In the August 13 edition of Time magazine, "humor" columnist Joel Stein compared eating a Chick-fil-A sandwich to rock musicians playing at Sun City in South Africa during the apartheid era of racial segregation.
"As a guy who is very pro-gay rights, I desperately wished I'd eaten that chicken sandwich before it became symbolic," he wrote.
"I know a lot of musicians refused to play Sun City during apartheid, but I bet Sun City had crappy chicken sandwiches."
Stein then engaged with people who argued against boycotting fast-food chains over political or social disagreements, like screenwriter Matt Kemp:
Kemp, who is not in favor of gay marriage, has been yelled at a few times by people driving past who called him a bigot. But he thinks trying to police your purchases on the basis of a corporate leader's political beliefs is not only impossible but against the notion of engaging with people you disagree with. Plus, Chick-fil-A doesn't discriminate against gay customers or employees. In fact, he argued, its stance is the same as Obama's was until recently.
Still, after a gay man said "I hope I'm not going to hell" for eating Chick-fil-A," and he wanted to know how a friend's "soul felt" after he took a bite, the friend said "It's no better than Jack in the Box." So Stein said he went for a veggie meatball sandwich from a gourmet market where "the guy behind the counter told me he was way into gay marriage."
