29 Jul 2012 Black Activists Support Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day
Washington, D.C. – As supporters of traditional marriage participate in “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” with visits to the fast-food restaurant chain on Wednesday, August 1, black activists with the Project 21 black leadership network are speaking out in favor of the company’s right to operate under its founder’s faith-based philosophy.
“Protests against Chick-fil-A represent one more glaring demonstration of how those who profess to exemplify the intrinsic worth of ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’ lack the very virtues they self-righteously claim to hold — especially when it comes to Christianity,” said Project 21 spokesman Derryck Green. “Chick-fil-A executives and others who share a ‘traditional’ or religious understanding of marriage are unfairly characterized as hateful because the idea of being against a redefinition of marriage has been deceitfully conflated with being against homosexuals. This is simply untrue and a projection of bigotry onto folks who don’t deserve it.”
Since the chain’s president, Dan Cathy, made comments to a religious newspaper in support of defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, the restaurant chain has been targeted by calls for a boycott of its restaurants by the homosexual lobby, liberal celebrities and politicians and radical leftist activists.
“The homosexual lobby has carefully executed a plan of harassment and exclusion towards businesses, organizations and individuals unwilling to bend to their every whim. These practices have a chilling effect on the rights of free speech and association,” said Project 21 spokeswoman Stacy Washington. “While screaming for tolerance, the left displays the ultimate example of intolerance by calling for boycotts and other acts meant to hurt Chick-fil-A’s ability to do business. This includes liberal mayors and city councilmen willing to declare their cities off limits to Chick-fil-A franchises. They are essentially turning down job creation because Chick-fil-A provides free boxed lunches to Christian conferences that help traditionally-married couples strengthen their marriages and raise healthy families. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Chick-fil-A’s corporate philosophy is a personal matter. Refusing to permit a business to operate is another quite un-American matter altogether.”
“I think liberals are missing a vital point in their blind hatred of Chick-fil-A. Being against gay marriage is not being anti-gay,” said Project 21 spokesman Demetrius Minor. “I strongly salute Chick-fil-A and others who stand for traditional marriage and withhold discrimination from those who believe differently from them. The last time I checked, Chick-fil-A wasn’t expressing a desire for gays not to eat at their restaurants or seek employment with them.”
In response to the vitriol against Chick-fil-A, former Arkansas governor and television host Mike Huckabee called for people to support the chain with visits to its restaurants on August 1. The Facebook public event page for “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” had over 510,000 RSVPs as of the morning of July 31.
“The dust-up regarding Chick-fil-A and gay marriage is a prime example of leftist bigotry and media bias,” said Project 21 spokesman Leo G.A. Fuller. “It can best be summed up as situational indignation. Compare Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s scorns for Chick-fil-A’s president for his personal religious convictions regarding gay marriage to the mayor’s embrace of Louis Farrakhan — whose record of gay-bashing and homophobic hated is legendary and whose opposition to gay marriage is well-known.”
Project 21 spokeswoman Lisa Fristch has fond memories of Chick-fil-A from her childhood. Lisa said: “I remember Chick-fil-A when you could ‘only get it at the mall.’ Most Saturdays, they would have samples on the way in. I think so many went to the mall just for the samples and the sandwich. Ironically, my craving for Chick-fil-A would always act up on Sunday when they were closed. I later found out that they owner of Chick-fil-A was a Christian and took seriously the day of rest on Sunday to be for God and family. I admire the principle of this company considering all the profit they sacrifice not being open on one of the busiest days of the week for eating out. It took courage for Chick-fil-A CEO S. Truett Cathy to set and still stick to that precedent, and he and his son are showing the same courage today in upholding his Christian belief that marriage is God’s holy covenant with a man and a woman. I couldn’t be more supportive of him today as I have always been.”
Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for nearly two decades, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (https://nationalcenter.org).
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