from the

Say What? for Aug. 23, 2012

Published: August 22, 2012

Friends before politics, religion and chikin Here’s the deal. I know some local franchise owners of a Chick-fil-A, and they are amazing people. My niece is BFF with their daughter, and I would trust them to watch my daughter any day of the week. I have been torn, because of this. I don’t know where they stand on this whole issue; I would never ask. It doesn’t matter. Similar to 90 percent of my relationships, we have never discussed politics, family values, or religion...Relationships work better that way. I did not support the CFA appreciation day because, my goodness, you have no idea how many lesbian and gay people I love. It felt so much less than a "freedom of speech" issue than an anti-gay issue. I cried. Seriously, I cried. A lot. I graduated with a theatre degree. I am drawn to people who love without judging and who appreciate me. (God forbid they have an anti-you-don’t-look-like-a-model day.). I have friends in every single circle of being: old, young, skinny, fat, white, black, gay, straight, Christian, atheist, loud, quiet, introvert, extrovert, funny, smart, geek, alcoholic, sober, working, unemployed, sad, good, bad, and happy. Just good ol’ happy. I love all of them. My mom did, and I do. It’s inherent to accept. I am tempted to say my gay friends have my back more than my straight ones, minus my sister. I didn’t want to "like" the new Chick-fil-A page, because it would hurt my friends. I didn’t want to NOT like the page because it would, well, hurt my friends. What’s that quote? “I don’t necessarily agree with what you say, but I agree, til death, your right to say it?” We as a society screwed up. We gave into this huge hype and used freedom of speech to disguise it. I wonder, a LOT, who went (to Chick-fil-A) yesterday to support freedom of speech and who went to be hateful. I don’t want to know. As a marketer by trade, I claim, "Genius!" Talk about free advertising. Talk about making the marketer’s job easy. But my gay and lesbian friends were hurt, so hurt. I felt for them. I realize there are other issues with other businesses. I just think this was a bad call, all around. That picture of Sarah Palin, thumbs up, with her Chick-fil-A bag yesterday made me want to vomit. Literally. Throw up. The thoughts I had for my friends that own a franchise and just open their doors made me sad too. I will not ask, and my opinion is unchanged about how great they are. I will still eat “chikin”...I will. But not in any realm that will help or hurt my friends. - Wimberly Hubert, Myrtle Beach Want to get something off your chest? We’ll put it in print. Write to Weekly Surge at kkimes@weeklysurge.com with the subject line “Say What” or send to Weekly Surge, P.O. Box 406, Myrtle Beach, S.C., 29578.