The recent furor over Chick-fil-A's C.E.O. and his comments and acknowledgment of corporate funding for anti-gay organizations has blown up across Facebook, Twiiter, blogs, etc. Many of my friends and acquaintances in the LGBT community, as well as some national leaders and influential writers, are calling for a boycott.
I disagree with this approach. Much of the push back against gay rights is fueled by ignorance. Most people who are "anti-gay" don't even know any gay people.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has encouraged individuals to eat at Chick-fil-A on August 1st to show support for the company's "conservative values."
What if all gay couples, lesbian couples, bi-sexual couples and transgendered couples ALSO showed up at their local Chick-fil-A restaurant on August 1st? If you are single, get a friend to go with you and pretend to be a couple as you share waffle fries!
If you look at media clips and historical documentation, most Americans were against interracial couples until they were EXPOSED to interracial couples. We turned a corner on misconceptions in that arena, and the same approach can gain the LGBT community ground in 2012.
Don't boycott Chick-fil-A. Go with your spouse or partner, order a meal, maybe even walk in hand-in-hand. Those that are in a world of misunderstanding and hateful toward what they do not know might just change perceptions when, as they are eating chicken nuggets, look across the restaurant at a happy gay couple do the same.
