MWAAHH!
Not much kissin' at Chick-fil-A in Houston, but experts see legalized gaymarriage on the horizon
Same-sex kissing protests were planned across the country at Chick-fil-A as thedebate over marriage-equality rages on towards November.National Same Sex Kiss Day/Facebook
Wednesday saw shockingly strong support for the fast food restaurant'sopposition to gay marriage, fueled in large part by a recent push from Tea Partypoliticos.
After Wednesday's rousing show of support for Mike Huckabee’s “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” workers at Houston branches of the national chain were bracing for a sizable turnout for Friday's reported "kiss-in" protest in response to the fast food restaurant's opposition to same-sex marriage.
A CultureMap spot check of area Chick-fil-A stores throughout the day, however, revealed few signs of PDA protests, although the "National Same-Sex Kiss Day" Facebook page called for another push Friday at 8 p.m.
"Civil unions are not the same as marriage," Sally Huffer from the Montrose Counseling Center. "Didn't we already learn that separate-but-equal policies are destructive?"
Some gay rights leaders suspect Houston may be less interested in protesting the restaurant after Mayor Annise Parker's comments earlier this week, noting that Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy "is free to run his business as he chooses within the law and is certainly entitled to his opinion, but I/we do not have to agree with it."
According to Sally Huffer from the Montrose Counseling Center — a behavioral health organization in support of Houston's GLBT population — Parker's sensible anti-Chick-fil-A/pro-free speech stance has taken the wind out of possible kiss-in protests, while moving the debate forward in a positive direction.
"I don't know anyone in the gay community that feels the need to do a kiss-in today," she told CultureMap on Friday. "After the mayor offered up a reasonable position on the whole argument, there really haven't been any protests that have taken hold in Houston."
Kiss-ins or no kiss-ins, Huffer said the most important route to take is to foster open public discussions about marriage equality, particularly as the issues enter the political arena closer to the November elections.
"In next 10 years, I predict gay marriage will be legal in every state," said author Steven Siebold. "It's only a matter of time."
"If we send messages that certain people are somehow 'less than' others, the only way for them to cope is to internalize their feelings, which is why organizations like the American Psychological Association support marriage equality. Civil unions are not the same as marriage. Didn't we already learn that separate-but-equal policies are destructive?"
"In next 10 years, I predict gay marriage will be legal in every state," said author Steven Siebold. "It's only a matter of time."
Steven Siebold, author of the new book Sex, Politics and Religion: How Delusional Thinking Is Destroying America, feels that Chick-fil-A's "biblical definition" of marriage is on the outs.
"You know what the fastest growing religion is in the United States, according to a recent Gallup poll?" he asked. "None, especially among younger well-educated Americans.
"In next 10 years, I predict gay marriage will be legal in every state as the religious ideas behind this wave of discrimination lose ground. It's only a matter of time."
