By Bill O'Reilly

Thousands of folks lined up yesterday to buy chicken at more than 1,600 Chick-Fil-A restaurants across the country. They did this because some liberal politicians want to keep Chick-Fil-A out of their cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe in freedom of speech and we're very proud for what we stand for. And we love Chick-Fil-A.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To condemn a person because of his personal religious beliefs, to condemn an entire company because their founder is a Christian it's just wrong. Wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's definitely unfair. It's a bullying tactic I believe by the media.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bottom line is if you don't believe in what Chick-Fil-A stands for, don't eat there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Right on. Now the controversy began when Dan Cathy, the Chick boss said God would punish America for embracing gay marriage. Mr. Cathy also donated money to protect traditional marriage and that has angered his ideological opponents.

As we opined last night the beliefs of both sides should be respected. That's what freedom of expression is all about. So when politicians try to attack a business because they don't like the politics of its management, that's flat out un-American.

And the argument that antigay marriage people are violating somebody's rights is flat out false. Marriage is not a constitutional right. We expect the Supreme Court will further define that issue but right now marriage is regulated by the states and it is a sacrament in many religions.

Also noteworthy is the fact that liberal politicians are now attacking the -- or not attacking I should say, not attacking the many African- American pastors who are publicly against gay marriage. You don't hear calls to boycott those churches, do you?

So there's plenty of hypocrisy going on and more than a little fascism. The hallmark of totalitarian regimes whether they be communist, fascist or simply oppressive is to shut down the opposition, silence them, punish them. That's what the mayors of Boston and Chicago and San Francisco want to do, punish Chick-Fil-A.

"Talking Points" believes the vast majority of Americans condemn that stance. Again there are good people on both sides of the gay marriage issue. And we must protect their sincerely-held beliefs. It is not wrong or bigoted to believe American society is stronger and that the family unit is better served when marriage is between a man and a woman.

It is also not wrong for homosexual Americans to want to get as much parity as they can. Robust debate a good thing, threats and intimidation un-American.

And that's the memo.

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