July 27, 2012 04:22 PM UTC

Stay Classy, Colorado Springs Gazette?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The illustration seen below has been removed from the Gazette editorial board’s Facebook page. It’s been replaced by a new one of the Chick-Fil-A cows holding signs that say “no gay marriage.” Along with this message, which you can judge for yourself:

As so many found the original cartoon offensive, I have replaced it with this. The cartoon that caused so much commotion was a slam against homophobia, obtained from a gay rights publication. It characterized the business as the anti-gay Westorough [sic–Pols] Baptist cult and then said “we didn’t invent homophobia, but we inextricably endorse it.” This was presented to illustrate the strong nature of the backlash against the company and was clearly not presented as an insult to gays.

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We were forwarded this item last night from the Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board’s Facebook page. We’ve been trying to come up with a rational explanation for it, no luck so far:

This Facebook post links to an editorial on the Gazette website titled “Support freedom; eat at Chick-Fil-A.” The editorial encourages readers to eat at Chick-Fil-A despite the recent controversy over remarks made by that chain’s president disparaging of same-sex marriage.

The thing is, the image that the Gazette board chose for this Facebook post is not on the side of Chick-fil-A. Appropriating the words of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church with placards held by cows is quite obviously not intended to cast Chick-Fil-A in a positive light.

Yet here it is being invoked to “support freedom by dining at Chic-Fil-A [sic]?”

We keep thinking there must be a too-clever-by-half message in using this photo to support Chick-Fil-A during the present controversy, but like we said, we haven’t figured out what it is.

And some interpretations of the meaning here are, needless to say, not real good.