I have previously stated in various comments that I am a Liberal and support gay marriage, and that I oppose any government official interfering with a business based on their expressed religious beliefs or social philosophies. The Constitution, specifically the 1st Amendment, prohibits it. What some people fail to grasp is that the 1st Amendment applies TO GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES ONLY. It tells us what the government can and cannot do, must and must not allow. It does not tell me, or you, what speech or religious activity we must allow or tolerate or engage in, or not. With all of this in mind I found the following excerpt from a Huffington Post article interesting. And before the rants about the Huff being a liberal rag start, I will concede that it is...even the Huff admits it. But this does NOT change the truth of what this says:

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If I hear one more person say that he or she is supporting Chick-fil-A because "This is a First Amendment issue," I'm going to jump out of one of the Huffington Post's fifth-floor windows and swan dive into oncoming traffic.

It seems I can't open Twitter or look at Facebook or read a website without hearing that refrain. It was the chant of many of the Chick-fil-A fans who were in attendance yesterday at "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," which was dreamt up by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to support "freedom of speech" and President and COO Dan Cathy's right to believe that gay people do not deserve to get married (or -- if you want to dress it up -- "shouldn't be able to redefine traditional marriage"). But make no mistake -- this is not about the First Amendment.

I fully support Cathy's right to say whatever he wants (and, in fact, so does the ACLU). But just because someone can say something doesn't mean they should -- or that we should celebrate him or her for doing so, especially when what they're saying is, at its core, promoting a culture of hate against a group of people.

I have a hard time believing that there would be lines around the block at Burger King if its CEO gave an interview where he or she stated, "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage... black and white people should not be allowed to get married,'" and had also donated millions of dollars to white supremacist organizations.

Similarly, if the head of Taco Bell came out and said, "I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is about -- women should be the property of their husbands and anything otherwise is against traditional marriage," I don't think we'd see food courts packed with folks rabidly demanding 10-packs of tacos.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noah-michelson/chick-fil-a-first-amendment_b_1733305.html