Moved here: More than gay marriage driving Chick-fil-A flap

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120803/DA0E58880.html

By BILL BARROW

ATLANTA (AP) - When President Barack Obama said same-sex couples should have the right to marry, it was national news for a few days before the presidential campaign and the country went back to business as usual.

Yet weeks after a fast-food executive doubled down on his opposition to gay marriage, debate rages on about equality, religious values and free speech. "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" on Wednesday, with supporters flooding the chain's franchises around the country, was countered with "kiss-ins" by same-sex couples at assorted locations Friday, long after Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy's initial comments to a religious publication touched off the clash.


Jim Fortier, left, and Mark Toomajian, kiss as they join about two dozen members of gay rights groups and others protesting outside the Decatur, Ga., Chick-fil-A restaurant Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. Gay rights activists plan kiss demonstrations at Chick-fil-A stores Friday, just days after the company set a sales record when customers flocked to the restaurants to show support for the fast-food chain owner's opposition to gay marriage. (AP Photo/David Tulis)


That's an unusual amount of staying power for what initially looked like just another skirmish over a hot-button question.

Coursing throughout the conversations on social media, in letters to the editor and in long lines to buy chicken sandwiches is the sense among proud Southerners that the outcry over Cathy's comments smacks of regional stereotyping. When public officials in Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago tell a Southern icon such as Chick-fil-A that it's no longer welcome, and that Cathy should keep his opinions to himself, many in the Atlanta-based chain's home region hear more than a little northern condescension.

FULL story at link.

[Bluenorthwest]

1. They can keep the hate in the South. This sort of shit pisses me off. Yeah, it is not about

denying actual rights to actual people, it is about 'northern condescension'. What bullshit.

[DocMac]

2. The GOP is the party of the past.

We are moving forward without them.

[xchrom]

3. 'Northern Condescension'?!

Cause only Northerners are bothered by the Hate?

Cause Hate is 'Sanctioned' some how if it's Southern?

I'm gonna ignore the obvious - cause I live in the south now - but some of that makes me squirm with it's truth.

[RebelOne]

4. According to local Atlanta news reports,

there were not many gay couples participating in this gay kiss-in.

[YOHABLO]

8. There is no gay activism in Atlanta.

There might be few gay men and woman willing to participate in the "Kiss In" but for the most part gays in and around Atlanta have to play it cool. Quite honestly, you are risking your life outside the city. Any redneck could take a crack at you with a gun. You risk your life driving with stickers too controversial .. outside the city of Atlanta. A human rights campaign sticker probably is safe, simply because most of the red necks haven't a clue what it stands for. But the gay community has been washed out since the 80s in Atlanta .. you no longer have a "gay hub". It's been dispersed throughout the metro area. It's also do to the influx of heterosexual yuppie-dom and the high cost of living in the city. It's not like the old days when you could virtually walk from one gay bar to the next. Not that I want to do that anymore. But there use to be a real feeling of a gay community. I give up on Atlanta. Let the Christo-Fascist and the rich wanna-bees have it.

[cordelia]

9. You seem to have really no idea what you're talking about. n/t

[YOHABLO]

5. Southerners Are Still Fighting the Civil War

Probably not entirely true .. but many still flaunt the stars and bars .. symbolic of the old south and that mentality. What's more troubling is the amount of religion itself that plays into this mentality. Particularly Southern Baptist and those that call themselves Evangelicals. They believe what is in the bible .. literally, well, except for the things in the Bible they don't want to address and doesn't fit "their" lifestyle. But they seem to think they can go after the Queers with impunity; brainwashing their youth and their own children with the HATE. You may have seen the pictures of Moms and Pops hold their children's hands standing lines that wrapped around the corner at the local Chik-Fil-A. Regular folk down here are really really really stupid. It's unbearable. If I didn't care so much about my family I would be gone from this f...ing state in a heartbeat. And that's Atlanta GA. I suppose within the city of Atlanta things are more civil and liberal, but travel no further than 25 miles outside the city, and the smell of stupidity is all around you. It's all Jesus Jesus Jesus .. and "Are You Ready?" graces the signs outside of their Evangelical churches. I suppose that means "The Rapture" or whatever. Granted this mentality crosses all ethnic groups as well .. the hate is spewed from the pulpits of black, white, and even latino churches.

So you gay guys and gals who live in more liberal places of the country .. thank your lucky stars!

[Fumesucker]

6. In the wealthier suburbs a big percentage of the people are transplants from other regions..

It almost seems sometimes that the Americans who move down here from elsewhere in the country try to outdo the locals in being religious whack jobs.. I've been in Atlanta on and off since 1955 and things weren't nearly as crazy down here forty years ago as they are today, religion wise anyway.

Not to say that the natives are all rational and reasonable people but a big chunk of the attitude you speak of comes from transplants as well, Atlanta is bursting with transplants and a good percentage are every bit as nuts as the natives...

I think it might be something in the water..

[liberal N proud]

7. It is a successful publicity stunt by the ceo and huckleberry

Chickfila is sitting on a load of cash today and huckleberry and his fox friends sink the hook deeper in the gullible viewers.

[Zax2me]

10. Has to be more. Christian business chided, Islam anti-gay stance goes untouched.

If Chick-Fil-A doesn't get a pass, no one should.
Otherwise a rightous fight for worthwhile cause loses its bite.
People can see through double-standards.