The Gay Mafia

In the news, activists for the cause of gay-marriage have struck what they hope to be a steamrolling blow to the fast food business Chick-fil-A. It starts with the same standard deception used countless times before which is to implicate homophobia in any outspoken defense of marriage. Basically if you don't love it, you must hate and fear it. The Weekly Standard's Mark Hemingway identifies the deceptions of CNN's reporter. I will report the lengthy details here:

But Terry Mattingly at the website GetReligion (where I am an occasional contributor) notes that if you look at the original context of the interview, Cathy wasn't asked specifically asked about gay marriage nor did he say anything about it. Here's the actual interview CNN and others cited from the Biblical Recorder and that was carried by the Baptist Press:

“We don’t claim to be a Christian business,” Cathy told the Biblical Recorder in a recent visit to North Carolina. He attended a business leadership conference many years ago where he heard Christian businessman Fred Roach say, “There is no such thing as a Christian business.”

“That got my attention,” Cathy said. Roach went on to say, “Christ never died for a corporation. He died for you and me.”

“In that spirit … [Christianity] is about a personal relationship. Companies are not lost or saved, but certainly individuals are,” Cathy added. “But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles. So that is what we claim to be. [We are] based on biblical principles, asking God and pleading with God to give us wisdom on decisions we make about people and the programs and partnerships we have. And He has blessed us.”

And here's what Cathy says about marriage:

The company invests in Christian growth and ministry through its WinShape Foundation (WinShape.com). The name comes from the idea of shaping people to be winners. It began as a college scholarship and expanded to a foster care program, an international ministry, and a conference and retreat center modeled after the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove.

“That morphed into a marriage program in conjunction with national marriage ministries,” Cathy added.

Some have opposed the company’s support of the traditional family. “Well, guilty as charged,” said Cathy when asked about the company’s position. “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. …

“We are very much committed to that,” Cathy emphasized. “We intend to stay the course,” he said. “We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

To say that Cathy condemned gay marriage is stunningly dishonest. And yet, Cathy's had to endure headlines such as, "Boston Mayor Blocks Chick-fil-A Franchise from City over Homophobic Attitude" -- and that headline comes from Time, which is allegedly one of the more responsible media outlets. 

There are a number of falsehoods animating certain activists for gay marriage:

1. Chick-fil-A considers itself as a corporate agent of Christian dogma
2. Defense of marriage is anti-gay
3. Chick-fil-A is anti-gay
4. That if an individual or company has anti-gay sentiments, that it will necessarily discriminate illegally.
5. That any company with anti-gay sentiments can be legally enjoined from doing business in a city.

These falsehoods should, by any reasonable standard, wreck the gay marriage activist politicking, but stranger travesties have happened. The very fact that such lies and innuendo have survived are a testament to how compelling the sentiment is in support of the destruction of Chick-fil-A and all that it represents in the minds of these activists.

Glenn Greenwald is following the matter at Salon. 

In the past, I've not bothered with much mockery of activists for the cause of gay marriage, but this kind of politics is ridiculous in the extreme. I may have too many people in my circles who say too many foolish things, but I am taking steps to distance myself from their breath. And so falls away my respect for the Gay Mafia, their populist deceptions and their wag the dog inversion of common sense.