Why Didn’t the Chicken Cross the Street?

Last January, a hubbub started when campus students at the University of Nebraska-Kearney were asked to select a new dining option for the student union.  Their choices included: Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, IHOP, A&W and Sbarro.  The students chose Chick-fil-A … in a landslide.  However, the majority does not rule at this University.  

A vocal minority demanded that Chick-fil-A be banished from campus.  Among those opposed were members of the University’s Queer Straight Alliance (QSA).  “We only hope to create dialogue on the importance of being aware of issues facing diverse and minority students,” QSA president Tiff Weekley told the Kearney Hub.  “Though majority voices are most often heard, it is important to listen to what issues are facing all students and to start conversations around those.”

All the anti-chicken contingent needed for their disreputable plan to succeed was a weak student government; and they got what they were looking for.  “We decided, after much consideration, to poll students again,” student body president Evan Calhoun wrote on his Facebook page.  Calhoun then went on to explain why Chick-fil-A would not be included in their new poll.  “When we learned more about Chick-fil-A and its corporate values and discriminatory policies, and after hearing these concerns raised by a section of our student body, we concluded that these corporate values are not aligned with our values as a student body, and it is not in the best interest of our UNK community to pursue Chick-fil-A right now,” he wrote.  Calhoun did not provide any evidence that Chick-fil-A has ever discriminated against anyone … especially the LGBT community.

The University’s spokesman, Todd Gottula, told the local newspaper that Chick-fil-A has not been banned.  Well, that depends on what your definition of ban is.

The conflict stems from 2012, when Chick-fil-A’s president spoke out in support of traditional marriage.  That prompted all sorts of protests and outrage from militant LGBT activists.

Meanwhile, all those students who wanted to eat more chicken are fighting mad, the website Campus Reform reported.  Student Aaron Ohri fired off a letter calling the student government’s decision a “complete and total slap in the face to many of us on this campus who believe that Chick-fil-A is not wrong in what they believe.  I understand that a Christian lifestyle in this day and society is completely ‘disrespectful’ but please do not ever again send me an email speaking for the ‘whole student body’ when you do not have a clue what most of us actually think,” he wrote in a letter to the University.

Gottula commended on their behavior.  “It’s a shame that one piece of the puzzle, a chicken restaurant, is kind of hogging the story, when there’s some value here in seeing what our students like and would like to see in the union that would benefit them and make it a more enjoyable place to hang out,” he told the newspaper.

The disturbing national trend is this: Those who do not affirm the LGBT agenda are systematically being silenced.  Unless you ascribe to their point of view — you are not welcome to participate in the public market-place of ideas or commerce.  You will be made to conform — resistance is futile.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel