Right as his company became embroiled in one of the biggest PR nightmares an American company has ever faced, Donald Perry, Chick-fil-A’s Vice President of Corporate Public Relations, died of a heart attack this morning.
“We are saddened to report the news to you that our dear friend Don Perry passed away suddenly this morning,” read a statement from the company. “Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years. For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A. He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will all miss him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
After the initial controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A’s stance against marriage equality, the company suffered numerous black eyes in public perception: It appeared stores had pulled Jim Henson Company toys as retribution, and the corporation was accused of creating a fake Facebook account to respond to criticism. Mayors from Boston and Chicago denounced the chain and, just yesterday, teens from Youth Empowered to Act picketed the new Chick-fil-A franchise in Orange County, California.
None of that could have been good for Perry’s ticker.
Still, we don’t relish the death of anyone—well maybe Fred Phelps and James Holmes—and we hope Perry’s health wasn’t affected by an overabundance of greasy fried chicken in his diet.
Vast Variety
This post seems a bit unnecessary doesn’t it?
Tom
I think maybe we as a community are veering into overkill with this Chik-Fil-A situation, including over the death of a PR person in corporate. Maybe we should focus a little more on the positive, such as the $2.5 million donation from the Amazon founder, and rally behind him and his company and use our dollars to buy from those companies, such as Amazon.
cam
@Tom:
Yes, by all means, how dare the gay community get upset about a company that is taking millions of dollars and donating it to groups whose sole aim is to strip away our civil rights.
How rude of us.
Here’s a thought, perhaps Chik Fill et shouldn’t be donating millions of dollars with the express aim of harming a minority group.
Tom
By all means— please use your weekend time wisely to ponder the following cryptic message…………..Did Chick-fil-A’s Chief PR Wiz Die Of Shame Or Clogged Arteries?
DF
Yes, Tom, we must continue with the positives. I sent an email to Amazon.com today asking them to thank the founder and his wife – Mr. and Mrs. Bezos on my behalf for such a wonderful gift to the LGBT community. If we descend into bigotry and hate, we will never rise above the bigotry and hate.
Nick
Upshot: you mess with us, you die!
kevininbuffalo
It’s God’s judgement on the Chick-a-Fil lifestyle.
Charlie
Oh it can be fun to indulge in a little tap-dancing on the graves of homophobes.
Mark
I used to be naive enough to believe that, due to the suffering many LGBT people go through, we were generally nicer, but I have long since realized that gay people are just as awful are straight people. The man dies and we sit here making fun of his death? This kind of stuff is not only mean, but it makes us look bad. So even if you can’t find it in your heart to feel bad for the family of a man who died, at least keep in mind that it is bad PR to act like a heartless shit.
Chadwick
Nice. Donating money to the hate groups is shitty but so is this headline. Way to keep it classy Queerty!
Richard Ford
I have to admit, my first reaction upon reading the headline “Chick Fil ‘A public relations executive dies of heart attack” was to laugh out loud.
I would like to think that any hilarity I encountered in Mr. Perry’s demise was an appreciation of the pure irony of the situation itself.
I had never heard of this person, never wished him any harm, and I certainly do not celebrate his death.
However, if a gay rights advocate involved in these skirmishes had suddenly suffered a coronary, I think I would have found no humor in it, even momentarily, and that does leave me thinking.
Charlie
Mark I hear you – the best practice is only to engage in language that builds bridges. But I think this is basically a bit of graveyard humor coming from the oppressed and I think it’s especially potent because of the religious language used by anti-marriage equality groups at the moment. We are being told that God will cast down nations that support homosexuality and Sodom and Gamorrah have been frequently referenced (though never by Chick-Fil-A). So the lashing out with with vitriolic statements, that we would probably never dream of making in the presence of Donald Perry’s grieving family, ensues. Does that reaction put us on the same level as the Archbishop who recently suggested a gay minister died because he was gay? It probably does even, if we don’t actually believe Perry’s death has anything to do with this gay marriage issue. It’s black humor and it satisfies in the same way that snacking on junk food satisfies.
Eric
@Charlie: just pointing out, this guy didn’t make the homophobic comments, the CEO did. He probably wasn’t pro-marriage equality either, but he wasn’t the real bad guy, just the one who was forced cleaned up his mess.
