The new definition of “hate”

Despite my slow posting lately, the attempt to deny permits to Chick-fil-A because of the opposition of its president (the same as the until-recently long-held of our president) to gay marriage irritated me enough to write a post (actually, two) about it. In my view, any attack on the First Amendment (especially one as blatant as this one) must be opposed resolutely,and especially by those who might disagree with the person or people whose rights are being violated.

Yes, I believe in that old-fashioned saying, “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Well, I learned an interesting thing today while reading about the enormous outpouring of popular support for Chick-fil-A. Not that it was all that relevant to my original First Amendment analysis, but when I defended the company’s rights, I did so taking into account that the president and the owners might very well be anti-gay zealots. (As I have noted repeatedly, anti-gay bigotry is not synonymous with opposition to gay marriage; in my view bigotry includes such things as personal animosity, advocacy of anti-gay discrimination, support for “sodomy” laws. etc.) If a business owner disliked all homosexuals and wanted to bring back sodomy laws, I would find that repellent and maybe not want to invite him over for a beer, but the idea of having the government deny him a permit because of these views is outrageous.

So I didn’t devote much time to dissecting the views of the Chick-fil-A president or the company policies, but maybe I should have. Anyway, via Ed Morrissey, I just learned that this is the company’s official policy regarding sexual orientation:

The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our Restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect –regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

Huh?

That is bigotry? Frankly, it would not surprise me if some of the genuine anti-gay bigots out there would be very disappointed in Chick-fil-A if they read the above. Nor would it surprise me if some of the company’s more rabid “supporters” have bought into the leftie narrative and believe in the same lies because they want to.

Gay Patriot has a post about the local outpouring of support for the Chick-fil-A franchise in his area, which happens to be Hollywood. Predictably, there were a few anti-Chick-fil-A protesters, and their favorite word to describe the company?

“HATE.”

Let’s all be clear on the new definition of hate, OK?

“Hate” means treating treat every person with honor, dignity and respect–regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.

From what I’ve learned, the Chick-fil-A company is a lot more tolerant than its “tolerant” opponents.

I suspect there’s a new definition of “tolerance” to accompany their new definition of hate, but I’m too tired to write it. Besides, “tolerance is bigotry” and “bigotry is tolerance” seem like plagiarism.

(Ditto “LOVE IS HATE.”)