Holy cow! Eat 'mor' equality!

I like Chick- fil -A. No, I love Chick- fil -A. Something about those waffle fries and Polynesian sauce really gets my taste buds going. I grew up in the south eating their kid's meals, excited to go to the food court Chick-fil-A in The Mall in Columbia to get the latest Adventures in Odyssey children's Bible cassette and book. As I got older, Chick-fil-A became the go-to alternative for me and my friends when we wanted cheap grub that actually tasted like real food. We loved the place so much we got after-school jobs there so we could eat those delicious fried chicken morsels whenever we wanted to for free.

Unfortunately, Chick- fil -A doesn't seem to love me as much as I love them.

Chick-fil-A has been in the news during the past year for their financial support of various anti-gay groups like the Family, a Pennsylvania anti–marriage equality group, and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family (the parent company of those little wholesome Adventures in Odyssey tapes).

Though the restaurant chain does not explicitly discriminate against gay and lesbians diners, they do explicitly dislike gay marriage. So much to the point that they were willing to organizations whose agendas is to stop marriage equality at all costs. Basically, if you are queer-identified, continue to plunk down the five to eight bucks for a Chick-fil-A value meal. Just don't plan on hiring the restaurant to cater your big, fabulous gay wedding reception.

As a private company, Chick-fil-A has the right to support whatever cause they choose, but in representing itself as a company based on Bibl

ical principles, it fails to show the type of unconditional love Christ showed among the "outcasts" of his day. Most LGBT people in support of marriage equality want to have the same type of loving, lasting and committed partnership Chick-A-fil outlines

in its Winshape Foundation marriage retreats. LGBT couples are not asking to have a license to engage in risky, unsafe, irresponsible sexual relationships that only last for the moment. We are asking for an opportunity to be in the type of relationship that I Corinthians 13 outlines: patient, kind, not self-seeking, rude or easily angered and that will always protect, trust, hope and persevere.

I personally have never felt discriminated against at the restaurant and always felt welcome both as a patron and an employee. I am not advocating a mass boycott because that is not demonstrating the loving principles Christ instructed us to do in being patient with one another and keeping no record of wrongs. However, I do strongly encourage top Chick-fil-A executives to meet with a loving gay couple. Ask them what their desires and fears are a

bout being married and why they want to spend the rest of their lives together. I guarantee they won't have "beef" about the legitimacy of their relationship.