I am still facebook friends with a few of my Naval Academy classmates (class of 1981). Most are very conservative.
The conversation started when I posted this:
More below the fold....
Background
My point on this whole matter: I acknowledged that I thought that Chick-Fil-A restaurants ought to be treated in the same way as other businesses when it comes to licenses, permits and the like.
The CEO of Chick-Fil-A has free speech rights and the GOVERNMENT shouldn't sanction him on his views.
Now when it comes to customers patronizing his business: customers have free speech rights too. And yes, this CEO went beyond merely saying "I think that gay marriage is immoral"; he actively worked against gay rights by funding groups trying to prevent gay rights legislation from passing and trying to overturn newly won rights.
Two of the groups (at least) are listed as "hate groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center (here and here)
The point of this post
During the discussion, I had posted a photo of Chic-Fil-A patrons and called them "dummies". I also called the Chick-Fil-A CEO a "slime-bag".
Then one of my Naval Academy classmates (a smart guy who built a successful business) accused ME of "hate".
I couldn't quite tease out what his problem with me was, but evidently he saw the Chick-Fil-A CEO as merely "expressing an opinion".."practicing his religion"...and evidently.....a "reasonable opinion" with his actions.
On the other hand, I "called people names": in his mind, my name calling was hateful but the ACTIONS by the CEO weren't.
I have to admit that I've seen this from other conservatives (example: my wife's Rotary Club). People are considered "nice" if they dress well and behave with manners. WHAT causes they work for simply isn't a criterion for "niceness".
Sorry: bigotry, even when approved of by religion and expressed by monetary means and spoken in proper diction via hotel ballrooms remains bigotry.