Sunday, February 3, 2013

Chick-fil-A controversy leaves a bitter taste for some longtime fans


The following article is an opinion piece written for CNN on feelings regarding last year’s controversy regarding Chik-fil-A’s comments on same sex marriage, which led to the subsequent “Chik-fil-A Appreciation Day” and boycott of the fast food chain by many who were outraged by the comments.


In Martin and Nakayama chapter 5, Identity and Intercultural Communication, they bring up many types of identities. The two that are relevant in regards to the article, are religious identity and sexual identity. As defined by Martin and Nakayama, religious identity refers to the sense of belonging to a certain religious group and sexual identity refers to one’s identification with various categories of sexuality. When thinking about identity, I think many of us find ourselves spanning across many of these different categories that Martin and Nakayama refer to. What I find interesting in thinking about identity and this article is how sometimes, and maybe even more than just sometimes, we find that the groups that we identify can be in direct competition with one another. Most notably, the woman who wrote this article finds her identity as a lesbian and her identity as a Christian woman clashing. Although, perhaps for her they may not be clashing, but for what many people define what it means to be part of these groups come in direct competition of one another.

The whole situation that surrounded Chik-fil-A is outrageous to me. It is times like this that I find myself competing with my religious identity. I consider myself fairly religious, yet I suppose many of the people who lined up on “Chik-fil-A Appreciation Day,” wouldn’t because I don’t believe that same-sex marriage, in any way, shape or form is detracting from the sanctity of marriage. My best friend is a lesbian and I have every intention of being her maid-of-honor at her wedding because she deserves one just as much as anyone else.

This idea of identity is an interesting one. It’s hard when you find yourself with identities that don’t align and even harder when you try and reconcile them. Yet, it comes back to this idea of these cultural norms that we’ve created of what it means to have a certain identity and all the stereotypes that come along with it. Why can’t you be an African American and Republican or Catholic lesbian? When will we stop making so many rules about how you’re supposed to be and just let everyone be? 

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