I won't grow up
Off topic here. Is it just me, or is the slogan “Eat more Chicken” just a bit perverted?
Spike
Just a little mean spirited post, you think. This Chick-A-Fil vilification is going to eventually back fire. The president has a right to his views and contribute accordingly, we have the right to not spend our money there. Educating people, right, telling people who don’t have an opinion either way not to spend their money there, wrong. They have a right to conduct their business where the want, if the community does not support it, then it was a bad business plan.
Lifer
Am I the only one that’s going with clogged artery on this one??
Drew
Honestly who cares about Chick fil A?
If you don’t like them, don’t eat there it’s that simple. I agree that there’s no need to go overboard about it.
B
I saw a picture of the deceased on sfgate.com just before reading Dan’s article. While the medical reason Dan suggested immediately popped into my head upon seeing that picture, I wouldn’t make a public statement claiming or suggesting that – it’s disrespectful to the family (and for all we know, he may even have a gay son).
On the other hand, if you look at a map of where Chick Fil A outlests are, where the Bible Belt is, and overlay that on a map showing the level of obesity by state, a correlation between Chick Fil A and poor health will be apparent.
http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Meal/ has a Calorie calculator. A chicken sandwich alone is 440. An order of Cole Slaw is 360. Do the math. It only shows the total for a meal, though. My suggestion – stay away if you want six-pack abs.
Josh F
@Mark: You’re right Mark, our community can be just as nasty and hateful as any other. We find it even among ourselves. I defended the post about the Bears a week or so ago, when people were hating on us. I feel bad for the man passing away and the grief his family must be enduring. I had not thoughts of laughing, or attacking him. @Tom: you are correct, we should focus on and support those groups that support us. We need to ban with those that help us. It’s okay to post that some group or corp is giving money to those groups that hate us, so we know where not to shop or where to avoid, But constant attack is just making us look as bad as them. @DF: I’m following in suit, I will also be writing a letter to them, thanks for sharing that.
CupCake
I’ve seen a lot of fat queers.
Obesity and heart disease is hardly a problem with Christians alone.
Shannon1981
Good riddance.
George
Let’s boycott gasoline because OPEC executes gay people
Mike
Really, who fucking cares?
Olive Austin
Roast in peace.
B
No. 20 · CupCake wrote, “I’ve seen a lot of fat queers. Obesity and heart disease is hardly a problem with Christians alone.” … but I wrote “Bible Belt”.
It’s a problem in the Bible Belt regardless of religion. For a map, look at http://craphound.com/images/obesityinamericamap.jpg and http://graphics.latimes.com/calmap-childhood-obesity-rates/ has one for California – there is a lot of variation within the state with the more liberal areas typically being the least obese. California’s Bible Belt correlates with elevated levels of obesity.
Cam
@Mark: said..
“I used to be naive enough to believe that, due to the suffering many LGBT people go through, we were generally nicer, but I have long since realized that gay people are just as awful are straight people. The man dies and we sit here making fun of his death?”
____________
Oh GOODNESS ME, please bring Mark his smelling salts. A company has donated MILLIONS to strip away gays rights and force the country to pass bigoted laws. But How DARE gay people make a few snide comments and not respect this person who was an integral part of the attacks against us.
Oh yes, making a snide comment is JUST as bad as spending millions to attack and harm gays and their families.
Your comment is pathetic. I’ve heard that Chick Fill Et was paying trolls to go out on the internet and defend them. I hope their check to you clears.
paul T.
According to Huff post
“Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years,”,
“For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A”,
“responsible for external communications and publicity programs in support of key company initiatives.”
So this poor guy spent almost 30 YEARS on PR for Chick-fil-a and has his lifes work RUINED in one instant when Don Cathy said “Guilty as Charged”.
Then a week later he has a heart attack amid the shit storm and dies.
UN-FREAKING BELIEVABLE.
I know it’s wrong but I’m in schadenfreudey BLISSS.
Gonna have a great Friday night.
Gonna have a fried chicken strip sandwich from Carl’s Jr just to drive home my sense of karmic victory.
