Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Bigotry On The Board

There is an ongoing national controversy regarding Dan Cathy, the owner of  the Chick Fil A restaurant chain.  Mr. Cathy has been outspoken against gay marriage and has supported causes which have fought against allowing gay marriage.

This caused a boycott of his restaurants by people seeking equality in marriage.  The boycott in turn caused a "Chick Fil A Appreciation Day," headed up by Mike Huckabee.  This "buy-cott" was held on August 1.

Unfortunately, Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander chose to support Mr. Cathy's homophobia and bigotry by participating in this event:



When contacted about this, Supervisor Alexander responded:
First, it is unfortunate that many individuals that supported Chick fil a appreciation day made it solely about traditional marriage, and that much of the media reported it as being a negative event.

I join the ACLU in being appalled that some government officials are seeking to prevent the lawful operation of businesses, like Chick fil a, based solely on the religious beliefs of the owner, in the absence of any evidence of actual discrimination. I have close ties to the LGBT community and have not done anything hateful. I have read one of S. Truett Cathy’s books describing the Christian foundation that Chick fil a is based on, I respect Chick fil a’s business practices, and I attended this event to support Dan Cathy’s right to free speech. Had government officials treated Amazon, Target, or Starbucks the same way based solely on owners’ or management’s free speech support for gay marriage, I would have been happy to attend a similar BUY-cott.
The excuse that Alexander offers is one which came up as an afterthought in order to defer any backlash against the supporters of Cathy's narrow-minded and bigoted stance.

The original purpose of the event was very clear, as Huckabee wrote on the Facebook page promoting the event:
“Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1.”

Huckabee continued: “Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant.”
From Huckabee's statement, it's very clear that the event wasn't an issue of Free Speech but a show of support for Cathy's anti-homosexual agenda.

Further confirming this fact, Fair Wisconsin Executive Director Katie Belanger made the following statement regarding the event:
"Millions of dollars in Chick-fil-A profits have been contributed to organizations that work to perpetuate the second class status of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people worldwide.  This money comes from customers who eat at Chick-fil-A restaurants.  It's important for people to know that when they support businesses like Chick-fil-A, they are also supporting these organizations."
Even if one were to give Supervisor Alexander the benefit of the doubt and take her rationale at face value, she should still have been very conscious of the message she was sending, whether it was intentional or not.  She is an elected representative of Milwaukee County and this was entirely the wrong message for her to be sending.

She should also recall that it took an overly long amount of time for Milwaukee County to catch up to much of the rest of the county in just establishing domestic partner benefits.

Her attendance at this event is a slap in the face of not only the LGBT community, but is also an insult to her constituents, county employees, County Executive Chris Abele and her colleagues on the Milwaukee County Board.

Supervisor Alexander needs to make a public apology to the citizens and workers of Milwaukee County, especially to those in the LGBT community, for her inappropriate display of bigotry.

Cross posted from Milwaukee County First

9 comments:

  1. This wouldn't have anything to do with her beating your candidate would it?
    Its quite possible the voters of the 18th district don't share your same values.

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    1. Perhaps you should change your moniker to Imustbeabigot since it appears you dislike most people.

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  2. Imustbearacist wrote, "Its quite possible the voters of the 18th district don't share your same values"

    It would be sad to think that those that live in the 18th district wouldn't have been able to get behind and support the words below.

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

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    1. Oh, you know those words are just words.

      IMBR is above you. White men are above you.

      This is order, this is how class works, and this is conservatism.

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    2. That's real nice, let it all out. Feel better?
      Though you do make a good point in that it doesn't say anything about Women!
      I only wish we could interview some of the writers and signers of the constitution about modern concerns. Not that a liberal would care unless it fit their agenda.

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  3. The United States government maintains a healthy separation between church and state.
    Our government promotes policies that foster tolerance and equality for it's citizens. Congress legislates laws that are supposed to reflect those values. Government laws deal with the treatment of its citizens (those being governed) in relation to its lawmakers.
    What the intolerant argue is let's be tolerant to the intolerant. Give the intolerant people who don't believe in equality a free pass!!!!!
    NO!
    Having lived in the District of Columbia for a number of years, you get to see racism played out up close. Just across the river are the hills of Northern Virginia. Many places there choose not to fly the United States flag in their town centers, but another flag that carries that represents a history of racism, intolerance and inequality. They defend this practice using business as their excuse, saying it promotes "tourism".

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  4. Um, the point of what happened at Chick-Fil-A obviously went over this blog's collective head. One can be pro-gay marriage and-anti government picking and choosing businesses based on something a business leader said about his personal beliefs.

    Or are ya'll just trying to make this into something it isn't to push an agenda?

    p.s. Why isn't Rham saying Mosque's don't fit Chicago's values since they are very outspoken against homosexuality, not just gay marriage?

    Hint: The answer has chicken in it.

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    1. The point of what happened at Chick Fil A went over the commenters comprehension, or the commenter is simply illiterate. Even Huckabee, who originated the idea didn't espouse it being something other than support of the anti-gay agenda.

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  5. How about an agenda that stood for the government, for equality and no discrimination, as well as business leaders that went along with that idea. Just one big happy family!
    You would think THAT would be good for businesses in general.
    Government can't make laws to suit a single owner's personal biases, whenever they choose to bring them up. Laws are made to apply to all businesses.
    I think your distinction that it might have gone over our head is wrong, maybe we just don't like hot-air arguments coming from someones' rear end.

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