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A Heathen's Path, About Me, Asatru, chicago, chick-fil-a, chicken, Christianity, gay marriage, Heathen, hypocracy, marriage, News, Norse, Pagan, Paganism, Religion, Rights, sandwhich, sexism, stupidity
So, I’m late to the ballgame on this one, apparently. It happens, I don’t keep up with current events (lack of news channels on your tv will do that to you) and I am literally just coming off six days of work in a row. I know that’s normal for some people, but I try to avoid that.
So anyways, apparently, the dude who owns Chick-fil-a came out against gay marriage. I’m not sure if this was a move of brilliance or stupidity, as it seems to have gathered to him loyal supporters and vicious enemies. Though really, the dude made his stores close on Sunday (ironically which always happened to be the day I wanted to try chick-fil-a, so I’ve never really had it). I’m pretty sure his position should have been rather obvious. Why everyone is getting their panties in a bunch now is a little beyond me.
I’m just kinda sitting over here shaking my head. Okay, I get it, gay people wanna get married. I have no idea why. Marriage has a greater than fifty percent failure rate, and after the failure you often end up in court battles that can last longer than the marriage did fighting over who gets what and who pays who which amount. I fail to see the attraction here. Oh sure, there’s all those “benefits” you get by being married. Stuff like being allowed in the hospital room of your sick one, or health care, and…well, I’m sure there’s others, but most of them I think you can get just by living together.
And if I have heard right (I don’t get out of the dark tower much) many more states are offering civil unions, which are pretty much marriages without the word marriage. Apparently gay people aren’t happy with this. They have to have the actual word attached or something. Maybe this is a case of that psychological condition where you want what you can’t have. IDK.
My own ancestors and religion have a bit of a mixed bag on the whole Gay issue. Asatru really doesn’t have anything against homosexuality, though how friendly it is with homosexuality really tend to differ from kindred to kindred, and branch to branch. Two of our Gods, Odin and Loki, were shape shifters and so gender really was a matter of choice with them. Loki apparently had at least one birth as a female. Odin supposedly may have lived as a woman for a while, the lore is a little fuzzy since we’ve lost some stuff. For my ancestors marriage was about economic reasons and producing heirs that could inherit and work the farm or ships. So I suppose heterosexual marriage was the norm as it was the most efficient way of doing that. There’s nothing in the laws though that banned (or even spoke about) what we’d call gay marriage. So that.
But apparently a guy who owns a restaurant says he’s against it and for traditional marriage and it starts a riot. One group is now going “I luvz Chick-fil-a!!” and another is wanting to hold “kiss ins” at various restaurants. The mayor of Chicago is banning the entire franchise from his city, which frankly I think is kinda stupid. Is his city’s economy so great in this depression that he can turn away jobs? Maybe I need to go live there, where apparently none hunger for work and pay. Then again, I don’t know if Chicago has legalized gay marriage in the city, or if it can do that if the state hasn’t done so. And considering the current Mayor is a crony of Obama, who barely admitted to standing for Gay marriage, after years of denying it, I’m picking up some hypocrisy.
Just a bit, mind you.
The whole “kiss in” thing kinda flips my mind a bit. I get it, the thing is supposed to be a tribute to the “sit ins” of the sixties civil rights movements. But I think there’s a bit of a difference between just sitting there and full on make outs (or is it just chaste kissing?) Now, okay girl-on-girl is hot, and even yaoi has it’s fan girls…
and I have nothing against pda. Well, usually. I don’t think anyone wants to see two land-whales going at it of any gender mix. But as a rule, you know, okay do what you want. But I’m not sure about a mass make out session in a restaurant, forcing it to hold what it’s owner doesn’t like. Something tells me if it was straight people holding a “kiss in” at a gay club, it would get hit all over the place with being labeled homophobia and sexism.
Seriously, can’t we just all take a step back, stop hating the dude that doesn’t believe like you do, and F**** just eat a sandwhich!!!!
le sigh.
Your thoughts below please.
Son of Hel 
I support their boycott, too. Just like I supported Oreo’s boycott. Reason? They’re in the public relations market. It’s poor form to get political or religious when you own a business that serves the public. I know a lot of people think that this guy is entitled to his opinion, which he very much is, and that he’s also entitled to talk about it, also true. However, he should not be connecting his business with his religious or political opinions. Therefore, Chick-Fil-A is run by stupid people. And, actually, the guy that owns the Chick Fil A in New Hampshire separated himself from the opinion by saying his particular business is going to sponsor a LGBT rally there. Take that Dan Cathy. Sarah Palin took photos of the big lines at a Chick Fil A when she was with her man slave last week.
I wouldn’t piss on a Chick Fil A if it were aflame. Simply because I hate to support stupidity in the public sector. 😛
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The problem is that the guy didn’t link his belief to his business. Those who started the boycott linked his beliefs with the restaurant. Chick-Fil-A actually hires gay people and treats them the same as their heterosexual workers.
The simple fact is, that those who want a rallying cause for gay marriage wanted another target to gather their folks together and said “Hey, let’s punish this man’s business, despite the fact it has no stance on the matter, simply for his view.”