And while I feel very badly for Mr. Perry’s loved ones I feel worse for the families of the gay kids who kill themselves because of the hatred and bigotry the company he worked for perpetuates.
Paul
@cam: I’m w/you, Cam. Fuck ’em!
DJ
Queerty is full of sick fcuks.
The Chic-Fil-A stores are all owned by franchisees. I don’t eat there because I don’t care for fast food, but I can’t see penalizing the people who own these franchises along with their employees just because the president of the franchisor is a religious asshole.
But of course the nasty queen contingent always looks for blood from anyone they can get their hands on, whether they’re innocent or guilty, whenever someone else dares to speak out against us.
Charlie
Paul please do have fried chicken but don’t buy it at Carl’s Jr – they are also quite well-documented for their right-wing politics.
Kev C
Maybe God is trying to say: Roast in hell, Chick Fil A.
Paul
@Richard Ford: My first thought was “Oh shit…they’re *really* having a bad week”. So w/ya there, Rich…as much as I hope Chic fil A suffers every single financial and social repurcussion they get, I *do* feel bad for Perry’s family. In a way, I blame Mr. Cathy and the rest of the Christian assholes for this, because if it wasn’t for their homophobic archaic stance, they wouldn’t have this flak now. Could have all this pressure caused Mr. Perry’s death. Karma’s a bitch, and I hope Cathy and all of his harsh, horrible and homophobic beliefs burn in hell.
Paul
@Charlie: Don’t do fried chicken myself, Charlie…or fried anything, actually. Not healthy for ya.
Charlie
@Paul: sorry meant paulT who above you said he is having fried chicken.
Paul
@Charlie: Yes…I noticed that after myself, ha ha
mrsbuela
oh honeys mrs buela here to tell all of ya ta git over yerselfs honey oh lawds yes honey.
all this happy horse manure about takin the high road and not stoopin to their levels honey puhleeeese honey.
there two ways this can go honey yall can sit back and let them stomp all over ya or ya can grow a set stand up and toss their happy horse manure back at em wit interest honey oh yes honey and guess which one ol buela is doin honey?
the lgbt community dint start this honey oh no honey that dumbass cathy did honey he coulda easily said nothin and nobody woulda been wiser but he got up there and rubbed it in the faces of the lgbt community honey oh yes honey it like a kkk member tellin the blacks he givin money to noose makin companies honey oh yes it is honey.
ol buela gots no sympathy for the man honey oh no she dont honey cuz honey he was fully aware of what was goin down. if he had an ounce of a conscience he woulda told cathy where to stick it and resign honey but no honey he stayed on honey doin cathy’s dirty work honey oh lawds yes honey.
mrs buela so tired of all this happy horse manure of people sayin they aint gonna stoop to those levels honey wake up and smell the coffee honey cuz obviously yall sittin there on your holier than tho thrones aint helpin honey hell no honey make the lgbt community look like a buncha wimps honey oh yes honey maybe if more people in the community would grow a set of balls and stand up we wouldn’t keep getting plowed by foot long barb wired covered didlos honey. cuz honey once they learn they dont want ta go messin wit ya honey they will go find somebody else to hate on honey oh lawds yes honey.
and while ol buela at it honey and she definitely walk the walk and not sit on here and talk bout how good she gonna walk and then do all that titty baby whinin honey ol buela been terrorizin the hell outta tha local chick fila here in new orleans honey oh yes honey it day two of buelas rampage honey. it start yesterday when she went into all six and place a big order and then she wait and then cancel it after they start preparin the food honey and announce she goin to popeyes instead honey oh yes honey she did it honey yall can count on it honey ol buela does what she say she gonna do honey not like many of tha sackless wonders sittin on here hidin behind their computer screens honey oh yes honey buela went there again honey.
