And boy do they have some inneresting things to say. Some good, some bad, and some moments they describe are just AWFUL!
First of all, we realize that Chick-fil-A is a ginormous company with THOUSANDS of employees working at over a thousand locations in 39 states. So to be clear, we don’t mean to direct any outrage over the company’s anti-gay sentiments toward everybody who has ever collected a pay check from there.
That being said, there is still plenty of bigotry floating around franchise locations around the U.S. and now the employees facing the discrimination that the company supports are sharing their stories.
While Mike Huckabee dubbed August 1 as “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day”, one gay employee is calling it “hater appreciation day” because lines of people opposed to the LGBT community are lining up out the door.
24-year-old Andrew, employed by a northern Alabama Chick-fil-A since January, has described what he’s been seeing as “very, very depressing.”
Franchise locations have become rallying points for supporters of intolerance and those protesting it. The problem is that employees — gay or straight, tolerant or intolerant — are receiving the hate on both sides of the debate.
Andrew says he felt comfortable in his workplace until Dan Cathy‘s comments spread like wildfire. He recalled that while helping a trucker unload a shipment of goods for the restaurant, the man confidentally told him:
“If I see one more f*ggot at a Chick-fil-A protesting, I’m going to be sick.”
Ugh! That kind of intolerances makes US sick!
However, there is another kind of intolerance coming from those protesting on behalf of equality. Katie, an openly gay Chick-fil-A employee near in the New Orleans area, points out that people are wrongfully assuming that everybody associated with the fast food chain shares the owners’ point of view. The working gal told sources:
“Now, anyone that works there is stuck with a stigma of being homophobic, even when many of us are far from it.”
While handing out free samples, she has heard supporters of same-sex marriage say things like, “Don├óΓé¼Γäót give me that hate sh*t,” and “I hope you choke on that chicken.”
Openly gay Gabriel Aguiniga, an 18-year-old employee of a location in Colorado, says the hardest part of this controversy is “constantly having people come up to you and say, ‘I support your company, because your company hates the gays.'”
So it sounds like this situation may be getting out of hand. Fighting hate with more hate won’t lead to any positive results. Protest the business, NOT the employees who are trying to make an honest living just like the rest of us.