Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay Controversy: Gay Employees Speak Out

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

When the DOMA is finally repealed/struck down as unconstitutional, and the DHS and DOS begin recognizing same sex marriages, I wonder if we will still have these wonderful discussions, or will the issue simply go away.

Edited August 2, 2012 by The Patriot

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

On Wednesday -- dubbed "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" by former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee -- lines are stretching out the front door and the parking lot is packed with customers coming out to support company chief executive Dan Cathy, who recently came out against same-sex marriage with statements that have polarized lovers of the fast-food chain.

Andrew, a gay 24-year-old who has been working at the northern Alabama Chick-fil-A since January, sat in his car smoking a cigarette and watching the crowd during a break earlier Wednesday.

"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."

...

One gay employee who works at Chick-fil-A headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., and asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job, says he is getting it from both sides. On the one hand, there is the customer who came in and said he supported Dan Cathy and then "continues to say something truly homophobic, e.g. 'I'm so glad you don't support the queers, I can eat in peace,'" the employee, who is 23 and has worked for Chick-fil-A since he was 16, wrote in an email. On the other hand, he continued, "I was yelled at for being a god-loving, conservative, homophobic Christian while walking some food out to a guest in a mall dining room."

...

Gabriel Aguiniga, a gay employee at a Chick-fil-A in Colorado, also said the hardest part hasn't been hearing Cathy's comments. Instead, "[it's] constantly having people come up to you and say, 'I support your company, because your company hates the gays,'" Aguiniga, 18, wrote in an email. "It really takes a toll on me."

...

"Our managers have recommended just saying 'Thank you for your business' if a customer says they agree with Cathy's comments, rather than agreeing or disagreeing with them," K, an openly gay Chick-fil-A employee in Louisiana, told HuffPost in an email.

...

"Now, anyone that works there is stuck with a stigma of being homophobic, even when many of us are far from it," K said. One of her coworkers, who supports same-sex marriage, has had people say things like, "Don't give me that hate sh*t," and "I hope you choke on that chicken," while she was handing out samples.

...

Several of the gay and lesbian employees interviewed by The Huffington Post said that they liked their work, and had never witnessed incidents of homophobia or discrimination on the job. But Chick-fil-A restaurants are operated by independent owners, and employee experience can vary widely.

...

Kellie, a 23-year-old gay woman from Georgia who also requested her last name be withheld for fear of being outed in the press, worked at two different Chick-fil-A locations in Georgia. She loved working at the first location, she said, where nobody ever said anything homophobic or discriminatory. But at the second location, in Atlanta, "there was a lot of general homophobia." Managers would frequently make homophobic jokes, she said, and she felt that if she were to tell her colleagues she was gay, she would be fired. Eventually, she quit.

Another former employee, who worked at the Chick-fil-A in Chicago, said he thought the culture of the company encouraged homophobia.

"It's a very monochromatic, white, male driven company," said Andrew Mullen, a gay 26-year-old who quit his job last winter after less than a year with the company. Once, Andrew recalled, a company operator leading an employee training session, saw two men kissing on the patio outside the restaurant and proclaimed to the group he was leading that he thought it was "disgusting."

...

But the gay employee who works at headquarters in Atlanta disagreed with this assessment. Aside from the occasional homophobic joke or comment outside of working hours, he said, his experience with the company has been "extremely positive."

Asked in June, Andrew, the employee in Alabama, would have said his experience was positive, too. He had never explicitly told any of his colleagues he was gay, but he felt comfortable at work and liked the operator of his store. But recently, Andrew says the atmosphere at work has grown nearly intolerable. Although plenty of his coworkers have said they don't agree with Cathy's views, on "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," one colleague told him proudly that his friends would be eating the fried chicken sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Last week, when he went out to the parking lot to help a trucker (not directly employed by Chick-fil-A) unload a shipment of goods, the trucker turned to Andrew confidentially and said, "If I see one more faggot at a Chick-fil-A protesting, I'm going to be sick."

http://www.huffingto..._n_1729968.html

So how are all this Gay people working in a restaurant that openly discriminates against gay people. I am confused.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

So many people eating chicken because of Jesus (who had #### all to say about gay marriage). How many of those sandwiches, I wonder, went to feed poor people? I'd have been more impressed with Christians if there'd been lines forming around homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Morons.

I am an agnostic libertarian who ate their twice yesterday, because I am sick of having liberals using their positions of influence to try and ban something because the disagree with someones opinion. The countless Mayors, councilmen etc, that have called on Chick-fil-a to be banned should be removed from office.

If you don't want to eat there because of Cathy's opinion fine. But to ask the stores to be banned. Stand up and fight.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Checked out the economy lately? There are some many people who can't afford to quit their job. A lot of those people work in the fast food sector.

Well I do agree Obama's economy is about to wreck the nation, your right about that. However fast food jobs are easy to get. so once again. The liberals have stated the Cathy's are bigots and openly discriminate, whoever in a article that proved otherwise, they interviewed many Gay chick-fil-a employees.

