Christian bible-based fast-food retailer Chick-Fil-A is not welcome in Boston, says long-time Boston Democratic mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has led the city –New England’s largest — since 1993. Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy has been making the rounds recently, attacking same-sex marriage and promoting his bible-based business which has 1600 outlets and annual sales of $4.5 billion.
READ: Chick-Fil-A: So What’s The Big Deal, It’s Just Some Chicken, Right?
“Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston,” Mayor Merino told the Boston Herald. “You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” Merino said, adding, “That’s the Freedom Trail. That’s where it all started right here. And we’re not going to have a company, Chick-fil-A or whatever the hell the name is, on our Freedom Trail.”
“The Freedom Trail is a red (mostly brick) path through downtown Boston, Massachusetts, that leads to 16 significant historic sites,” Wikipedia notes.
Merino “said he plans to fire off a letter to the company’s Atlanta headquarters ‘telling them my feelings on the matter’,” The Herald reported:
“If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult — unless they open up their policies,” he warned.
Chick-fil-A does not have any restaurants currently in Boston, although they do have two in Massachusetts, and are reportedly scouting for locations in Boston recently.
Yesterday, Chick-Fil-A published a statement claiming they would “leave” the marriage debate, but that statement did not say they will cease contributing to anti-gay hate groups and other organizations that actively attempt to make same-sex marriage illegal.
Chick-Fil-A over the past few years has donated $5 million to these organizations.
Related:
Like Chick-Fil-A? They Really, Really Don’t Like You.
Chick-Fil-A Has Spent $5 Million On Groups Trying To Stop Gay Marriage
Image by Dan4th Nicholas via Wikipedia
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{ 6 comments }
Don't other jurisdictions have non-discrimination policies. Time for sit-ins with no buying!
I agree with Dan Kennedy; I think this is a dangerous stance from a First Amendment perspective. Much better to let them come in, not be open on Sunday in a major tourist town, and let everyone boycott them, until they have to close for lack of business. Would cost them much more than just being denied a food license.
Today I'm proud to be a recent Boston transplant.
The privately held, family owned Chick-fil-A is certainly free to flex its evangelical Christian muscles, just as I'm free to decide that Chick-fil-A leaves a bad taste in my mouth. http://gigabiting.com/those-arent-fries-on-chick-…
Right. Because it is entirely legal for a mayor to direct political force against a private business who's owner's ethics he disagrees with.
For those of you who don't know, Chik-fil-a does not discriminate against customers. They'll serve you regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Claiming that they have discriminatory policies as a business is not true. They aren't actually doing anything illegal.
Tell me, if a Republican Mayor were to make the same statements about Starbucks for supporting gay marriage, how long do you think it would be before someone made a claim of power abuse or political corruption? (And they would be absolutely correct to do so.) If you don't like where Chik-fil-a's money is going, don't eat there, but encouraging this sort of behavior towards those who disagree with you is dangerous.
People are indeed free to refuse to eat at Chik-fil-A. But no one, and that includes the mayor of Boston, is free to refuse to allow a business to locate in a city because of its stance on an issue. Chick-fil-A's are located in many cities–many of them much more progressive than Boston–with no trouble whatsoever. But you wait and see: should one open in Boston, there will be trouble at it because idiots just looking for an excuse will see the mayor's bias against this apparently Christian company as justification. Has the mayor attempted to stop businesses with Muslim presidents from locating there because of the treatment of women by members of that group? Of course not. So this is not a pro-people position by the mayor as he is claiming. No, this is an anti-Christian stance.
New ad campaign:
"Finger food to feed your inner homophobe"
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