I support Chick-fil-A. It’s hard to say that and not come off as a bigot, but stay with me for a moment.

Chick-fil-A is a privately owned company started by entrepreneur, Truett Cathy, in 1946. In recent media, the company has been under a lot of criticism for supporting organizations that do not support same-sex marriage. In an interview with Baptist Press in July, president and chief operating officer, Dan Cathy, admitted that he strongly believes in the traditional, biblical form of marriage – one man, one woman.

And then a flash flood of anger swept over social media networks…

Personal views aside, you can’t deny that the ownders of Chick-fil-A are exercising their rights as Americans. It’s hard for me to not respect the company in some sense.

Chick-fil-A is a privately owned company; if its leaders want to spend their money on a cause or belief that they support, then, by all means, we live in a country that allows us to do just that.

Sure, it’s disagreeable to many (myself even), but Chick-fil-A does deserve some respect – its leaders are actively supporting a cause they believe in.

What angers me isn’t so much the fact that they don’t support same-sex marriage. It’s the reaction following that angers me the most. After hearing Dan Cathy stand up and support something he believed in, I was expecting to hear a lot of talking about it on Facebook/twitter/blogs/etc. – boy, did I ever.

But, here’s the thing – that’s as far as anyone’s proactive fight for a cause extended. Perhaps a few of you have stopped eating there and that’s great, but that’s really not going to stop Chick-fil-A from thriving again, and it’s not going to stop them from abiding by their beliefs.

Last semester, in my British Literature class, my professor said something that stuck with me: people throughout history have been able to really work within the confines of their society. Even though there can be restricting laws and social norms, there is a way to proactively and intelligently make a bold statement in a way that people can (after the initial shock) come around to and comprehend.

So, for those of you outraged by the injustice of not having equal rights regarding same-sex marriage, use the rights that you currently DO HAVE protected by the American constitution and actively support your cause. Stop only writing about it on Facebook and then forgetting about it.