By Kevin Rosenthal

No sooner does the bell begin to shriek its noonday guarantee of gastro-gratification than does a group of Clayton teens come barreling     toward parked cars to exercise their lunchtime liberties. For many Clayton students, Chick-fil-A, since its opening on Eager Rd. in Brentwood, a mere six minute drive from Clayton High, has emerged as a clear favorite for a quick bite to eat.

The Clayton parking lot, now littered daily with backwash-bathed Chick-fil-A cups, has become a microcosm for an emergent paradox within Clayton student life.

Though Clayton High is filled with an overwhelmingly liberal student body, its students nevertheless seep in and out of a restaurant chain drenched with homophobia.

Some may have heard buzz in the past year that the views of the controversial owner of Chick-fil-A have changed, that the anti-gay activist has had a change of heart. In March 2014, reports swirled that Chick-fil-A dramatically reduced their funding toward anti-gay organizations after having previously funneled millions of dollars toward these groups. Though the fiscal reports proved to be true, before any ideas arise that there is any truth to the notion that the actual feelings of homophobia within Chick-fil-A’s chain of command have in any way dissipated, consider this.

Here is a tweet from the owner of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, on June 26th, 2015, the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled federal same-sex marriage laws to be constitutional: “Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. [generation] to abandon wisdom of the ages [… ] cornerstone of strong societies.”

After a whirlwind of backlash ensued from Cathy’s post, Cathy deleted the tweet the same day he posted the comment.

So, to be clear, then, Chick-fil-A continues to be as homophobic as ever.

The idea that, as Chick-fil-A claimed less than one year ago, America’s founding fathers when adapted to modern society would be “ashamed” of the decision made by the current generation permitting people to love one another freely is plainly farcical to any lover of history or to any supporter of human rights.

As if the founding fathers of this country would instead laud those who preach hate.

As if, on the very day which the unreached potential for the ideal which the founding fathers preached most valiantly – that all are created equal, and are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – on the day this ideal which has defined the American condition for centuries did, in fact, finally became viable for more people than ever, that the founding fathers would feel, of all emotions: shame

Swarmed by an immediate, glaring firestorm and consumed with cowardice, Chick-fil-A attempted to simply remove their words.

Cathy, whose corporate mission enshrined on a plaque at Chick-fil-A’s headquarters is to “glorify God,” at one point when the country was less accepting of same-sex marriage laws would proudly and unwaveringly say such statements as: “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. I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about” (2012).

Now, however, as more and more people have began to celebrate the beautiful differences in humans that contribute to making this species, after all, human, Chick-fil-A cowers in fear. As more people begin to appreciate the profundity of genetic variation, how a hodgepodge of micro-deviations from the genetic norm culminate to make the human condition so rich, so interesting, Chick-fil-A remains in denial. And now, no longer strong enough to even stand behind their odious statements, Chick-fil-A has the gall to try to “delete” their words.

Chick-fil-A now refuses to step out of the closet.

And when Chick-fil-A did attempt to step out and make a bold statement against same-sex marriage in 2015, Chick-fil-A’s subsequent deletion of that statement was not attributed to any fundamental change of heart, but rather it was the simple need to make a conscientious PR move which forced Chick-Fil-A’s blanched, vile, and feathery hand, which forced Chick-fil-A ownership to play chicken.

Chick-fil-A has already been broadcasting their company’s own hypocrisy and cowardice for years, though.

The company’s primary ad campaign portrays a forlorn cow, who, as is implied in the advertisements, would ordinarily be slaughtered by other fast food chains, and is advocating for humans to instead “Eat mor chikin.”

Sure, the advertisement is all jest – it’s whimsical and cute and clever- but, nonetheless, the ad is yet another example of the Chick-fil-A company’s entanglement with hypocrisy.   

As if murdering and harvesting a low-flying, egg-laying innocent bird were any “better” than doing the same to a grass-munching, lactose-oozing, peaceable heifer, if neither butcheries are, after all, for any purpose other than to fulfill human gastrointestinal cravings.

As if the idea that in some multiverse, a bunch of media-savvy, homophobic chickens running ads with cows holding up signs reading “Eat Mor Humins” (intended misprint), and then proceeding to reduce humans to meat, diminishing us to rotting death clumps between two pieces of bread – the centerpiece of a $6.55 spicy deluxe combo meal – then devouring us, their chicken beaks marinating over the very thought alone of consuming our human flesh zest, is really all too outlandish, considering these types of savagely shenanigans transpire daily in this world, with a few roles reversed.

And so then I ask this to a generally open-minded Clayton student body: can you abandon those urges guiding you toward a well-seasoned cluckless clump between two chunks of bread in favor of following ethics to not support someone who has preached time and time again his desire for a system of inequality, a system disallowing certain people who love each other their full rights to love each other?

This is not about guilt.

This is about full consciousness in choice.

And yes, it is possible that not even one employee at the nearest Chick-fil-A to Clayton High shares the same mindsets as the owner of the company, but it is also important to consider that all support for a company funnels upward, in this case to owner Dan Cathy.

And so the simple way out is to turn a blind eye, to remain blissfully ignorant of the choice to suport a restaurant who has perpetually singled out a group of people as inferior.

It is comfortable to not have to try to conceptualize the pain which people discriminated against endure because no matter how diligently we try, we’ll barely even scratch the surface of the pain others feel.

Because the word pain is, after all, no more than a gentle term we use to try to provide justice for that deep black frothing hollowness which we all carry around inside of us at times, and it is that unique, individual anguish that nobody else, no matter how furiously they try, can penetrate. And so it is comforting to not attempt to consider the pain one must feel who is being told she is inferior to the rest of the human race simply because of the person she intrinsically loves. But we must. We must take the time to at least consider and allow what arises from our consideration to fuel our choices.