By now it’s pretty obvious where I stand on most issues. I believe that hate breeds hate, I lean towards believing in a higher power, and I can’t stand bullies or people who shout their opinions at others.

I suppose you could call me a very liberal young woman on almost every issue, including gay marriage.

Believing as I do, that people should be treated equally, it might come as surprise to almost everyone that I actually support Chick-fil-A in this issue (the issue being that they do not support gay marriage). I am actually kind of annoyed with all the backlash they’re getting, because none of it is really news. For as long as I can remember, Chick-fil-A has been closed on Sunday. They close on Sunday because they believe Sunday is the Lord’s day, and they are choosing their families and their ‘morals’ over financial gain. It should come as a shock to no one that their company is against gay marriage, and the fact that we have cities in the US who are banning this corporation from being able place restaurants there, is complete insanity.

And here is why:

The First Amendment.

Let’s just pretend for a moment that this is the country it was meant to be. That Freedom of Speech wasn’t taken too far, and Freedom of Religion wasn’t something that was constantly shoved down every throat in its path. For us to progress as a country, something has to give, and this debate is the perfect example. It is really unfortunate that there are minds out there who still want to withhold basic human rights. The right to love another person, and devote yourself to them for the rest of your life should seem pretty basic right? It should be pretty clear that everyone should be able to have this chance, whether they want it or not, and whatever their sexual orientation might be. That is not the way this country is run though, and it’s a sad fact, but we’re on our way to changing things.

What bothers me about the ‘situation’ with Chick-fil-A is that now we are the bullies, we are the ones calling for protest and having mayors of cities ban their restaurants. We are now the ones crying foul and accusing a company of hate, a company that has never hidden their beliefs, because they have decided to stand up for what they believe in. Does it suck? Absolutely. Is it unfair? Yep, it looks to be. However, we can’t run around acting like we have such higher morals than the CEO of a restuarant chain, when we’re telling them that they don’t have the right to feel how they feel. If anything, our response only solidifies their choice to back up Anti-Gay Marriage organizations with a “See? They’re all fucked up and hateful anyway” attitude (maybe minus the F word, because a good Christian would never use the F word right?).

If you don’t agree, don’t eat there, it’s pretty simple. But can we put an end to the hate already? If not, we are no better than what we are accusing others of, and we are that much farther away from achieving the equality we so deserve.