Lifestyle

‘I’m gay, and this is why I’m still obsessed with Chick-fil-A’

A 12-piece box of Chick-fil-A nuggets dipped in the signature honey mustard-barbecue sauce is one of life’s most delectable pleasures. That’s a fact — as is my being gay. These are two truths that cannot be changed.

Unfortunately, they are also two truths that are increasingly at odds, as reports have surfaced about the fast-food chain’s ardent opposition to gay marriage. Many members of the LGBT community have called for a boycott.

I would like to get married someday, but I cannot support the ban on Chick-fil-A.

As someone who grew up on the stuff, it’s not just fried chicken. It is deep-fried Southern warmth and joy and all things good smothered in a sweet, tangy sauce or wrapped in a buttery bun.

Not having a Chick-fil-A here definitely ranks among the top three worst things about New York City for me (behind the price of my rent and the illegality of getting drunk in public parks).

But its scarcity has only deepened my affection for it — when I return to Virginia to visit my parents for the holidays, it is unspoken that the first stop after the Amtrak station will not be my childhood home, but good ol’ Chick-fil-A.

I do feel like a bad gay for choosing my taste buds over my brethren.

Every time I take a bite into that succulent poultry, I imagine a gay couple burning at the stake. But we can’t fight every battle. While I would like to join my fellow members of the LGBT community in fighting this fight, to show business owners that there are financial repercussions for bigotry and exclusion, I just can’t.

I’m not strong enough. My body yearns for that peanut oil like a stripper yearns for her father’s love. When the first brick-and-mortar Chick-fil-A opens in New York, I will be there, first in line.

I’m thinking I’ll wear a gay pride T-shirt, though, as some sort of gay version of a carbon-footprint credit. That counts for something, right?