There is a disturbing rush to judgment going on when it comes to Chick-Fil-A.

In light of anti-gay-marriage comments by the company’s president, Dan Cathy, protests and counter-protests have sprung up at the fast-food restaurants across the country.

In our region, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a public university, is rethinking its vendor contracts in light of the kerfuffle.  And members of Santa Barbara’s Architectural Board of Review have taken extraordinary steps to delay the approval of a new Chick-Fil-A on upper State Street.

We’d offer a word of warning to partisans who want to take advantage of this issue on either side of the debate. On the surface this looks like an easy win for the conservative values crowd or the gay rights movement.

But, this is really about preserving freedom of speech and giving everybody the widest freedom of choice.  Arbitrarily punishing local Chick-Fil-A  franchisees because of the opinions of the corporation’s president is a step down a dangerous path, and not a  victory for freedom.