Rahm Emanuel: Chick-Fil-A should be banished for Christian marriage beliefs
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 theTribune. “They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe has come to the defense of Chick-fil-A after the mayor of the Massachusetts capital, Thomas Menino, also said the chicken eatery should be banished.
Although typically supportive of progressive causes, the editors of Globe responded critically on Wednesday, saying Menino’s comments did not respect Cathy’s right to his personal beliefs.
“[W]hich part of the First Amendment does Menino not understand?” they wrote. “A business owner’s political or religious beliefs should not be a test for the worthiness of his or her application for a business license.”
The case is different for privately-owned property such as Northeastern University, which blocked Chick-fil-A for similar reasons from its campus, wrote the Globe editors - but banishing a law-abiding business from city grounds for the same reason should not be tolerated.
“[U]sing the power of government to freeze the company out of a city sends a disturbing message to all businesses. If the mayor of a conservative town tried to keep out gay-friendly Starbucks or Apple, it would be an outrage,” stated the editorial.
