Marriage Debate in the Food Court

After today’s ruling by California’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Prop. 8, the issue of gay marriage is expected to go up to the Supreme Court, but oddly enough the debate is already raging in the food court.

In the last few years, Chick-fil-A has become a target of left-wingers who think, despite little to no proof, that it supports anti-gay-marriage/homophobic causes. Chick-fil-A’s supposed crimes against tolerance include catering and ties to groups that hold Christian marriage retreats. The chain’s church-friendly image (closed on Sunday, a devoutly Baptist founder, etc.) was probably a mark against it in the eyes of secularists.

Chick-fil-A has been ‘fried’ based on circumstantial evidence; despite all the controversy the chain finds itself in, it hasn’t made any formal statement supporting traditional marriage or criticizing same-sex marriage.

Compare this to what Starbucks did late last month. The coffee giant released a joint statement with Amazon and Nike in support of same-sex marriage in Washington State. This has drawn some fire from conservative groups like the Family Research Council, USA Christian Ministries, and the National Organization for Marriage. FRC President Tony Perkins said “Voters overwhelmingly believe in man-woman marriage--and they've passed 30 straight amendments to prove it. If Starbucks thinks people like their radical agenda, I hate to spill the beans. But people can get their caffeine fix anywhere. So if Starbucks wants to focus on politics, then its profits are on dangerous grounds.”

We agree with Perkins’ well-worded statement but we wonder whether it will hold true. Will socially conservative coffee-drinkers boycott Starbucks for its stance? The right doesn’t seem to have the same ‘protest culture’ as the left does (and we think that’s mostly a good thing). Public support for same-sex marriage has increased but it remains a very divisive issue and any company that takes a public stand on it can expect some degree of blowback. But we strongly suspect that even though Starbucks has staked out a definite position in the debate, it will face far less heat than Chick-fil-A, which is officially neutral on the matter, due in large part to the media’s liberal sympathies.

Such are the dangers of even being perceived as conservative in an aggressively "progressive" media/political environment—just ask the Komen Foundation.