It's sad and pathetic that uninformed people are boycotting innocent franchise owners.
The free market doesn't enter into the picture here.

EDIT: let me put it this way...it's never been a secret that Chick-Fil-A was founded by a very religious guy (hence it being closed on Sunday) so that part of it should already be baked into the free market equation. I think it's disingenuous for people to now say "OMG this super religious, outspoken Christian believes exactly what we should have assumed he believes...grab your pitchforks!"

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Hold my beer and watch this...

We've been agreeing a little too much lately. I don't like this.

The free market most certainly does enter into the picture here.
1) those franchise owners pay money to the parent corporation. If they lose business, they're less able to pay that franchising fee. The boycott affects both the franchise owner and the family owning chic fil a. Considering that its basically impossible for an unhappy customer to affect the actual owners of chic fil a, this is their only real route of protest.

2) by your own admission, people know this is a 'christian' company, and they should act in such a manner. Ok, well that also applies to franchisees, who have chosen to do business under the leadership of this backwards ass bigot who runs the whole thing. Therefore, they are not 'innocent' when there is backlash to corporate stances on social issues.


And wtf, christians have been pulling this same shit with companies like JCpenney, disney, replacements inc, etc etc etc, whenever a company has a gay spokesman, takes some stance against sexual bigotry, or any progressive stance on anything...you can bet there is some christian mothers association somewhere making fliers and angrily sending out emails telling their flock who/why they should boycott. Except THEIR rationale is based on a 2000 year old book with like, 400 authors. Whereas this protest is based on the fact that this guy is promoting bigotry and exclusion.

So I agree. Fuck Tim Thomas, he can go suck a dick.

That's a good point. Christians shouldn't complain about a boycott of a business when they've done exactly the same thing in the past.

I like the food, I'm going to keep eating there. My appetite means more than the next flavor of the month social catastrophy.

You missed the point, which is the knowledge of the owners strong religious beliefs should already be baked into the market's assesment of the company.
People getting up in arms over a revelation that should have been assumed is stupid.

I've never eaten at a Chick-Fil-A and there wasn't even one in my area until about a year ago...so my knowledge of the company is very limited.
The one thing I've known about them for years and years is it's run by very religious christians.

What will happen next week when the owner drops the bomb that's he's pro-life?
Will everyone be shocked then too?

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Hold my beer and watch this...

So you're saying if someone is christian, we should automatically assume they hold the view that 1) Homosexuals do not deserve 'marriage' like heterosexuals do and 2) that they dont believe women should be given the choice to do what they want with their own bodies?

I'd guess that not ALL christians appreciate being pigeonholed like that cross. I keep hearing about these 'moderate' christians who arent crazy social whackado's. What about them?

You know, i'm honestly not even sure what we're arguing about. I dont actually disagree that this guy/his company has every right to come out however they want on any social/political issue. And athletes have the right to support them or not, vocally or not, and we all have the right to not eat their food, or eat their food, or call them fucking asshole christian cunts on hockey forums. What exactly is the issue?

I thought it was a bit of an attention grab by Thomas. I have no doubt that those are the positions he holds, but his timing and presentation have all the appearance of a guy angling for a certain kind of attention, and the post-hockey career such attention can give him.

As far as Chick-fil-A is concerned, their stance on LGBT is old hat. They've been donating to anti-gay hate groups since 2003, perhaps even longer than that. I have no issue with Dan Cathy, or a corporation holding such statements, but I'm also glad that such stances and statements are getting a fair bit of attention empowering those that disagree with the knowledge of said company/person's positions and the ability to choose to take their business elsewhere.

I am sure that, much like the Salvation Army, experiences with Chick-fil-A vary by the particular establishment and region. No doubt they are terrible to LGBT individuals where they can get away with it, and pleasant when they cannot. I don't agree with the mayors that want to bar Chick-fil-A restaurants from opening in their cities, but I can understand where they're coming from. Both Massachusetts and Illinois have laws that bar discrimination based on both gender identity and sexual orientation (ahead of NY in that regard) so it seems a silly war to wage. But, so far as I can tell, politics is all about silly wars.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

By the way, I have 54% of people in the U.S to back up my opinion, so most people are NOT in favor to completely abolish separation between church and state to oppress the rights of a certain group of people. My point is to not stop people like Thomas and the president of Chick Fil A, but to point out that they're obviously assholes. Which, I'm allowed to say that as well as they're allowed to verbally fuck people in the name of God...

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

You in Seattle yet CV?

No, I think we are moving out September 4th or 5th. Just had the move assessor come by today and tally up my shit (my partner sent pictures) so we're progressing.

Looking forward to the Pacific NW, it is beautiful by all accounts and it is difficult to find a bad word about it or Seattle specifically. Looking forward to leaving New York as well to be honest. Sick of a great many things.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

No, I'm not saying that. I think any reasonable person can take a cursary look at what chick-fil-a stands for as a company and make that assumption though.
He's not a Massachusetts Catholic.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Or even a majority catholic, though probably in Georgia.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I think a very important distinction needs to be made here.

Also, I agree with y'all on the "this hurts the franchisee" train. It's exactly the same as when people boycotted any gas station with the BP logo on them.

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What's the 'very important distinction'? That he didn't actually say this bigoted bullshit, but instead endorsed it?

I have yet to hear him say anything bigoted; as far as I can tell, he is only supporting their right to say it.

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Really.

Chic fil a comes out and says "No marriage for gay people!"
Tim Thomas says "I stand with Chic fil a"

and YOU interpret that as him saying "I stand by chic fil a's RIGHT to say whatever they want"...and that it has nothing to do with him endorsing their particular stance on gay marriage?

Thank you. I don't get why people are spinning it to make it look like Thomas doesn't agree with Chic-Fil-A. He's obviously sharing the same views.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I think you're splitting hairs.

Thomas' 'I stand with Chik-fil-A' is about as vague as possible. Could mean any number of things.