I face a dilemma and need your insight

The last few weeks, the Twittersphere and Google Circles and Foursquares and Facebook Triangles have been abuzz with controversy over the stance of Chik-Fil-A’s turbo-Christian CEO, Dan Cathy, who told a Baptist magazine that the company was against same-sex marriage and that people were arrogant for telling God that same-sex marriage is okay. After all, only Dan Cathy and a portion of people that identify as Christian are able to tell their God that may or may not exist what it says and thinks about gay marriage.

I’m not here, though, to stoke the flames of religiosity and get people worked up with my views on Atheism and lack of patience with those whose faith lies in a literal belief in any and all text written at a time when people shat into holes in the ground and watched or participated in executions for entertainment.

No, I’m not going to do that, because I need their help to address a very serious moral quandary.

I must begin by stating this unequivocally: I believe gays should have the right to marry. Actually, it’s a bit stronger than that. I think to not allow them the same rights and privileges is a violation of their civil rights. I find quoting the Bible for legal precedence to be antithetical to the legal and intellectual well-being of our nation. You’ll find many that will play softball with the opposition and claim to respect a faith-based opinion on gay marriage. I’m guilty of that myself. Like the President, though, my stance on this issue has evolved. Unlike the President, I will go so far as to say if you believe gays shouldn’t marry and would work to prevent legislation from allowing that to happen, you don’t have an opinion. You have a prejudice. I think there’s a very real difference and with time, thought, and research, I believe it even more strongly.

On the other hand, Chik-Fil-A is a fast food restaurant that makes fried food that I can eat.

Clearly you see and can probably feel the depth of the dilemma that lay before me.

Prior to this, if you had told me that a restaurant or business that I frequented had a CEO that held an actively hostile position towards an issue of such importance, I wouldn’t hesitate to boycott whatever product they put out. If, for example, the CEO of McDonalds said that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was a terrible thing and had Ronald McDonald scream “white power!” at the end of their commercials, I’d never eat their food again and I’d be horrified when people flocked to their locations for a free coke and fires on White Supremacy Soft Drink Appreciation Day. As such, I can’t support Chik-Fil-A knowing that its CEO not only opposes marriage equality but uses company profits to fund organizations that actively lobby against equal protection for gays, including but not limited to The Marriage and Family Legacy Fund, The National Christian Foundation, and the Family Research Council.

On the other hand, chicken sandwich.

It’s not an easy call to make. Anything but. I know and have known many gay men and women who grew up believing they had to exist in shadows and continue to live with casual discrimination in a society that, by and large, overlooks their plight and seems to think that we’ve come further than we have. Some of them I am indebted and under onus to due to their friendship, kindness, and generosity. It would seem only fair to and for them that I oppose any company that tells them they don’t deserve the same rights as me.

Then again, waffle fries.

How on Earth do I cope with this? I don’t want to support Chik-Fil-A, but how can I not eat food that probably lowers my life expectancy with each swallow?

The rights of friends and loved ones versus food that is kind of good tasting but awful for me. My cross is so heavy. Will someone please unburden me?