Chick-fil-A and the gay marriage debate

By Neal Larson

Sitting in Chick-fil-A Wednesday afternoon, I was appalled at all the hate-mongering, gay-bashing, bigoted soccer moms, disabled people and senior citizens stuffing their faces full of chicken. I overheard one mom say to her little boy, “Put on your shoes, son.” You might think that’s no big deal until you realize it sounds a whole lot like “I hate Liberace and Elton John.” Another customer, an elderly gentleman, told a diligent and helpful worker, “Thanks for taking my tray.” We all know what he meant: “I don’t like you if you’re gay.” But who knows, that may have just been me.

The militant gay movement’s response is a kiss-in. How ingenious! Nothing like a same-gender make-out session to win people over. I know that, for me, seeing two dudes tongue wrestling in front of me and my kids gives me an insatiable urge to call my congressman demanding legalization of gay marriage.

In truth, the masses of people flocking to Chick-fil-A showing their support for traditional marriage and freedom of expression were a powerful indication to me that traditional values are not dead. As I looked around the crowded restaurant, people were smiling and laughing. I saw America in their faces, and an almost relieved sense that there are others – many others – who believed as they did and were thrilled to have a great way of expressing it.

A very loud but very small minority of liberal progressives have for years been bullying us into believing that each of us are completely alone. They try to force us to choose between our belief in timeless divine principles, and the world’s fluctuating definitions of right and wrong. They work to make us believe that the only appropriate response to promoting marriage only between one man and one woman is a deep sense of social guilt. Permissiveness is their doctrine, and the dilution of definitions is their modus operandi. They work to untether us from our deeply-held religious beliefs so they’ll have the power to mold and control us. Candidly, their voices have been too loud in my heart and mind. I sense perhaps they have been in yours, too. And I’m fed up with it.

We conservatives must stop caring what the progressive world thinks of us and recognize what is right and wrong stands independent from public opinion. Despite the left’s persistent efforts to convince themselves and others, we do not make our own reality. We are not the authors of right and wrong. If good and bad, right and wrong, light and darkness are determined by the whims of our times, and there is no higher power outlining eternal truth, then we are truly lost unanchored on a dark sea with no boundaries, no shorelines, no lighthouses to look to, and we will ever be adrift in an anarchy where cultural dominance creates the illusion of right and wrong. I refuse to exist in such a world.

And the one thing the militant proponents of gay marriage refuse to acknowledge is that they demand we traditionalists abandon our deeply held religious beliefs and discard them as if they were simply a mistaken notion or a superficial whim. Many, with enough pressure, could be convinced that two plus two equals five. For those who know that five is not the right anwer – that marriage is an ancient institution ordained for man and wife, and more importantly for mom and dad – cease listening to those who would pry you from that knowledge. Despite the din of their loud voices, Chick-fil-A proved that you, my friend, are not alone.

Neal Larson of Idaho Falls is a conservative talk show host on KID Newsradio 590am and 92.1fm. “The Neal Larson Show” can be heard weekday mornings from 8:30 to 10:00. His email address is neal@590kid.com.