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Showing posts with the label Thomas Menino

Can Cities Really Block Chick-fil-A?

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Chick-fil-A (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Attempts by Chicago and Boston politicians to block the opening of Chick-fil-A restaurants because of the company president's views on marriage would be unconstitutional and also set a dangerous precedent for other businesses, say several attorneys. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel each have been quoted as saying they want to prevent Chick-fil-As from opening in their cities, with Menino declaring in a letter to Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, "There is no place for discrimination on Boston's Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it." The Freedom Trail is a path through the city's streets highlighting historic buildings. Emanuel voiced agreement with a Chicago alderman who also opposes a new Chick-fil-A, saying of the company, "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents." Cathy, in two interviews in recent weeks—including one  re-posted on Baptist Press —has

Gay Marriage and the New McCarthyism

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Logo for the 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The gay marriage debate continues to boil over, tempting our nation to inaugurate a new era of McCarthyism . Back in the 1950s, anyone suspected of communism became a pariah. Now that seems to be true of anyone who supports traditional marriage . Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, in answer to an interview question about the principles of the popular fast-food company, said, “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit.” This set some people’s teeth on edge. But the heat rose when some discovered Cathy said a couple of weeks earlier, “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes marriage.’ ” That may be prophetic, but in our culture it is impolitic to say this. Cathy’s comments raised the ire of Chicago alderman Joe Moreno, who said he would block the company from building a restauran

Rahm Emanuel: Chick-Fil-A should be banished for Christian marriage beliefs

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BOSTON, July 25, 2012, - Chicago Mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has backed calls to keep Chick-fil-A from doing business in his city, saying the restaurant chain’s Christian beliefs on marriage “are not Chicago values.” Meanwhile, the  Boston Globe  has come to the defense of Chick-fil-A leaders’ right to hold those beliefs in the wake of similar comments from that city’s mayor. Rahm Emanuel told the  Chicago Tribune  Wednesday that he agreed with Alderman Proco “Joe” Moreno’s effort to stop Chick-fil-A from opening a new restaurant in his area of the city based on president Dan Cathy’s “bigoted, homophobic” views. Cathy, who is famously outspoken in his Christian beliefs, had said last week that he was “guilty as charged” for supporting traditional marriage, saying that redefining the institution meant “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,” Emanuel  told  the Tribune . “They