then today ol buela continued her rampage honey oh yes honey she go to three chick filas honey and when that female cashier ask her what she wanna order ol buela tell her she aint givin no order to no woman honey hell no honey go read the bible honey 1 timothy 2:12 honey it say women needs to keep them traps shut honey oh yes honey she aint got no business talkin to a man honey cuz honey if chick fila all about christian values then it best be applyin all of em honey oh yes honey and then ol buela rip into tha biotch manager honey cuz honey accordin to the bible women aint supposed to be in position of authority honey oh yes honey go look it up honey. and honey that skank also had a big ol tattoo honey that a nono in the bible too honey oh yes it is honey so ol buela read tha skank like a library book honey oh yes she did honey a second day of a big ol scene in the local chick filas honey oh yes honey its buelas new hobbie to go in and harass tha hell outta em and make a big ol scene honey and honey while buela there doin her thing several people leave the store honey oh yes honey by the time ol buela done nobody gonna be eatin at any of em down here honey oh lawds yes honey.
so yall think ol buela gives a rapid rats rectum that some hatin corporate tool bit the big one honey? hell no honey ol buela will go into them chick filas tomorrow wit a pic of him and say it gods will cuz he wasn’t a good christian honey cuz he work for a company that allow women to have authority over men honey oh yes honey ol buela got a mean streak in her honey oh it true honey but ol buela she only toss back what thrown her way honey so if they want to have a pissin match ol buela up for it honey she gots goood kidneys and big ol bladder and can hold it for a real long time honey lets see who can out piss who honey.
ding dong that hater’s dead honey. ol buela now gonna go look for his pic so she can take it inta chick filas tomorrow honey.
Chuck
Yes, let’s make light of someone’s death. This will make people support our cause more. I’m about to die of shame because of the blather queerty writes.
DJ
Well said Chuck #37 I agree.
paul T.
What fast food chicken sandwich would you recommend, Charlie?? I’m open to suggestions. Watching the Olympics.
F Stratford
I can’t help but wonder that if one of our guys died the people on the other side, like Cathy, would say something like this is God’s judgement.
Well, using the same logic, could we then say that this is God’s wrath pouring down on Chick fil a?
B
No. 27 · paul T. wrote, “I know it’s wrong but I’m in schadenfreudey BLISSS.
Gonna have a great Friday night. Gonna have a fried chicken strip sandwich from Carl’s Jr just to drive home my sense of karmic victory.”
… unfortunately for Paul, his “karma” may involve suffering a similar heart attack, fueled by artery-clogging fried chicken strips.
Guys, while it may be tacky to gloat about someone’s demise, at least don’t be self-destructive to the point where you suffer the same fate.
Robert Wright
Fuck positive, This Company needs to go down – they made their company a political machine now they must deal with it including the inconvenient deaths along the way because they have not offered us peace love and happiness baby .. they give us Leviticus and damnation –
Cathy gave over 3 million to Anti-Gay groups that work to repeal laws that benefit the LGBT people – the man is a blatant homophobe – if a company was against inter-racial marriage and then donated to the KKK – don’t you think there would be an uproar ? Cathy’s Answer is to pray the Gay Away …… so how does God reward him ? Don Perry, the vice president of public relations for Chick-fil-A dies of a heart attack, perhaps as Judgement of this very company that thinks it can sit in judgement of the Gay population and bankroll Anti-Gay sentiment. God truly does work in mysterious ways does he not Mr. Cathy.
JamesNYC
Anyone really surprised Chick-Fil-A is anti-gay? It’s definitely not a shocker. We know the creator is quite religious and very devoted, that is their reasoning for being closed on Sundays and it’s their choice. Pretty sure they are Southern Baptist.. That being said, no one should really be surprised and the business should not be forced to change.
If you don’t like this, it’s simple don’t eat there.
JamesNYC
Anyone really surprised Chick-Fil-A is anti-LGBT and same gender marriage? It’s definitely not a shocker. We know the creator is quite religious and very devoted, that is their reasoning for being closed on Sundays and it’s their choice. Pretty sure they are Southern Baptist.. That being said, no one should really be surprised and the business should not be forced to change.
If you don’t like this, it’s simple don’t eat there.
paul T.
@B: I appreciate your concern. But I’ll spend an extra half hour on cardio to mitigate the damage, Lol. It’s ok to indulge in crap comfort food once in a while. All this talk about fast food fried chicken sandwiches made me really want one. I used to eat them every night in college (Burger King, the WORST Lol). It’s 10.20 though and we don’t feel like going out. Maybe tomorrow. This opening ceremony is putting us to sleep. And yes it’s bad to feel happy about someones death. I lived in NYC from 87 till 95 so I know PLENTY about the death of loved ones and was very involved in act up/equity fights aids. But for this company’s homophobia to cause one of THEM to have a heart attack is poetic.
