Chick Fill A Essay 2

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Katlyn Bena
Professor Joe Carrithers
English 100
24 March 2014
Practice Love
ChickFilA is popular fastfood restaurant with over seventeenhundred locations in thirtynine states across the United States. The company’s values and culture is strongly influenced by it’s owers Southern Baptist beliefs, the restaurants are even closed every Sunday.
Recently, ChickFilA’s Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy admits that he is against samesex marriage which provoked controversy all over the media as well as the web. The issue is attracting much attention and is actually causing more tensions between the supporters and nonsupporters of gay marriages. This issue is important because it proves that people still have not accepted gays and lesbians as people, if they won’t let them get married then they don't recognize them as having equal rights which makes this an example of a social justice.
Dan Cathy and his opposition to gays has become the subject of public controversy all over the internet. Many supporters and nonsupporters are using this as a way to express their feelings on the matter. Some are doing it in more obvious ways than others. After Cathy’s remark, Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee made Wednesday “ChickFilA Appreciation
Day” and in result lines are stretching out the door in support of Dan Cathy. Of course these supporters are also in agreement that samesex marriages are wrong. In return, elected officials are urging their citizens to keep ChickFilAs out of their cities. Jim Henson also has withdrawn from any ties with the organization by taking their toys out of the kids meals. Gay rights groups

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are also trying to organize national protests against the restaurant. There was also an instance where a gay rights supporter went the drive thru at a ChickFilA and told the employee that she should not work for such a horrible company and that she should be ashamed. The many results of just one comment is actually negative for both parties. The man who bullied the ChickFilA employee for working there was fired from his job shortly after he posted a Youtube video of the encounter. This is a major social justice issue because these restaurants are all over the U.S., and the
“ChickFilA Appreciation Days” are just excuses for nonsupporters of gay rights to show their disapproval towards the minority of gays and lesbians. It’s news like this that is contributing to the widespread nonacceptance. Imagine how the gay employees of ChickFilA feel on those appreciation days, they have to see firsthand how many people are actually against them. One could only ponder on how it must feel to be a gay employee at a ChickFilA in the middle of the
South. It’s just a huge setback in solving the issue. Lila Shapiro, a writer for Huffington Post, spoke to a twentyfour year old gay employee named Andrew at the ChickFilA in Northern
Alabama during one of the Appreciation Days. "I call it hater appreciation day," said Andrew, who asked that his last name be withheld out of fear he'd be fired. "It's very, very depressing." I understand that it is Dan Cathy’s freedom of speech to share is stand on gay marriage. He did absolutely nothing wrong be stating his beliefs. However, his motives were clearly to get more business since after his statement the company’s business boomed tremendously. In fact, they actually broke a record on one of their “Appreciation Days”.
It is illegal to discriminate against people in the workplace, which makes this legal issue.
Even though Dan Cathy didn’t directly aim the remark to his employees, many still took it as a

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hate gesture. The fact that his business is getting more attention in response to his remark makes this an issue within social justice. It’s almost as if the lines of people at these Appreciation Days are performing peaceful protest against gays. Even though it may be peaceful, it is still

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