Here's a modern conundrum: What's a person to do if he loves a company's food, but hates that company's politics? When it comes to Chick-fil-A, a company with notoriously conservative Christian morals, one food writer says it's time to take a stand.
Washington City Paper food critic Chris Shott comps to digging the taste of those "greasy golden-brown morsels" of fried chicken, but admits they come with a heavy dose of guilt.
Like other progressives, Shott isn't down with Chick-fil-A's well-documented and oft-parodied disapproval of gay marriage. And in such a situation, he thinks giving money to Chick-fil-A makes a person "financially complicit, however marginally, unwittingly or indirectly it might seem."
Shott suggests a boycott -- or in "Bible-thumping" terms, abstinence -- to those who don't approve. But, he's not certain such a measure would have a meaningful impact on a company that rakes in busloads of cash a day. So, he proposes another scenario:
I like this approach: A friend of mine, Trey Pollard, offers a clever—albeit slightly more costly—way to offset the karma of his chicken sandwich purchases. He now matches every dollar he spends on food at Chick-fil-A with an equal donation to an organization that supports gay rights, either the national Human Rights Campaign, or an outfit right in Chick-fil-A’s backyard, Georgia Equality. So far, his personal poultry-laden charity drive has totaled nearly $100 in matching donations.
But Gawker, which ran the story on Thursday, isn't keen on the idea:
That's not a clever solution, though. Clever would indicate some sense of ingenuity or wit. Giving money to gay groups after giving other money to enemies of gay groups is a plain old guilt management cop-out. If you'd really like to support gays and lesbians in a world lousy with Chick-fil-As, how about this tactic instead: From now on, don't f*cking eat at Chick-fil-A if you are a person who believes gays are equal to you and deserving of equal treatment under the law. No equivocating and no buying back karma with pity donations to gay-rights groups. Simply avoid the chain for as long as it upholds its homophobic ties. Full stop.
Of course, Shott isn't alone in being conflicted on the matter. Last month, a trio of drag queens, including "RuPaul's Drag Race" contestant Willam Belli, saw their spoof of the chain go viral. The video, which features the gals singing their love of Chick-fil-A to the tune of 1990 Wilson Phillips hit "Hold On," highlights how something delicious can be hard to turn down.
A particularly notable lyric gives Chick-fil-A opponents a tongue-in-cheek thumbs up to dine there: "Someday somebody's gonna make you wanna gobble up a waffle fry ... chow down at Chick-fil-A, even if you're gay."
Watch the parody video below.
Photo by Flickr user DerekThomasLA.