Given the subject matter of Monday’s cartoon, I wasn’t promoting the Editorial Cartoon studio so now you owe me at least 2 votes this posting. The Cartoonist Studio Editorial Cartoon Contest continues and I made it to week SEVEN! Thanks to all for voting. Click the image above or here to go to the voting. You should do a search of “Bearman” and my cartoon will come up front and center and then vote. Some people were clicking the link and then accidentally voting on the first thing that popped up. Unfortunately no way to direct link to my cartoon. Again, as long as I stay in the contest, there will be two editorial cartoons a week to vote on – Mondays and Thursdays. Oh and you can vote multiple times in each round if you want (resets every six hours) until EOD Saturday. And thanks to Jande Rowe at E-Orbits for the great photoshop brush I used in the background of this cartoon. You can get that one and several others free on her site.
____________________________________________________________________
OK folks sit back and relax because this is going to take some explaining and I am sure in the process I am going to piss off someone on either side of this debate. It seems historically that a hot button issue during an election year is Abortion. People hate discussing it because you are marginalized at one extreme or the other. Not me. Want to know where I stand? I am against it. HOWEVER, I am not sure that gives me the right to say it should be illegal. So for personal reasons I am against it but legally I am more on the fence.
Seems this year the hot button issue will be Gay Marriage. First, I am all for gay marriage and couples being afforded the same rights as I have to commit to one another and therefore have the government recognize that bond including adoption, hospital visitation rights, survivorship benefits, etc. Does that mean I will be upset, if as in England, they call it a “Civil Partnership” instead of “Marriage”. No but that is just my opinion because I think the rights are more important than the word.
Well no one has done more to bring on the topic this week than Chick-Fil-A President and CEO Dan Cathy. You see it is no secret that Chick-fil-A runs as a Christian based company. They have been closed on Sunday’s since inception and tend to donate money to faith based organizations. So it should come as no surprise that when interviewed by The Baptist Press that he would come out in favor of “Traditional Marriage.” Yet to read comments by bloggers and the press, you would have thought he came out picketing with the “God Hates Fags” assholes from the Westboro Baptist Church.
Here is what was actually reported in the original article:
Some have opposed the company’s support of the traditional family. “Well, guilty as charged,” said Cathy when asked about the company’s position.
“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.
“We operate as a family business … our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that,” Cathy emphasized.
No bashing. So once again, whether you are in favor of same-sex marriage or not, it is unfair to marginalize the other side. People have their own reasons for being for or against it and we don’t have to always demonize them for their stance. Westboro Baptist…hell yes they should be marginalized. But what about the people that oppose it for reasons other than thinking the gay community is an abomination. Should they all be bigots?
Moreover, is it the government’s responsibility to mandate away businesses that politicians don’t agree with? Or should people do it with their wallets and boycott those businesses if they choose? In Chicago, an Alderman has proposed shutting down Chick-fil-A’s request to build in his neighborhood because of the remarks. Ken at Popehat had this take when describing a similar action the Mayor of Boston tried to take:
I think that rich people donating millions to anti-gay causes promotes evil in the world — though they have every right to do it. But I’m far more afraid of government thuggery than private evil philanthropy. Menino appears to be speaking disingenuously and ass-dampy when he talks about Chick-Fil-A “opening their policies.” I haven’t seen any evidence that Chick-fil-A discriminates in hiring or service. Rather, they give money to a cause I despise, one that promotes social discrimination. But the government doesn’t get to pick and choose what social causes are permissible, and any government actor who aspires to that power is a lowlife thug.
So the Jim Henson Company saying we don’t want to partner with Chick-fil-A anymore is a perfect example of private organizations taking a perfectly reasonable response. A Mayor/Alderman saying we are going to block you from even building in the area is wrong.
So to my friends who are against Gay Marriage: Is it the entire idea of it or is it just the word choice? If the word choice alone, great…let’s change our discourse to say that you are open to legally binding federally recognized union that is called something other than “marriage” So those who feel Marriage is a religious thing between a man and a woman get to keep the word but gay couples get to have the rights.
And to my friends who are for Gay Marriage: Please don’t use this political cycle to bash Mitt Romney for his stance against it. If you think he is a bigot for opposing it, remember, if you voted for Obama in the last election then you voted for just as big of a bigot because it was only recently he came out in favor (and even then his hand was forced by Biden).
Comment away…but as always, let’s be civil.
