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Chick-fil-A's Gay Marriage Fight Hits Boston, Chicago

By Andrew Lu on July 26, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The Chick-fil-A gay marriage story is the story that just won't die. The mayors of Boston and Chicago have now chimed in saying that Chick-fil-As are no longer welcome in their respective cities.

Earlier this month, the president of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, made several very public statements against gay marriage. Cathy said that gay marriage went against the bible and proponents of gay marriage were inviting God's judgment, reports The Associated Press.

Chick-fil-A is famously built on Christian principles (they close on Sundays), so the president's comments were not all that surprising.

However, not unexpectedly, Cathy's comments sparked off a firestorm and gay marriage advocates sought bans of the popular chicken sandwich fast food chain. And now it has become a political issue.

A Chicago alderman vowed to block a Chick-fil-A that was proposed to open in his district. Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel supported the alderman saying that, "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values," reports the AP. Similarly, Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino wrote a letter to Chick-fil-A stating, "[t]here is no place for discrimination on Boston's Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it."

With gay marriage supporters looking to block Chick-fil-As from opening, Christian conservatives have predictably thrown their support behind the company with a planned "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" next week.

As the Chick-fil-A controversy hit major cities like Chicago and Boston, it's a good reminder that this is more of a political controversy than a legal one. There have been no reported acts of discrimination against Chick-fil-A workers or customers by the company. And given that sexual orientation is not a protected characteristic under federal anti-discrimination law, it's not clear what remedies someone claiming discrimination would have anyway.

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