Schlukitz
@Tom:
Yes. Because burying one’s head in the sand is so effective in minimizing and combating the harm that the bigots and haters cause.
Belize
What? Over 40 posts already and yet still no response from Colin? Could it be that he died “Of Shame Or Clogged Arteries?”
Chuck
@JamesNYC: I don’t think people care that they’re anti-gay. I think people care that they’re donating millions to anti-gay foundations that actively pass legislation to make discrimination legal.
On these grounds, it’s perfectly fine, and an accepted part of our political system to call them out on it and boycott them. So yes, we are not eating there, and in addition, we are spreading the word to get as many people as possible to not eat their either. It’s not to change their position. It’s to dry up the funds they’ll use to pass more anti-gay legislature.
Ron
1. The post by “mrs buela” – Does anyone know which setting in Google translate will put that into English?
2. Congratulations Queerty, the headline is worthy of a British tabloid. well done
Bill
@ron: THANK YOU. That was the most hypnotizing and fascinatingly weird comment I’ve ever read in a comment strain.
Ish
Schlukitz stop being such a hypocrite. You’re highly biphobic and practice your own brand of bigotry and hate towards bisexual men both here on queerty and on another blog we both go to. You’re no better than people who are homophobic.
D9W
Q: Did Chick-fil-A’s Chief PR Wiz Die Of Shame Or Clogged Arteries?
A: No he died from Militant Ignorance.
SeaChas
I had someone flip me shit tonight about my gloating over the death of Mr. Perry. Let me tell you what I said.
“Mr. Perry earned a pretty damned good living working for 29 years at Chick-Fil-A explaining away about how “wholesome” and “Godly” this business was. He had an economic lifestyle that put him and his family at least in the upper 10 percent of income earners. He lived a shortened, but reasonably long enough life.
Now, tell me how damn hard Mr. Perry had it compared to any number of juvenile gay teens who just committed suicide because this world taught them there was no place for them.”
Get some perspective people and quit becoming some damn enabler to a company or society that spends ample amounts of money to make your life harder.
You think anyone from this Chick-Fil-A company would be feeling sorry if you passed away prematurely, or would they be saying you received “God’s Judgment”?
For all the bullshit about Republicans and Christians telling us to “Take personal responsibility” this Mr. Perry obviously neglected his health. What do you think that other “Tea Party” deity Ayn Rand would say about this?
Rest in Peace, Mr. Perry, but don’t think for an instant that I’m not glad you can’t harm us anymore.
Brendan
It feels a little wrong to suggest that he died of shame but I can’t help but think that if the roles were reversed you know that they would say that this was divine retribution from God… ya know, like they said about Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami and the earthquake.
Kev C
I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about” Dan Cathy COO Chick-Fil-A
I think God has spoken, Dan or Cathy.
hf2hvit
He’s probably off to the big closet in the sky…
Hyhybt
@Charlie: Their *founder* was documented for anti-gay politics. Is there evidence that the company as it exists in 2012 is politically active in an anti-gay manner?
DJ
SeaChas-It’s not as though this guy was actually responsible for LGBT youth or adults, or even hetero people making the personal choice to take their own life.
Schlukitz
@SeaChas:
Well said/
Points very well made, SeaChas
Jay
Our lives get better one homophobic funeral at a time.
Schlukitz
@Jay:
Unfortunately, nature abhors a vacuum!
Mattie Knapp
We as people have the right from our freedom of speach to say what we think or feel. This CEO is a christian and stands on christian beliefs. He said he believed in traditional marriages then all these feaks start shouting about their rights about what he has said is so wrong. Well read your BIBLE and you will see that GOD tells you this kind of relation ship is not right. So you want us to keep quite about what we believe but then you want to rub your way of life in our faces and take our rights away. I don’t believe in your kind of relations but I’m not the one that has to stand before God at judgment day and answer for any of this. And making fun of this man that just died is so sick. His family lost a husband, father, grandfather and they are mourning. So people act your age. I believe marriage is one man and one woman. Not man & man or woman & woman. God said to reproduce. How do you do that if you say you are gay. This is so sick.
