Is Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay?

Fast food chain Chick-fil-A has been accused of being  anti-gay by Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for supporting organizations such as Focus on the Family, which oppose gay marriage. Company president Dan Cathy said this week that his company is  “guilty as charged.” In an interview with the Baptist Press, Cathy said Chick-fil-A  is “very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family  unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.” Moreno stated his position in strong terms, referring to  Cathy’s “bigoted, homophobic comments” in a proposed opinion page  piece that an aide also sent to Tribune reporters. “Because of this man’s  ignorance, I will now be denying Chick-fil-A’s permit to open a restaurant in  the 1st Ward.” Mayor Emmanuel said, “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. They  disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents.” By the way, this is the same mayor who sought the aid of Louis Farrakhan in addressing the issue of crime in Chicago, in spite of Farrakhan’s anti-Jewish comments (which hopefully do not reflect Chicago values). So it has come to this—  someone accused of discrimination because of personal beliefs and not because of public policy. Even the ACLU has accused Moreno of the abuse of governmental power. Lombard, Illinois Trustee,  Phillip Breen, said: “Opposite the intolerant ‘values’ espoused by Chicago  Mayor Rahm Emanuel, our values in Lombard are  pro-business, pro-jobs, and pro-freedom. We uphold the constitutional rights of  free speech and freedom of religion of our residents and business people alike.” Target is selling  T-shirts to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota. The T-shirt  promotion will raise up to $120,000 for the Family Equality Council, a  Washington-based group that is part of a Minnesota  coalition pushing to defeat the constitutional amendment. You can make your own  choice as to whether you want to shop there, but does this mean that local government should ban Target from the community?  Tough choice.  I recently asked the Chicago Blackhawks Hockey  Organization for a donation to a golf scramble that our church is sponsoring  for a world hunger organization. My request was denied because we are a  religious organization. I think that is discriminatory, so should I work to get  them banned from the NHL? No, I’ll just root for another team. (Actually, I already am a Boston Bruins’ fan.)  Mark Rhoads, in  the Illinois Review, summed up this whole Chick-fil-A issue better than I ever could: “It is time for Alderman Moreno to put up or shut up. Exactly what are the Chick-fil-A company policies that he claims are  ‘discriminatory?’ The personal opinions of Dan Cathy are not company policies  that discriminate against anyone anymore than the stupid personal opinions of Moreno are policies for  everyone who lives in the 1st Ward. I think most Chicagoans want responsible businesses, but they also reject irresponsible political demagogues who try to  pander to special-interest activists by making false accusations against a company that does not discriminate.” If you don’t like it, eat somewhere else.