Chick-fil-A's political grilling
AP Photo/Mike Stewart
(CBS News) Controversy over the fast food chain Chick-fil-A's ties to conservative causes has been simmering for years, but it only reached a boiling point in recent days when national gay rights groups and high-profile figures like Mike Huckabee began weighing in.
The controversy is becoming more political in nature as elected officials start to take sides on the matter and discuss how best to address the chicken joint's political activism. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee on Thursday night was one of the latest political leaders to suggest Chick-fil-A should stay out of his city. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, meanwhile, said Friday that the politicians actively working to block new Chick-fil-A restaurants are going too far.
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy has long made his political leanings known, but activists say the issue became a catalyst for action once Cathy publicly embraced them even more in recent interviews. While conservatives are lauding the company for maintaining Christian values, gay rights activists say the company stands in stark contrast to other major corporations that are expressing their support for gay rights. And in the face of all the pressure, Chick-fil-A is going out of its way to clarify it does not discriminate.
"Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone," Lee, mayor of the famously gay-friendly California city, tweeted Thursday night, adding, "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."
Bloomberg, meanwhile, said in a WOR Radio interview Friday morning that there'd be no efforts to keep Chick-fil-A out of New York, calling proposed bans of the restaurant a "bad idea."
Ilya S. Savenok
Bloomberg added, "Freedom of speech -- everybody's in favor of it as long as it's what they want to hear. Well, the only way that you have your freedom of speech is if you give other people freedom of speech."
Bloomberg's remarks follow strong statements from political leaders in Chicago and Boston taking a stand against the restaurant's political affiliations.
On Wednesday, Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno said he wants Chick-fil-A to adopt a written anti-discrimination policy before it is granted a permit for a new restaurant in Chicago. "There are consequences for freedom of speech (and) in this case the consequences are... you're not going to have your first free-standing restaurant in Chicago," he said. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel similarly said Chick-fil-A's values don't line up with Chicago's, and thus a restaurant there "would be a bad investment, since it would be empty."
Moreno clarified on CNN Friday morning, "It's not about what people believe or what they say. That's protected, and I would be the first to protect any of that. If those beliefs or those sayings transfer into a policy that discriminates in hiring or in serving, then that's when I have an issue with it or the community would have an issue with it."
Moreno and other politicians have spoken out against the company in response to remarks from its president -- not any specific allegations of discriminatory practices. Still, he pointed out on CNN that Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy used the word "we" in describing his beliefs, suggesting he was speaking for the company.
Moreno said he's been working with Chick-fil-A on the matter for several months and that the restaurant has already verbally agreed "they will no longer donate any dollars to any organization -- left, right or center -- that has a political agenda."
Last week, Chick-fil-A issued a statement saying it would "leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena." The company added that it has always aimed to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect -- regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender."
Like Moreno, Boston Mayor Menino clarified his remarks this week after initially warning Chick-fil-A that "it will be very difficult" for the restaurant to obtain a license for a Boston restaurant. "I can't do that. That would be interference to his rights to go there," Menino later said. "I make mistakes all the time. That's a Menino-ism."
Philadelphia City Councilman Jim Kenney learned of the controversy after reading about Menino's letter and decided to send Cathy a letter himself decrying his position. Kenney will also introduce a resolution before the City Council this year condemning Chick-fil-A. Kenney told CBSNews.com he was speaking out "to highlight bigotry and give people information."
"I have no interest in shutting him down or chasing him out of the city," he said of Cathy. "I just think that people should know when they spend their money when some of those dollars are contributing to groups that promote hate."
Kenney said he's spoken to constituents who are both for and against his resolution.
"People who are mostly con continue on with the religious aspect," he said. "American civil liberties are not ordained by religion, they're ordained by a free and democratic government. There were times when religion was used to explain slavery and lots of other ills."
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The conservative Family Research Council sent its supporters an email on Friday, signed by its evangelical leader Tony Perkins, lamenting that Chick-fil-A's "simple affirmation of biblical truth has sent homosexual activists into a frenzy" and asking supporters to support the restaurant.
Chick-fil-A's conservative ties have long been a matter of controversy. In fact, the gay rights group EqualityMatters.org has in recent years regularly reported that Chick-fil-A's charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, gives millions of dollars to groups like Family Research Council.
The restaurant's affiliations have spurred several protests. In February of this year, plans to bring a Chick-fil-A to Northeastern University were blocked after students turned in a petition against the restaurant. When Chick-fil-A introduced a food truck to Washington, D.C., protesters organized by the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign were there to greet it.
The controversy has reached a fever pitch now, gay rights activists say, because of Cathy's recent remarks.
Protesters hold signs and shout slogans outside a Chick-fil-A food truck in a mid-day demonstration organized by the Human Rights Campaign in Washington on 26 July, 2012 after the fast-food firm's president Dan Cathy came out against marriage equality in the United States.
/ Robert MacPherson/AFP/GettyImagesDan Rafter of the Human Rights Campaign told CBSNews.com, "These facts have between out there for a while, but I think it's been Dan Cathy's very proud embrace of them that put them on our radar again."
"We're seeing increasingly that businesses across the spectrum are recognizing the importance of embracing legal equality" for gays, Rafter continued. He pointed to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' decision to donate $2.5 million to a coalition working to defend Washington state's same-sex marriage law.
