I won’t be eating at Chick-fil-A again, because I don’t want to contribute money to a company that contributes money to organizations that advocate in the political sphere for denying civil right to gays. At the same time I think the CEO of the company, a mean, self-righteous old man named S. Truett Cathy, has every right to hold an opinion on the subject that’s different from mine and to contribute money to organizations which want to enforce his beliefs on others by political action.  It’s crazy and un-American but he has every right to do it.

At the same time, though, I think it’s outrageous that the mayors of three major cities have used their positions to try and keep Chick-fil-A out of their cities.  It’s none of the state’s business what the CEO of a company thinks or what causes he wishes to contribute to.  It’s my business, as a moral being and responsible citizen, to boycott enterprises that I think promote prejudice, but it’s not the state’s business, unless the enterprise is actively violating the laws against discrimination.  (It’s hard to imagine that an openly gay person would get a fair hearing at a Chick-fil-A job interview, but no one has offered any evidence that they don’t.)

I have no plans to vacation in Boston or Chicago or San Francisco, but if I did I’d change them and go somewhere else.  What the mayors of those cities have done is just as un-American as wanting to deny civil rights to gays, and more disturbing because it has the force of state power behind it.

I hope everyone will join me in boycotting Chick-fil-A — don’t be Cathy’s clown, however good his food is — and the cities of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, where knee-jerk liberalism and pandering to interest-groups has gotten way out of hand, violating the best traditions of American liberty.

[Recently, Chick-fil-A issued a statement saying, “Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”  If that means the company will stop funneling money to groups advocating in the political arena for the denial of civil rights to gays, I’ll happily go back to Chick-fil-A — their food is, after all, damn good stuff.]