NYC mayor: Chick-fil-A flap not govt's business | Fox News
Mayors of three cities--Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco--are on record that Chick-Fil-A franchises are not welcome in their cities because of Chick-Fil-A's support of traditional marriage and opposition to same sex marriage. Mayor Bloomberg of NYC is a strong advocate of same sex marriage but opposes restrictions on free enterprise based on political views.
The ACLU has gotten involved and though they too are strong advocates of same sex marriage, they oppose denying franchise privileges to Chick-Fil-A based on this issue. As they point out, if you can deny a business the right to do business based on their anti-gay marriage position, then there is nothing to deny a business the right to do business if it is pro same sex marriage.
Discuss and please try to keep it civil and on topic.
This is NOT about the pros and cons of same sex marriage, but rather the concept of denying a business ability to do business based purely on its social or political views.
I can't see denying business licenses based upon political stances. I do think it is stupid for a business to take positions like these though. Why ostracize potential patrons of your business?
If Chik-Fil-A wants to promote homophobia, go ahead. If people want to protest or boycott Chik-Fil-A for their views, that's fine too.
I can't find any case that Chick-fil-a has EVER promoted anything other their their own religious views. They seem to have a uniform and rigidly followed policy to discriminate against nobody, to treat everybody with courtesy and respect, and have not suggested that anybody else should not be allowed to do their legal activity no matter what anybody else teaches, preaches, or whatever.
I have no problem with anybody choosing who they will or will not patronize for whatever reason they choose where to do business. My husband refuses to do business with a certain business here in town because he thinks their television commercials are stupid. I choose to shop at businesses that allow Salvation Army kettles on their premises during the Christmas season and choose not to do business with those who don't.
But I would not presume to tell anybody what they are expected to do to put in their ads or what they must do regarding charity during the Christmas season. And I would strenuously oppose anybody trying to deny people a business license or disrupt their business just because they don't want to support the Salvation Army.
And I would never stand by silently if anybody picketed a gay bar or chuch or tried to disrupt them purely because they made anti-Christian statements or actively spoke against traditional marriage.
He who refuses to be tolerant toward other people's point of view is hardly in a position to expect others to be tolerant toward his.