefs or are members of Southern Baptist churches and give part of their business profits to their church. Am I supposed to ferret all that out and find a pro-gay plumber? And if I am buying from a non-local, publicly traded giant corporation, how many of their shareholders and executives have to be ideologically pure before it's OK to buy from them? The GOP has anti-gay planks in its agenda. Is it OK for me to buy gas from companies whose executives vote for Republicans (which I'm sure 99% of oil company executives do)? Do I need to check on the charitable giving history of the CEO of Harris Teeter before I buy beer?

I think it makes sense to boycott businesses that have crappy actual business practices, like using sweatshop labor or putting dangerous chemicals in their products or whatever. Chick Fil A makes a damn good sandwich, treats its employees well, and has no history of discrimination in its actual hiring or serving practices. The owner can give his money to whoever he likes.
Click to expand...

This is where I am. Especially with something like CFA where you are really boycotting a small business owner who typically does a really good job treating their employees well, providing a clean environment, and serving up tasty chicken. Someone also mentioned the same thing with BP stations earlier. You are hurting the small business far more than the behemoth gas supplier.
 
I thought CFA were like In N Out in that they were all owned by the parent company rather than being franchises.
 
TownieDeac said:
This gets into interesting territory.

On the flip side of this, then, why would you ever buy a product based strictly on the ethos of the company backing it? The cost/value proposition is complex in these matters. In the calculus of readiness/availability/cost, the corporate ethos is fairly low down the list for most consumers, I'd think. Yet products and stores like Tom's, Whole Foods, or the free/fair trade movement, organics, etc. all sell an idea behind a supply chain or product that values social conscience, and they do quite well.

For me, I try to buy with a social conscience, which is tough to do on a budget and when faced with time or availability constraints. Conflating fried chicken with gay rights is just a tough sell for me. I'm more comfortable advocating gay rights with my personal voice and vote, and eating chicken when I want chicken than trying to make some useless social change with my miniscule fast food purchase. I could be convinced otherwise, I think, if a gay friend told me never to eat there or something like that.
Click to expand...

I think in the examples you mentioned, the "ethos of the company" translates itself into actual business practices and the products they sell. For example, I do try to buy fair trade certified coffee. That's directly related to the business practices of the company, and doesn't get into what the owners do or do not do with their profits at the end of the process. The fair trade coffee owners may be evil assholes who drown kittens, for all I know, but the product they are selling to me has been certified to treat the growers fairly. I'm not a devotee of organic food, but again, that goes to the product they are selling - I would be buying it because it's (allegedly) better for me because it isn't full of chemicals. I'm not buying it because the owners vote for organic food policies or give their money to organic agriculture PACs.

Agree with your last paragraph, that's what I was trying to express.
 
WalMart is an interesting example as well. I probably need to educate myself more on their treatment of employees (although I've heard plenty that it's ungood) but at the same time they greatly improve the standard of living for way more low income people than they hurt with their employment practices.
 
anecdote: a gay friend of mine in NC looooves her some chick-fil-a. As the controversy was at its height, she was (is) still eating there at least a couple times a week because "it tastes good, and it's not like they're forcing me to go to their gay camp for eating it."
Personally, I couldn't eat it even if I wanted to because there's not one near me... but I don't think my one decision to eat or not eat their chicken sandwich is going to make a huge difference. I don't mean that in a lazy, "it makes no difference so why try" kind of way... just that in this fight, I believe my words and actions in day to day life/interactions make more of a difference than the sandwich I eat. In general, I do think the whole thing made me more conscious of how I spend my dollars (or rather, who I choose to patronize)... but I think you can eat a chick-fil-a sandwich without aligning yourself with bigots.
 
bmoneydeac said:
WalMart is an interesting example as well. I probably need to educate myself more on their treatment of employees (although I've heard plenty that it's ungood) but at the same time they greatly improve the standard of living for way more low income people than they hurt with their employment practices.
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I generally don't go to wal-mart because the shopping experience sucks. Honestly I think that is a direct result of the fact that they pay their employees like crap.
 
Also, you can't own more than one CFA, so there are no CFA franchise moguls out there
 
TownieDeac said:
Gas companies are a great example. Fuck them and everything they stand for. Not a good one of them in the bunch. But I need to get to work in the morning, or get groceries. I'm beholden to them; we all are.

So the question becomes, can you vote one way and act as a consumer a different way?
Click to expand...

I think investing in these companies seems worse than using their goods and services, IMO
 
Deacon923 said:
I generally don't go to wal-mart because the shopping experience sucks. Honestly I think that is a direct result of the fact that they pay their employees like crap.
Click to expand...

I don't think I've ever had a problem with WalMart employees, it is the other shoppers who make me want to kill myself when I'm in there.
 
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