Of course it was just another example of tokenism and hucksterism by a corporation seeking to align itself with a faddish cause célèbre. Of course the media’s and the Twitterati’s response demonstrates that for all our demographic stagnation and declining fertility, the relative rate of birth of suckers has not slowed since P. T. Barnum first observed that datum in his famous (alleged) quip.
I refer to the latest Pride Month corporate pandering stunt, Burger King’s jab at Chick-fil-A by pledging to donate to LGBT causes portions of all its sales from its new chicken sandwich, “even on Sundays.” Chick-fil-A, owned by Evangelical Christians, is famous for closing on Sunday to honor the Lord’s Day.
We needn’t dwell upon whether Burger King intentionally sought to offend Christians, or was simply tone deaf, with their insinuation that Chick-fil-A’s Sunday closures is a silly, quaint, and provincial observance.
More remarkable than any of this, to me, is how Burger King’s stunt is just one more demonstration that puts the lie to the claims made by the very LGBT activist organizations to which Burger King will be donating: that the LGBT community is somehow a politically weak, oppressed minority on the forefront of a new Civil Rights movement in the United States.
The Business Coalition
Simply consult the so-called Human Rights Campaign’s “Business Coalition for the Equality Act.” The HRC, incidentally, will be a beneficiary of Burger King’s donations. It will get 40 cents for every chicken sandwich Burger King sells, up to $250,000. HRC relies heavily upon corporate donations for its roughly $50 million annual budget.
The Business Coalition, HRC brags has “437 member companies … [with] operations in all 50 states, headquarters spanning 33 states and a combined $6.9 trillion in revenue, and employ over 14.7 million people in the United States.” This coalition is simply one part of a network that also includes, “a majority of Americans, hundreds of members of Congress, hundreds of advocacy organizations, and more than 60 business associations — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.”
This is, let it be noted, only a snapshot of a particular coalition formed in support of a particular piece of legislation. A broader listing of more general “corporate allies” of LGBT causes — to say nothing of celebrities, influencers, media companies, and the like — would be even more expansive by far.
And one could, if one wanted, add to this certain bragging rights of other organizations like GLAAD and GLSEN, such as the fact that over 60% of American students report their school having a “Gay-Straight Alliance” (GSA) or similar group.
Marginalized?
And yet, HRC, these other advocacy groups, hundreds of Congress critters, a parade of celebrity influencers, and the majority of major news media, will trot out in every conversation about legislation like The Equality Act that LGBT Americans are mostly marginalized and discriminated against, lacking representation and advocacy for their interests.
If this is socio-political disenfranchisement and marginalization, what do they think power and influence would be? I think we can guess. The ability to impose their idea of sexual identity on anyone who does not share it, with the force of the law and the state, and to push any position of disagreement to the social and legal fringe.
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