As our movement against Anita Bryant showed a generation ago, even very entrenched bigots can be defeated by smart and effective use of boycotts, demonstrations and other direct mobilizations of LGBTI's and our allies.
Bryant was a former beauty queen and TV spokeswoman for Florida oranges and orange juice. Her anti-gay career was entitled the "Save Our Children" crusade. It led to huge spikes in anti-gay violence in city after city that it visited. A huge proportion of our country's early pro-gay legislation was repealed as a result of Anita Bryant's movement.
But she was defeated. Not by an expensive and slick ad campaign run by high-paid consultants, but by the mobilization of countless thousands of LGBTI's and our allies in the streets of America. The successful boycott of Florida oranges, and the rallies and marches that accompanied it, was our slick ad campaign.
So please join us for a picket in front of Chick-fil-A's only Chicago store and help us persuade people to not patronize a corporation that gives millions of dollars to promote hate and discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex people.
While much has been made of politician's attempts to ban Chick-fil-A outlets based on the bigoted statements of its corporate leaders -- i.e., censorship -- we believe that the democratic way to deal with bigotry is to use our 1st Amendment freedoms to peacefully picket the store and encourage others not to promote a business which donates millions to anti-LGBTI causes.
Chick-fil-A's corporate bigotry does skate very close to the edge of the law, if not croses it. Not by the hateful statements its leaders have made, but by the fact that Chick-fil-A corporate has said they prefer married franchisees and employees. The latter is illegal in many parts of the U.S., and certainly suggests a hostile work environment for those LGBTI employees who do get in the door. Regardless, until the facts are sorted out on all this, it still is our 1st Amendment right to boycott, picket and advocate that others do so as well.
Please join us from 4:30 PM to 6 PM on Wednesday, August 8th at 30 E. Chicago Avenue for a public relaunch of the Chick-fil-A boycott in Chicago!
Help spread the word by joining the Facebook event here and spreading the word to your FB friends.
