Chick-Fil-A has seen much heat after it’s president, Dan Cathy, voiced his opinion on gay marriage. In a nut shell, he says this generation is arrogant and disrespectful to God for going against His ways, and so forth. Many people have come out in support of the gays by proclaiming their protest of the fast food company like Jim Henson pulling the muppet toys from the chain because of its’ views on gay marriage.

I had an argument last week about how gays should get over the fact that the Chick-Fil-A president doesn’t agree with homosexuality. And that every Chick-Fil-A’s private owner doesn’t agree with his views. But what they fail to realize is that not only does Dan Cathy disagree with homosexuality, but he donates millions of dollars to fund organizations that seek out to destroy homosexuality by all means. I’ve gone through 21 years of life having people feel disdain toward me because of my sexuality, but never in my life have I come across someone first hand that blocked every path of happiness and human rights. But what Dan Cathy is trying to do with his funding is continue making all homosexuals feel like second class citizens, or stigmatized individuals with mental illnesses that need fixing.

I came across an article by David Badash at the Huffington Post. He mentions 5 key facts about Chick-Fil-A that people don’t see. I’ll list some below:

1) Chick-fil-A has donated at least $5 million to organizations (including a certified hate group) that, among other things, depict gay people as pedophiles, want to make “gay behavior” illegal, and even say gay people should be “exported” out of America.

Even if you oppose same-sex marriage, do you really want to support a company that advocates putting gay people in jail, or “exporting” them, just because they’re gay?

3) Chick-fil-A supports organizations that have claimed they can change gay people into straight people — “pray away the gay” — despite the fact that practically every major medical organization has stated that this is not only impossible but dangerous and harmful.

Even if you don’t support same-sex marriage, do you support fake “science” that is known to harm the very people it claims to help?

4) The media keep saying Chick-fil-A has never discriminated, but the truth is that Chick-fil-A has been sued over a dozen times for employment discrimination. That’s what a leading business publication, Forbes, stated in 2007, when they also called Chick-fil-A a “cult” and reported that Chick-fil-A’s founder and CEO Truett Cathy said he wanted to hire married people because they are more industrious and productive. Truett Cathy has also said he would probably fire someone who “has been sinful or done something harmful to their family members.”

Even if you don’t support same-sex marriage, do you want to support what some call a “cult” whose CEO says he would fire employees for “being sinful”?

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What I mostly wish to get across is that Chick-Fil-A does not only disagree with me and my kind, but they don’t want to see me live a prosperous and happy life. In their eyes, everything I do is a sin and should be punishable. Every time a gay person goes to Chick-Fil-A, a portion of their money goes to fund an organization that makes it harder for gays to get rights. Isn’t that what we’re fighting for in the first place? Why is it that I can’t just buy a chicken sandwich without having to support discriminatory organizations? Couldn’t Dan Cathy just dislike gays and disagree with their lifestyle, without using their money against them? @FeministaJones made some good points on Twitter last night.

I’ve never mentioned this before for safety reason, but I worked at Forever 21 for two years, and although I’ve encountered their many issues that resulted in lawsuits like copyright and employee labor laws, not have I once felt unsafe as a gay man. Yes, they express their beliefs with the John 3:16 verse printed at the bottom of every bag, but we have yet to receive any evidence of them discriminating against gay people, which Chick-Fil-A president and more than likely most of its’ owners do proudly.

So, after all of this, where do you stand? Do you comprehend the current battle that people are now boycotting? Or are you still on the fence or calling this melodramatic and pointless? There are people out there now supporting Chick-Fil-A as the pillar of heterosexual values by issuing more statements in support of discrimination making Dan Cathy’s remarks even more pressing. So why are we still rolling our eyes at the people fighting back?