What Oreo boycott?
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Oreo had an ad about a month ago featuring a rainbow colored Oreo cookie. They did it for the gay pride thing. All hell broke loose and the religious talking heads decided to boycott Oreo. I support it just because I think take the issue of separating your religion from public life more seriously than ….probably everyone.
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Ahh, I hadn’t heard of that. I will give you props for boycotting both sides though. I do agree with you. Businesses should stay out of these debates.
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The mayor of Chicago got that bit from the mayor of Boston. Chick-Fil-a was looking for space in Boston prior to their gay marriage hoopla. The Boston mayor said, “Well, that’s nice but we support gay marriage here and in this state. No bigot chicken here!”
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So…now Boston too is no longer suffering from a depression/recession and can afford to just turn away jobs?
Huh, maybe I need to go live in that place of wealth and plenty. 😛
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Okay, so I found an article about it and I’m pretty sure you can read the letter… http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/boston-mayor-letter-chick-fil-menino-dan-cathy-201952237–finance.html And as for the unemployment rate in Boston, it’s currently at 5.7%. I think that’s lower than the country total (I try not to pay attention to how many people are in my situation, honestly, so I couldn’t say). Also, as far as Boston is concerned, when it comes to jobs, there are plenty of other places to work. Don’t quote me but the unemployment rate probably has more to do with construction fields (painters, construction workers, etc.) than anything else.
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Hnn, interesting. a 5.7% is actually like a normal rate. There’s always some unemployment. Apparently you have to worry if you don’t have any unemployment as much as if you have too high. Not sure why, but those wiser in economics have said so.
Still, thought, I question the wisdom of mixing economics and politics like this. In theory, the dude who owns Chick-Fil-A is right. We live in a country where we are supposed to be free to believe and act as we wish without open reprisals. It is a shame we cannot live up to that standard.
Though, apparently, this is doing as much good for chick-fil-a as it is bad…
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I think this really became prominent when they decided to make companies human beings. So, now, companies are allowed to have beliefs as well. And that was dumb, in my eyes.
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Categorically, I support equal rights and I support LGBTQ rights. Full stop. That means that even if marriage had few or no benefits I would support the right of all people, gay or not, to have the same legal recognition.
That said, the benefits are very real and make a difference. The health benefits are a big deal. Many companies will *not* extend health benefits to someone you live with, only to a legal spouse.
Separately, there are both tax benefits and insurance benefits to being legally married. Citizenship can also be extended to a legal spouse from another country, but not a gay partner from another country.
My ex-wife and I saved thousands per year, maybe over $10,000 a year, in taxes, car insurance and home insurance because we were a legal couple. Our insurance agent, who is a lesbian, was unable to take advantage of the same discounts she sold us.
Your reasons here are pretty weak Lucius. As if equal rights under the law are not an important enough cause on their own, the benefits of marriage in this country are substantial.
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Okay, so I wrote a reply earlier and it didn’t post, so trying again.
First off, I’m not against gay marriage. Equal rights is equal rights, and as a Heathen I know well the value of equal rights. If gay people want to get married, that’s their business. Any comments that may have sounded “negative” were more probing into the potential psychology.
As for the economic benefits of marital success, there is the down side of the economic consequences. While divorce is a booming business, often the only ones who win are the lawyers and the state. In addition, there is the issue of the emotional costs to a failed marriage. I lived through the near decade long divorce of my parents. It devastated my family, both financially and emotionally. And we’re faced with a reality of over 50% failure rate.
For me, it is a question of does the success equal or outweigh the results of failure. Gay or Straight, it doesn’t matter to me. Yes, saving money on taxes, health care benefits, etc, these things are good and useful. They are good reasons to get married. I know well the value of health insurance (and the cost of it :P). But on the other hand many have been left destitute after a divorce. Some even end up in prison, despite having done nothing wrong other than be unable to pay the outrageous amounts demanded by the courts. Children are ripped from parents and taught to hate them. This can lead from simple emotional/psychological/behavioral issues to ptsd or worse.
All based on a fifty-fifty chance of success.
Maybe my reasons are weak.
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Yaoi obsessed fan girls…lol. Nice.
In all seriousness the issue is not just a man’s opinion, but the fact that the company donates their profits to groups that are actively anti-gay. The group Equality Matters found that Millions of Chik-Fil-A dollars has gone to these groups. So the boycott is to prevent the company from having additional funds to donate to these groups. None of the major news sites are reporting that fact, however.
It’s also been pointed out to me how stupid the whole thing is when those against gay marriage go to Chik-Fil A to support it, but use many other products whose companies donate to equality groups. Oh, Americans. We are so strange!!!
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hmm, so the company donates money? That I had not found out. Then again, I suppose I should not be surprised. I suspect that money is tax deductible, so they would donate as their owners wanted.
I will agree, this thing is being handled rather stupidly. Yes, we’ll go support one group, then by from a group that supports something else. I suppose I’m a little curious where any of this ends up. Then again, all those who believe in gay-marriage have done is make a “martyr” of Chick-Fil-A and inspired millions to support them. So they kinda shot themselves in the foot there.
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