Kind of like saying an Apartment complex openly discriminates against minorities, then interviews many of the minority residents to prove it. No one shred of evidence or bit of proof in any of that article that that Chick-fil-a discriminates against gays.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I am an agnostic libertarian who ate their twice yesterday, because I am sick of having liberals using their positions of influence to try and ban something because the disagree with someones opinion. The countless Mayors, councilmen etc, that have called on Chick-fil-a to be banned should be removed from office.

If you don't want to eat there because of Cathy's opinion fine. But to ask the stores to be banned. Stand up and fight.

How can you say/type this with a straight face?

Liberals trying to ban something because they disagree with someone's opinion?

Who is trying to ban same sex marriage, abortion, Planned Parenthood, etc etc etc?

The dirty liberals?

You know it goes both ways. Don't act like it doesn't. You're smarter than that.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Evylin

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Checked out the economy lately? There are some many people who can't afford to quit their job. A lot of those people work in the fast food sector.

Well I do agree Obama's economy is about to wreck the nation, your right about that. However fast food jobs are easy to get. so once again. The liberals have stated the Cathy's are bigots and openly discriminate, whoever in a article that proved otherwise, they interviewed many Gay chick-fil-a employees.

Kind of like saying an Apartment complex openly discriminates against minorities, then interviews many of the minority residents to prove it. No one shred of evidence or bit of proof in any of that article that that Chick-fil-a discriminates against gays.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Well I do agree Obama's economy is about to wreck the nation, your right about that. However fast food jobs are easy to get. so once again. The liberals have stated the Cathy's are bigots and openly discriminate, whoever in a article that proved otherwise, they interviewed many Gay chick-fil-a employees.

Kind of like saying an Apartment complex openly discriminates against minorities, then interviews many of the minority residents to prove it. No one shred of evidence or bit of proof in any of that article that that Chick-fil-a discriminates against gays.

I don't believe they discriminate against their employees. I'm sure the vast majority of them are treated with dignity and respect.

But it must be a slap in the face to have a company be nice to your face and then throw their money at organizations that are against the very way you live your life.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I am an agnostic libertarian who ate their twice yesterday, because I am sick of having liberals using their positions of influence to try and ban something because the disagree with someones opinion. The countless Mayors, councilmen etc, that have called on Chick-fil-a to be banned should be removed from office.

If you don't want to eat there because of Cathy's opinion fine. But to ask the stores to be banned. Stand up and fight.

Because we all must support capitalism.

Amurika.

[dalegg 143]

I think we need an immediate poll of all American Businesses to find out where they stand on this issue, so we can out them! Opposing gay marriage is such an incredible fringe viewpoint that only about half of America shares, so we simply cannot tolerate their existence. I want to know where every business stands on Abortion, the Death Penalty, and gun rights too.

[canada_socks 97]

I feel so bad for the employees that work there, whether they are gay or straight. Not everyone who is employed by Chick-Fil-A is straight, or Christian or supports these views, and these are the ones feeling the backlash. Not fair at all.

23-24 year olds who work at chick-fil-a as their primary source of income.. how smart can they be?

Wow, that's ignorant.

[PMartin37 161]

Andrew could have easily given a fake name.

If he didn't, that's his own fault. But it would be pretty funny if CfA fired someone for voicing their opinion when that's all the company is trying to do.

And would be grounds for a lawsuit of epic proportions.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I don't believe they discriminate against their employees. I'm sure the vast majority of them are treated with dignity and respect.

But it must be a slap in the face to have a company be nice to your face and then throw their money at organizations that are against the very way you live your life.

The Guy who owns my company is a wing nut Evangelical who has political beliefs that often diverge from mine. I am there to do a job and get a paycheck. He can support his causes and me mine. He treats me well and that is all that matters.

Eventually the pictures of people flocking to CFA will be held up right alongside the idiots protesting integration in the 60s. I can't wait.

I think it will be more along the lines of the Berlin Wall coming down.

[웃 910]

I think it will be more along the lines of the Berlin Wall coming down.

This is you:

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I think we need an immediate poll of all American Businesses to find out where they stand on this issue, so we can out them! Opposing gay marriage is such an incredible fringe viewpoint that only about half of America shares, so we simply cannot tolerate their existence. I want to know where every business stands on Abortion, the Death Penalty, and gun rights too.

What we're witnessing is the evolution of our social conscience. Just go back half a century and you'd probably find half the population not in favor of mixed marriages, but our social conscience evolved at that point to where we understood that it was a civil rights issue. Homosexuality in this country as in the rest of the world has been treated as an affliction and those who say they are gay, as social outcasts. Gays have slowly gained access (military, benefits to domestic partners, protections from being fired), but marriage is the ultimate recognition by society that their relationships are in fact, genuine and deserve the same rights as straight married couples. I think we're going to see an increasing number of incidents like this where a company has been found to not afford the same benefits or rights to gay couples and activists standing up to that kind of assault on civil rights. It's not just about whether someone agrees with homosexual relationships, but about gay citizens' civil rights.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Commie Appeaser

[akihon 129]

what people fail to get is that Dan Cathy's opinion of gay marriage is exactly that: an opinion. If Chick-Fil-A was openly discriminating against hiring employees because of their sexual orientation, then there would be a little more substance to this "boycotting" but the fact remains is that Chick-Fil-A is not committing a crime .. and (for now) the views of its COO do not carry into its business practices beyond being closed on Sundays.