Boston Mayor to Outlaw Chick-Fil-A, Wednesday: National “Eat AT Chick-Fil-A-Day”
Video at link below but the video isn't working great
Boston Mayor to Outlaw Chick-Fil-A
Kevin Glass
Kevin Glass
Managing Editor, Townhall.com
Jul 22, 2012 10:31 AM EST
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wants to restrict a single private business, Chick-Fil-A, from opening any franchises in Boston. His reported remarks were,
“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.
Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston
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.
Boston Mayor to Outlaw Chick-Fil-A - Kevin Glass
Here is a copy of the message at the link below
Wednesday: National “Eat AT Chick-Fil-A-Day”*|*Front Porch Politics
http://bostonherald.com/news/documen...-fil-A&p=&k=bh
In Defense of Eating at Chick-fil-A
By Jonathan Merritt
Jul 20 2012, 5:30 PM ET 997
Do we really want a country where people won't do commerce with those who have beliefs different than their own?
[optional image description]When former Republican candidate for president Newt Gingrich visited a Chick-fil-A in Anderson, S.C. this January, supporters gathered outside to catch a glimpse. (Reuters)
Dan Cathy, president of one of America's largest express fast food chains, has been frying more than chicken filets this week. The Chick-fil-A executive infuriated gay and lesbian groups when he again defended his company's anti-gay marriage position in an interview this week with a Christian news outlet.
"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit," he said. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."
Not surprisingly, his comments were met with fury by those who support same-sex marriage. The company was labeled a "hate group" by many on Twitter and in the blogosphere, and drew promises of boycotts from notables including The Office star Ed Helms. Meanwhile, Americans who patronize the chain's 1,600 locations were left wondering what to do.
Should they swear off the legendary chicken sandwiches to support gay rights? Or could they eat one of the filets anyway, knowing their dollars would be but a drop in the bucket for a chain that has more than $4 billion in annual sales and donated a pittance to groups they may disagree with?
I'd argue the latter -- and this has nothing to do with my views on gay marriage. It's because Chick-fil-A is a laudable organization on balance, and because I refuse to contribute to the ineffective boycott culture that's springing up across America.
First of all, Chick-fil-A is not a hate group. In a statement released yesterday, company leaders made their commitment to equal service clear, "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."
As a native Atlantan, I've dined at the chicken chain more than I'd like to admit over more than two decades and even interacted with its leadership team. I've never witnessed any customer refused service or even treated differently. On the contrary, Chick-fil-A is known for offering world-class customer service to each person that walks through one of the restaurant's doors.
Additionally, the organization gives millions of dollars each year to charitable causes -- and not just to "pro-family" groups. It funds a large foster care program, several schools of a higher learning, and a children's camp. It has provided thousands of scholarships for Chick-fil-A employees to attend college and grow past the service sector where they got their workplace start. (On Friday, the company provided free meals for Aurora, Colo., policemen.)
And the company's leaders claim to do all of this out of convictions rooted in the Christian faith. Anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of the company should know that it does not hide its commitment to biblical values. Its corporate statement of purpose since 1982 has begun, "To glorify God..."
Given this, that anyone was surprised by Cathy's statements is, well, surprising. Like many conservative Christians, he does not support gay marriage.
I'm flummoxed that so many consumers are so quick these days to call for boycotts of any company that deviates from their personal or political views. For one thing, boycotts rarely cause actual pocketbook - rather than PR -- damage. Most consumers don't care enough to drive an extra mile to get the same product from someone else. And that's especially the case for companies as large as Chick-fil-A, which has prime locations on many college campuses where there is little head-to-head competition.
But my bigger question is this: In a nation that's as divided as ours is, do we really want our commercial lives and our political lives to be so wholly intermeshed? And is this really the kind of culture we want to create? Culture war boycotts cut both ways and are much more likely to meet with success when prosecuted by large groups of people, such as Christian activists, who are more numerous than gays and lesbians and their more activist supporters.
Gay and lesbian groups were famously rankled when pro-family activists reacted against Kraft for posting a photo of an Oreo cookie with rainbow-hued filling last month in honor of Gay Pride Month, and also when similar groups protested JCPenney for announcing lesbian talk show host Ellen DeGeneres would be its next spokesperson.
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.
On both sides of our latest culture war divide, we must learn to have level-headed disagreements without resorting to accusations of hate speech and boycotts. As Josh Ozersky argued on TIME Thursday, "businesses should be judged by their products and their practices, not by their politics."
I agree: I don't care how my dry cleaner votes. I just want to know if he/she can press my Oxfords without burning my sleeves. I find no compelling reason to treat sandwiches differently than shirts.
From a business standpoint, some might say Cathy's comments were imprudent if not downright dumb. But in a society that desperately needs healthy public dialogue, we must resist creating a culture where consumers sort through all their purchases (fast food and otherwise) for an underlying politics not even expressed in the nature of the product itself.
If white meat's not your thing, try the Golden Arches. But if you want a perfectly fried chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A, will be happy to serve you -- gay or straight. In this case, those who boycott are the ones missing out.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...-fil-a/260139/
August 3 Kissing Day Same Sex!!
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...R/o1Chick1.jpg
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Culture Wars
National Same Sex Kiss Day Planned to Protest Chick-fil-A's Anti-Gay Stance
Monday, July 23, 2012, by Paula Forbes
Photo: rockinfree / Flickr]
A National Same Sex Kiss Day is being organized at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country on Friday, August 3 to protest the fried chicken chain's admitted anti-homosexual stance. It's basically what it sounds like. They want you to go to your local Chick-fil-A, make out with someone of the same sex, and post photos and videos on their Facebook page. Sounds easy enough, or at least easier than those protests in which people try to out-pun each other with clever signs.
In other Chick-fil-A news, former presidential candidate/current talking head Mike Huckabee has decided August 1 is "Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day." In a statement on his website, Huckabee says he's cranky that "a great American story [like Chick-fil-A] is being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left."
And the Jim Henson Company has ceased a partnership with Chick-fil-A because of the controversy. CEO Lisa Henson has recommended the company donate any money they made from the deal to LGBT advocacy group GLAAD. And as previously noted, Boston mayor Thomas Menino has already spoken out against Chick-fil-A. Will the political leanings of a fast food chain be the final straw in the American culture wars? Stay tuned to find out.
National Same Sex Kiss Day Planned to Protest Chick-fil-A's Anti-Gay Stance - Culture Wars - Eater National