Everyone’s favorite childhood puppets are taking a stand for gay marriage.
The Jim Henson Company – creator of the Muppets -- announced recently that it would no longer do business with Chick-Fil-A following recent anti-gay marriage comments made by the popular chicken company’s president, Dan Cathy.
“The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors,” the organizationwrote on its Facebook page.
“Lisa Henson, our CEO is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD,” the post concludes.
Their announcement came after Cathy made some very public remarks – both in print and on the radio – affirming his stance on the subject.
"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said in an interview with the Baptist Press last week. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
In addition, The Washington Post reported that in a recent interview on the Ken Coleman radio show, Cathy said that “we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.”
Those comments, among others, have prompted a wave of backlash from various organizations and people – including the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, who told the Boston Herald he would keep Chick-Fil-A out of the city.
“If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult — unless they open up their policies,” Menino said.
Chick-Fil-A has numerouse locations throughout the Greater Pittsburgh area including Robinson.
Now, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has announced his support for the restaurant franchise. On Sunday, he created an event on Facebook encouraging people to show their support and appreciation for Chick-Fil-A.
"The goal is simple: Let's affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick-Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1," he wrote on the event page, which currently has over 95,000 attending.
What do you think? Will you still frequent Chick-Fil-A? Tell us in our poll and in the comments.
Kiwi
10:40 am on Friday, July 27, 2012
The whole "diversity" idea is ridiculous, because those who claim to be in favor of "diversity" will not tolerate anyone who has an opinion that is different from theirs. So what if the owner of Chick-fil-A is not a fan of gay marriage? No one is entitled to his or her own opinion anymore? What country is this? The last I checked, we still had freedom of speech. The fact is, most Americans, and the vast majority of states, agree with him! The politicians who have jumped on the bandwagon, including Pittsburgh's own mayor, are despicable. What they SHOULD be saying is that while they may disagree with Mr. Cathy about gay marriage, this is America, and we don't try to destroy another person's business, and the lives of the people employed by that business, simply because we have a different opinion.
This all-out campaign of intimidation is designed not only to punish the owner of Chick-fil-A for daring to believe in the tenents of his religious faith, but to put everyone else in the country who shares his beliefs on notice: You'd better fall in line with the way we think, or else! We will be coming for you next, and we will destroy you. I, for one, will proudly support Chick-fil-A.
D
4:41 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
What a strange poll.
Of course the company owners can take whatever stance they want. I can also be upset with that stance and choose to never patronize their business again.
James
8:07 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
go for it! they have the best fast food out there, they are always polite, and further more moron, its independently owned! so while you may or may not agree with the founder, go ahead and hold it against the local business owner.
D
7:18 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
I will. Thanks for the permission, tough guy.