"That isolates Chick-fil-A," he said. "They're increasingly an outlier in not only the donations they're making but in how proudly they're making them. It illustrates that Chick-fil-A is on the wrong side of history here."
Whether or not Cathy is on the wrong side of history, some argue that CEOs like Cathy and Bezos could learn from Bill Marriott -- the conservative hotel magnate who keeps his Mormon beliefs out of his business -- that staying out of politics can be good for the bottom line.
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Humans have for thousands of years put on a pedestal the idea of people being civilized. We chose to be more sophisticated and cultured than other species of animals. Sexual behavior was and still is an important way we distinguish the human animal from other animals. Sex acts that lower species take for granted without forethought and moral reflection include homosexuality, polygamy, incest, molestation, rape, sodomy, oral, masturbation, sadism, bondage and slavery, and killing and cannibalism of mates and spawns.
Granted the human animal is just that, an animal and we have the same desires other species have. However we use discipline, will power, and mental self-control to suppress negative sexual behavior. When the offense is rape, murder, incest and a few others there is a necessity to punish those that didn't have the discipline to refuse the sexual desire. Conversely we ignore some negative sex acts because they are between consenting adults and generally harm only those who consent.
However we still harbor ideals to take the human animal to heights of civilized behavior, and the quest doesn't rely on any religion. Globally we recognize that monogamy is the only sex act that is fashioned solely for the expansion of family. It is the only sexual behavior that is a normal and acceptable civil right. We don't desire that bondage and discipline become a normal act so that women and men appear in public with their spouse on a leash and handcuffed, whipped and beaten for all to see, yet it is between two consenting adults. So it is allowed in the privacy of one's home as is sodomy, homosexuality, masturbation, and oral sex.
Declaring any negative sexual behavior as a civil right will inadvertently allow it to serve up the concept of being normal behavior for all people. In fact homosexuality or sadism, etc. declared as a civil right will cast misgiving on those that don't contribute to that way of life. If homosexuality is normal behavior then those who are not gay are abnormal! There is only one choice and that is gay marriage must be stopped. Gay civil rights is a travesty of immense proportions, don't let it happen. Being against gay marriage doesn't mean we are against allowing homosexuals to live in peace and harmony. Please don't elevate the sexual behavior of lower animals as something to emulate.
The legality of homosexuality as a disease must be challenged. The science that indicates homosexuality is caused by a dysfunction in the production of prenatal hormones and genetics research suggests that homosexuality is a birth defect. The 1973 vote to remove homosexuality is 37 years old and science has advanced considerably and we should also demand a new vote on homosexuality as a mental disorder. Passing laws to make a disease a civil right is illegal, immoral, unjust, and ungodly without first determining whether it is a disease or not. The people deserve the truth. Some theories cannot be completely validated like the Theory of Evolution which is taught in most schools. Formal logic tells us that they are either born gay or learn to be gay after birth and some have both as hormone levels can be marginal. Proving homosexuality is a birth defect will mean those that choose to be gay are mentally ill.
We all experience mental illness and a group that is a minority, hated, despised and vilified like the gay community has more mental illness than most people. The heights and depths that a mental disease can grow within a community threatens the positive direction civilization travels. Normalizing a negative behavior like homosexuality is tantamount to sweeping it under the rug. Of course the technical wording stigmatizes us and we sometimes refuse to accept we are ill, that is a mental disorder sounds less intimidating than mental illness, yet to many it is one and the same. Stress problems, the loss of a loved one, addictions, anything that upsets us and creates chaos and disharmony to the point we become disabled.
The claim that homosexuality is not a mental illness is conversely the recognition that many gay people are infected with an overabundance of the mental disorders that all people have and metaphorically correct the title homosexuality is a disease.
Democrats should be very afraid. Especially the Kenyan pResident.
Chick-Fil-A is just a proxy for the voting booth on November 6th.
People can't wait to vote against the Left and defeat them. They are champing at the bit.
Really? I like how these politicians pretend to speak on behalf of the entire city. I live in the Washington DC area, which is probably as liberal as Chicago, and I can vouch that it was as packed as ever this week during lunch.
I support freedom of choice, including gay marriage, but these extreme anti-Chick-fil-A comments are way too dictatorial. It's not freedom of speech - it's an assault on freedom of speech when you can use your political clout to influence commerce based on personal beliefs.
I find it further disturbing that Chick-fil-A's "anti-gay" stance is implied based only on comments about Christian values and donations to Christian charities. Are we going to start seeing protesters outside of churches? Is that $10 I put in the collections plate at my fiance's church considered a donation to anti-gay causes?
Mr. Cathy can believe whatever he wants, and religious groups can limit their marriage rituals in any way they want, but when Cathy and others use their wealth to convince government to discriminate against some of my fellow citizens, I reserve the right to refuse to contribute to that wealth.
Religious groups can restrict elibibility for their marriage rituals any way they want: to heterosexual couples, blue-eyed couples, left-handed couples, or people whose names begin with the letter "L." But when corporate executives use economic power to push the local, state, or federal governments to discriminate by imposing their RELIGIOUS beliefs about marriage in administering the LEGAL status of marriage, millions of heterosexual as well as gay Americans will say, "NO, in thunder!"
It's good to know that Chick-fil-A doesn't discriminate in hiring or in customer service. But if it's using the profits from the food it sells to encourage discrimination, I'm not eating its chicken!