GAZETTE COLUMN: SICK CHICK by John P. Flannery

In an obese society, you would think folk would stay away from heart attack centers like fast food Chick-Fil-A for that reason alone, that it’s not healthy, but now we have another reason, its owner’s avowed intolerance of gays and same sex marriage.

About fast food, consider that a chargrilled chicken club, a dab of mayo, waffle potato fries, sweetened iced tea, and a small chocolate milkshake at Chick-Fil-A is worth a whopping 1,430 calories with 60 grams of fat, and 111 grams of sugar.  (Calculate your own meal - http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Meal )  Ouch!  Let out your pants if you’re eating here regularly.  Feel your heart grow sluggish lubadub at the last shake sip.  You might pause, however, to worry about the onset of diabetes.  Of course, this is our national epidemic – eating badly.  Nearby West Virginia has the nation’s highest obesity rate at 33%, and the lowest state is in the low 20s; Virginia is “sandwiched” in the mid-distance between the best and the worst.  If this is not discouraging, and you still want to pig out, you can find on-line a Chick-Fil-A near you (http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Locations/Locator).  Keep in mind, however, that the USDA calorie counter, based on age, height, weight, and activity, teaches us that you really shouldn’t eat very much more on any day you’ve devoured a “snack” like this. http://www.newcaloriecounter.com/articles/goverment/usda/usda_national_nutrient_database_for_standard_reference.html . 

Of course, choosing to eat badly yourself is different than attacking and advocating intolerance against others. 

Dan Cathy, the owner of Chick-Fil-A, said he supported the “biblical definition of a family” and said that Americans have a “prideful, arrogant attitude” about same sex marriage that risks “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.”  He also bragged about the men in his family for “still being on their first wives.”

Cathy’s attack on gay marriage, on the patriotism of those who support same sex marriage, and on the alleged harm to the nation he attributed to those who supported same sex marriage was both hateful and intolerant speech.

This has nevertheless prompted folk to defend Mr. Cathy’s First Amendment right to be intolerant against gays and gay marriage. 

It’s no surprise that Sarah Palin is intolerant about gays and same sex marriage when she’s not killing wildlife and field dressing her kill.  It is marvelously ironic, however, that erstwhile Presidential Candidate and Fox contributor, Mike Huckabee, himself a diabetic, having once bragged he lost 100 pounds dieting, has since suffered a relapse regaining his fuller figure, and invited America to join him by eating the fast food that he once railed against, at Chick-Fil-A, to show “appreciation” for the owner’s hateful intolerance.  It turns out that Huckabee has been eating the chain’s chicken (not so secretly) for 35 years and knew the company’s founder.

The fast food owner, Dan Cathy, might have given a second thought when making his remarks given that gays in same sex marriages likely work for him, and eat his food – at least they did before his recent charge they were ruining the nation.  You have to wonder now if he refuses franchisees who are in same sex marriages, and what his policy is about his employees’ sexual preferences. 

One of Cathy’s employees in Tucson, Arizona was asked while being videotaped about the “hateful corporation” she worked for.  She said, she was “staying neutral on this subject … my personal beliefs don’t belong in the workplace.”  Too bad Owner Cathy and his Dad’s best customer and guardian angel, Huckabee, didn’t see it the same way.  

Mr. Cathy might learn something from Bill Marriott who also believes in same sex marriages as a Mormon but does not impose his belief on his employees who work in 3,700 Marriot properties.  In a recent Bloomberg interview, Mr. Marriott reportedly said, “We have to take care of our people, regardless of their sexual orientation or anything else.”  Mr. Marriott noted how, by way of analogy, “Our Church is very much opposed to alcohol and we’re probably one of the biggest sales engines of liquor in the United States.  I don’t drink.  We serve a lot of liquor.”  More to the point, when his church opposed the same sex marriage initiative in California, he publicly stated Marriott’s commitment to gay rights through domestic partners benefits and services aimed at gay couples.

Dan Cathy would have done well to say his personal biases have no business in the workplace.  That he hasn’t is a good enough reason to exercise your First Amendment right to say that he’s dead wrong, and to practice a consumer’s right to get your fast food elsewhere.

GAZETTE COLUMN: EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL – INCLUDING GAYS! by John P. Flannery

Delgaudio's on line photo album



Virginia may say it’s for lovers but oh how our elected officials love to hate.

We have an orange-hatted hate-monger, Loudoun County Supervisor Eugene “gotta go” Delgaudio, who spews poisonous epithets wide and far attacking any and all things gay, claiming to reach 300 million “love thy neighbor” Americans, because he’s afraid of the species that will evolve from gay marriages.  (Incidentally, I didn’t know that Delgaudio believed in evolution.) 

Delgaudio’s vehicle for distributing his propaganda, the Public Advocate, was declared an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Way to go, Gene!

When Delgaudio attacked the President for supporting gay marriage, Delgaudio charged that supporting same sex marriage “disrespects women.”  Somebody tell Gene that same sex marriage means women too. 

Delgaudio says that respecting gay men and women violates God’s values.  Really!  Is it the one that says love thy neighbor as thyself?  

Supervisor Delgaudio can’t sleep at night because there are 3,350 same-sex couples in Virginia raising more than 6,000 children.

Nor is Delgaudio alone.  Delegate Bob Marshall can’t abide gays either.  Last week, Marshall led the legislative charge that blocked a Richmond prosecutor and former Navy vet from becoming a General District Court Judge because, in Marshall’s words, he was an “aggressive activist for the pro-homosexual agenda.”    Bile-meister Marshall insisted, “Sodomy is not a civil right.”  Can you feel the love? 

Some individuals like Delgaudio espouse religious views to support their discrimination; there are, however, religions and priests and ministers who sanctify same sex unions.

Some ask why isn’t it enough if we allow gay couples to have domestic partnerships?  What’s “separate” and different is not “equal.”  Partnerships lack the meaning conveyed by marriage signifying love and commitment.

In the California trial court decision, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, upheld on appeal, attacking Proposition 8 for insisting that the only valid marriage is between a man and a woman, U. S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker reviewed the arguments and evidence for discriminating against same sex marriage.

Kristin Perry, the lead plaintiff, explained that the law denied her the ritual and language necessary to define and acknowledge her familial relationship as a lifetime commitment – and as a part of the social fabric. 

Psychologist Gregory Harek testified at that trial that homosexuality is a normal expression of human sexuality, and that most gays and lesbians have little or no choice in their orientation, and efforts to change their orientation have been found to pose a risk of harm. 

Historian Nancy Cott testified that civil law, and not religious custom, has always defined marriage in the United States and, most significantly, she said, “one’s ability to consent to marriage is a basic civil right.” 

Marriage has shed other discriminatory practices since colonial days.  Race is no longer a valid restriction, no woman is subsumed into a male-dominated relationship, the spouse’s sex does not define that spouse’s work, births occur outside of marriage, adoption is accepted and even encouraged, and we have no fault divorce and a somewhat alarming divorce rate. 

Judge Walker rightly concluded that the prohibition against same sex marriage was a private moral view that did not advance any legitimate government interest, and the constitutional right to marry protects an individual’s choice of the marital partner regardless of gender.  Six in Ten persons under 30 years of age agree with this assessment.  More should respect this personal choice, even as it differs from their own, as this is truly nothing more than another discriminatory practice tardily headed to the dust bin of history. 

Delgaudio and Marshall embrace the darkness while we can hope society turns toward the light.