Why you should not be discouraged by the long lines you saw at Chick-Fil-A today

The battle for equal rights for all Americans has been going on for as long as America has existed, it has been a very difficult battle but we as a nation have come an enormous distance towards the dream of full equality for everyone. Before we saw the gains our nation made however we saw numerous examples of what appeared to be major setbacks. Make no doubt about it that during the Civil Rights Movement many supporters of that great movement felt beaten and discouraged when they saw the fire hoses turned on their supporters. Many of them no doubt felt helpless when they saw that the majority of the population strongly supported segregation and voted in racist politicians. When blacks southerners saw their neighbors lynched, when they saw the KKK burn their homes to the ground, when they saw the "white's only" sign on the door of countless businesses, when they were told they could not sit in the front of the bus, and when they were constantly held back they no doubt felt defeated on many occasions. No matter how many times they felt defeated however they kept fighting back and eventually they won a victory that most people thought impossible, they got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. While the Civil Rights Act did not come close to fixing everything it brought us closer to equality than we had ever been at any point since Columbus first landed in America.

Today leaders of the gay rights movement are fighting a similar battle to the one that was fought by the Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's, like the Civil Rights Movement they have suffered numerous setbacks but have slowly started to win over public opinion. The gay rights movement has not quite reached their Civil Rights Act of 1964 moment yet, but that moment is coming and when that moment comes all the setbacks that were suffered in the past will no longer seem like setbacks.

Today the bigots threw a "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" and it appears they were very successful at getting long lines of homophobes to spend their money in support of a corporation that donates to hate groups. This "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" was obviously designed to counter the boycott that gay rights advocates have called against Chick-Fil-A, and at least in terms of dollars it will probably appear that they were successful. Let's be honest, most of the people who are with us in boycotting Chick-Fil-A did not eat at Chick-Fil-A to begin with. Chick-Fil-A has been known to be a homophobic company for a long time and most gay rights supporters probably stopped eating there a long time ago, sure they lost some customers but the number of customers lost is more than offset by the number of bigots who will start eating there or going there more often to prove their homophobic credentials. Today's profits will almost certainly be the biggest single day profits Chick-Fil-A has ever seen in their company's history, my guess is the annual profits will also more than likely be the biggest numbers Chick-Fil-A has ever posted. As much as a setback as this may seem to those who have been advocating a boycott I can not say it loudly enough, DO NOT LET THIS DISCOURAGE YOU!

In the end Chick-Fil-A's profits this week or this year do not matter to us, what matters is that we are able to reach our Civil Rights Act of 1964 moment and we bring about permanent and lasting change that spreads well beyond any fast food chain. Once we reach that moment I can assure you that there won't be any more lines at Chick-Fil-A like the ones you saw today. Once we reach that moment all those people who posted the pictures of themselves with their Chick-Fil-A bags on Facebook today will be forced to explain those photos to their children and grandchildren some of whom will no doubt be gay. Once we achieve equality many of the people who chose to stand in line at Chick-Fil-A today will hang their head in shame that they supported bigotry just as many of the blatant racists of year's past now like to pretend that the were big Martin Luther King supporters when they were really attending KKK rallies. History is moving in our direction and while Chick-Fil-A may be showing big profits today their name is going to be severely tarnished by this in the long run.

That is why you must keep the boycott going no matter what the quarterly profits say, even if it appears that Chick-Fil-A is profiting off the controversy you can not give up because those profits won't last forever. Victory is not going to come overnight and there will be days like today that appear to be setbacks but in the end they will just be bumps on the road to victory. Just a few short years ago a vast majority of the country opposed gay rights, today it is pretty much split 50/50 and things are moving rapidly in our direction. The bigots are still a powerful force in this country but we have all the momentum on our side in this battle and a couple years of increased Chick-Fil-A profits are not going to change that. We need to show that we are not going to back away from a battle that needs to be fought because of the first sign of setback, we need to show them that however much they may want to believe they are winning we are going to keep fighting and we will be the ones who determine the future. Let the Chick-Fil-A boycott continue for as long as it takes to bring about equality.