In response to a letter to the editor titled “Kicking Chick-fil-A off campus is fowl play.”
Although much talk of the KFC competitor has died down, an air still looms about the public position of gay marriage that has been taken by Chick-fil-A.
Chick-fil-A and its affiliates can legally stand for whatever they believe in. That doesn't bother me. If the COO of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, were to have stated that he was not in favor of gay marriage, I probably would have scoffed, sighed and then preceded to not purchase food from the chicken joint. However, Cathy has not only come into opposition over the matter, rather, he has taken a vehement stance, monetarily and politically against gay marriage (e.g. spending millions of dollars in gay hate groups.) Such groups that Cathy has funded seek criminalization of homosexuals, funding for gay to straight conversion programs, and overall have created defamation against those in the LGBTQ community.
On the topic of beliefs, I wholeheartedly support the First Amendment. However, there is a fundamental dichotomy between having beliefs and acting upon bigotry.
The whole idea of having questionnaires to see who is in support of gay marriage is a little misguided. To find out that the student body has divided views on social issues would not surprise constituents of ASU. Instead of finding out who disagrees with me, ASU students should take a questionnaire begging the questions, "Do you have millions of dollars? And if so, do you wish to use your inheritance to support hate groups?" Those results, I would LOVE to see.
In conclusion, if Cathy has the right to spend his money to fund anti-gay groups, then, I believe ASU should as well have the right to choose if it wishes to continue having Cathy’s business on campus property.
All in all, with temperatures at the moment not seeming to drop triple digits, I think I will abstain from eating chicken for now. Perhaps I'll settle for a chilled, guilt-free salad.
Andrew Ward
Undergraduate Student
