Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Another Bad Day for the Bigots at Chick fil-A

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With the rate that things are lurching out of control with Chick fil-A and its failed attempts at damage control, before long Dan Cathy and Chick fil-A will be business school and PR course examples of how to conduct a disastrous PR campaign.   Things are going from bad to worse with today's stories ranging from getting caught setting op a bogus Facebook profile (see image above and story here) in order to defend the lie that Chick fil-A was withdrawing Muppet toys for "safety reasons" rather than the fact that Jim Henson Company had axed Chick fil-A and wanted no association with the homophobic company to being told by the cities of Boston and Chicago that no approvals would be forthcoming for Chick fil-A locations in those cities.   A copy of the letter to Dan Cathy from the Mayor of Boston is set out below.
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As for Chick fil-A unwelcome status in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune has this:

Chicago alderman wants to kill Chick-fil-A's plans to build a restaurant in his increasingly trendy Northwest Side ward because the fast-food chain's top executive vocally opposes gay mar
Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A's effort to build its second Chicago store, which would be in the Logan Square neighborhood, following company President Dan Cathy's remarks last week that he was "guilty as charged" for supporting the biblical definition of marriage as between a man and woman.

"If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don't want you in the 1st Ward," Moreno told the Tribune on Tuesday.

The alderman has the ideological support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values," the mayor said in a statement when asked about Moreno's decision. "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty."

Moreno is relying on a rarely violated Chicago tradition known as aldermanic privilege, which dictates that City Council members defer to the opinion of the ward alderman on local issues. Last year Moreno wielded that weapon to block plans for a Wal-Mart in his ward, saying he had issues with the property owner and that Wal-Mart was not "a perfect fit for the area."

Chick-fil-A already has obtained zoning for a restaurant in the 2500 block of North Elston Avenue, but it must seek council approval to divide the land so it can purchase an out lot near Home Depot, Moreno said.

I would also note that both Illinois and Massachusetts have employment non-discrimination laws that protect LGBT employees.  Given Chick fil-A's hiring policies and questions reportedly asked about one's religious views and family life, I suspect the bigoted company would have employment discrimination problems in both cities as well.   Do I have any sympathy for Chick fil-A?  No one bit.  And since it is privately owned, no innocent shareholders will suffer as a result of protests against the company leadership's admitted anti-gay bigotry.

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