“Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. 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.”
Chick-Fil-A has come under fire from progressive groups for donating millions of dollars to pro-family organizations over the past few years. This, according to Mayor Menino, counts as discrimination.
Meanwhile, the National Organization for Marriage is promoting "Eat at Chick-Fil-A Day" for Wednesday of this week.
Please join me this Wednesday in supporting this courageous company, while at the same time sending a powerful message of support to every individual and every company with the courage to stand for marriage.
Chick-Fil-A, for their part, put out a statement that read:
The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.
Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.
And for this, Mayor Menino would ban the restaurant from Boston. Right now, there are only two Chick-Fil-A restaurants in Massachusetts: in Burlington, Mass. and Peabody, Mass. Northeastern University was considering a franchise for their student food court, but the students of Northeastern will have to go elsewhere for their chicken sandwich cravings for the foreseeable future.
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What's more, these types of boycotts are incredibly silly. It's impossible to keep track of what company or CEO is donating money to or supporting a cause that you don't support. As was put succinctly by Jonathan Merritt at The Atlantic:
So should the 45 percent of Americans who oppose gay marriage opt for Chips Ahoy! instead of Oreos? Should they begin shopping at Belk instead of JC Penny? If they did, it wouldn't make any more sense than the endless failed calls for liberal consumers to boycott Urban Outfitters, because its owner is a conservative and Rick Santorum donor, or to not order from Domino's Pizza, because it was founded by a Catholic conservative who helped fund anti-abortion causes.