D9W
I Bet Mattie Knapp could not pass the Robert Tilton test!
We have a guy here in Seattle call Kc Treat who like Robert Tilton clamed to know everything about the Bible. Well there was a Professor from Seattle Pacific University named Robert Wall who took on Kc Treat and called KC on all his religious bull. Now dear Kc runs like a scared rabbit when Wall shows up.
What Mattie is not telling you is King David had 300 concubines- well let’s see here what is a concubine? According to “Dictionary DOT com” a con.cu.bine is a noun:
1.
a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not legally married, especially one regarded as socially or sexually subservient; mistress.
2.
(among polygamous peoples) a secondary wife, usually of inferior rank.
3.
(especially formerly in Muslim societies) a woman residing in a harem and kept, as by a sultan, for sexual purposes.
Then you got that little problem of 1st kings 11: 3- were it says he had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines…. It also stated that his wives lead King David away from the Lord
.
Well If a man had that many wives no wonder he was lead astray… who could put up with that many women at that time of the month… But don’t tell me that marriage in the Old Testament was about one husband and one old little ‘wifie’. TRY MORE THEN 300 Wives. Then there is that problem King David had when he was of old age of being cold… The Nation of Israel had beautified contest to see who the most attractive girl was in the whole land. They found her and she got to be lucky 700+ one wife for the king. The problem was the she did not warm him up. Well let’s be honest here, it didn’t have anything to do with the King needing a bed warmer. King David did not have any blue little pills to get things up, so there were no pitter patters of little feet, therefore he could not be king anymore because of limp issues. Problem is the text does not come out and say King David was impotent in his old age. But anyone knows you don’t get a skinny cute girl to keep you warm at night, you get the fat one. There are other issues that King David had that the theologians can’t agree on, but I will save them for another day.
I am just saying Old Test does not equal One Man and One woman- like the Morons for Jesus would have you believe.
D9W
Sex Ed for the Brain dead:
If you ever bother reading the Songs of Solomon you might come across a passage where it talks about fine honey wine that comes from the naval- Well Honey, try something a little bit lower then a female naval. I am sorry but both the Jewish faith and the Christian Faith have had (both pass and present) a real problem with being right up front about what is going on with sex in the religious text. Let me give you an Old Test example: Kind David and Jonathan- Let’s try where Jonathan makes one of his guards swear an oath. It says the oath was made on Jonathan’s thigh- Hint right nut! Were said oath was given: it was not on a thigh but his friend in the middle, left nut. If you really understand Jonathan and his response to the first time seeing David you will understand that Jonathan was not having just a bro date with David. Religious nuts can go on saying the thigh, but then you have to buy into Naval’s giving fine honey wine – Trust me Cunnilingus experts know you cant get honey from a naval. It’s like the writers of the text ‘knew’ what was going on (wink, wink between the lines) but kept things coded so they could get away with the wink, winks. But it’s like the pent up fundies of now days can’t get their light bulb or blue pill to turn on for either brains on this subject.
So let’s get our head out of our behinds on this subject: The Old Testament version has marriage as one man and more than one owned woman (as in property). Oh they were property, just they had a bunch of sister wives too. I doubt that most women today would accept being a sister wife or being property or be considered as brain dead puppy mills. But that’s the problem with the blind leading the uneducated blind. The rest of the story will have you laughing if you bother to read it and you know the code words, even if you don’t believe it.
Hyhybt
@D9W: Not that it matters for the purposes of this thread, but although David had more than his share himself, I’m pretty sure it was his son Solomon who had the 700 wives and 300 concubines.
D9W
@Hyhybt Hey Girl Friend- Jonathan was gay. It was King David that had the 700 wives and Concubine. Kng David was Bi.
Hyhybt
@D9W: See, now you made me go look it up. 1 Kings 11: 1-3:
“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: 2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.”
(As for David and Jonathan being a couple… I lean towards yes, but there are enough cultural differences and enough words that are sometimes used euphemistically and sometimes literally that it could go either way.)