Business & Tech

Support grows for lesbian's dinner request with Cathy

More than 28,000 sign online petition request from lesbian Midtown business owner to Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy to share a meal together.

Six days after launching a Change.org petition urging Chick-fil-A President and COO Dan Cathy to meet with her family and have a conversation over dinner about family and faith, a lesbian mother of two and Midtown business owner has seen her petition collect 28,000 online signatures.

Marci Alt is a co-founder of Carma Productions, located at 1116 West Peachtree Street, and its Gayborhood App. Carma Productions “is committed to LGBTQ community through the production and distribution of various publications and interactive media” according to its website. It works with The Atlanta Film FestivalFor The Kid In All of UsThe Midtown Festival of the Arts, and W3 Lifestyles, among others.

Cathy recently became the subject of national controversy after making several statements against same sex marriage.

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The petition reads:

Meet with an LGBT family

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Dear Mr. Cathy,

I am writing to invite you to have a friendly dinner with Atlanta-based small business owner Marci Alt, her wife of 8 years, and their two children.

It’s important for all of us to remember that this discussion is not about politics, it’s about human beings. Marci is hoping for a respectful dialogue about faith, work and families in Georgia. I think it would be a beneficial experience to everyone, no matter what side of this issue they are on, to sit down, have a nice meal, and talk to someone from the other side.

Marci is extending that offer to you. I hope you will accept.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

In 2008, Alt was selected as the Business Woman of the Year by the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce from the group’s membership roster of more than 350 local business professionals. Alt herself wrote at Change.org:

My name is Marci Alt. I live in Atlanta, Georgia with Marlysa, my wife of 8 years, and our two children, where we lead a pretty normal life. My wife and I are both small business owners, and like many American families, our family enjoys family vacations, going to church and temple, and large cookouts with our extended family, friends and community.

However, many loving American families like ours face unfair hardships because they are denied the chance to legally marry.

Since 2003, Chick-fil-A has given more than $5 million to organizations that actively work to hurt LGBT Americans. These groups include the Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center deems a hate group. Additionally, Chick-fil-A has donated to groups that have gone on record as calling for "criminal sanctions" against gay and lesbian Americans, as well as groups that promote so-called "ex-gay therapy," a practice both debunked and deemed as harmful by nearly every major medical authority in the country.

Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy himself said that our LGBT-accepting culture suffers from a "deprived mind," that marriage equality is "twisted up," and that making marriage equality legal is "inviting God's judgment."

Mr. Cathy has his opinion, but he should hear from us and from fellow Christians who disagree – and he should know how his donations are hurting families here in Georgia.

I'm inviting Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy and his family to join my family for dinner -- at his place or ours -- to see that we're just like any other American family. We care deeply about our faith, our family, our friends and our community, and think there's room to turn this debate into a dialogue.

Please join my family and GLAAD in calling on Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy to share a meal with an LGBT family.

Last week, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) organized the National Same-Sex Kiss Day at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country. On Friday, Aug. 3, Alt was at the forefront of an event at a Decatur Chick-fil-A.

“Dan Cathy has every right to voice his opinions, but he should meet Marci and her family before he donates additional dollars to hate groups that hurt loving families and everyday LGBT Americans,” GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said in a statement. “We’ve heard how he believes that gay couples should be denied the chance at happiness that comes with marriage and now it is time that he hears from one of these couples.”

There has been no official response from Chick-fil-A with regards to the dinner invitation. Meanwhile, earlier this week, Ann Coulter on ABC’s ‘This Week’ suggested Cathy’s comments weren’t “an anti-gay thing.”

"He said, look, all the founders of this company are married to our first wives. It's genuinely a pro-marriage position to oppose gay marriage," Coulter said.

What do you think the chances are that Cathy sits down to dinner with Alt and her family?


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