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# One More on Chick-Fil-A, with John Corvino
- URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/one-more-on-chick-fil-a-with-john-corvino/
- Published: 2012-08-09T16:11:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-20T20:48:00.000Z
- Description: John Corvino and Matthew Lee Anderson discuss whether Chick-Fil-A should be boycotted for its stance on traditional marriage.
- Author: Mere Orthodoxy
- Tags: Matthew Lee Anderson, Social Trends

I've had company in town and have been frantically putting together last-second arrangements for our trip across the ocean, so things have been a little quiet for me. But this week John Corvino and I decided to tag-team the Chick-Fil-A issue and to say something sensible about the whole thing.

If you don't know John's name, well, you should. He's one of the most careful gay apologists I know and is someone who has become a friend. We've dialogued about some of these issues publicly before and we'd like to keep that up (which means if you have a budget, we will travel!).

I've a forthcoming review of his [co-authored book with Maggie Gallagher on same-sex marriage,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199756317/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0199756317&linkCode=as2&tag=mereorth-20&ref=mereorthodoxy.com) which is as good a place as any to wade into the debate as I've seen. But in the meantime, [here's our latest serving of commentary on the Chick-Fil-A brouhaha](http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/105836/sometimes-chicken-sandwich-just-chicken-sandwich?ref=mereorthodoxy.com).

> Sometimes a chicken sandwich is just a chicken sandwich. Except, it seems, when it’s from Chick-Fil-A, and you find yourself in the midst of a culture war. In fact, the two of us are passionate participants in that war: Matthew is the lead writer at MereOrthodoxy.com and a socially conservative evangelical Christian; John is a gay man, a religious skeptic, and a well known marriage-equality advocate.  
>  
> We differ on the definition of marriage, the existence of God, and other important stuff. Yet we’re also friends, not in the happy-pappy “can’t we all just get along” sense, or worse, in the self-congratulatory “look at how tolerant I am” sense, but in a more challenging and thus more meaningful way. We actually listen to each other, even when it’s hard.  
>  
> Which is how we discovered last week some common ground in the whole Chick-Fil-A [brouhaha](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/us/taking-sides-on-chick-fil-a-is-a-temptation-few-can-resist.html?%5Fr=1&ref=mereorthodoxy.com). Some of it is easy: We agree that Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy has the right to opine as he wishes on controversial topics, however unwise a business decision that may be; that religious conservatives have a right to express their solidarity by eating fried chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, however unwise a dietary decision that may be; and that gays and their allies have a right to boycott the restaurant and to protest peacefully, however ineffectual such boycotts may be. For comparison, consider the National Organization for Marriage’s [“Dump Starbucks”](http://www.dumpstarbucks.com/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) campaign. (Starbucks supports marriage for same-sex couples.)

 Matt