Chicken sandwiches and political speech
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In one of the oddest demonstrations in recent memory, people came out and made political statements across the country Wednesday (Aug. 1) by buying — or not buying — chicken sandwiches.
The fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A has become ground zero on a debate over gay rights and the rights of the owners of a private company.
This was the scene in Albuquerque outside a Chick-fil-A franchise on what was called “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” as a long line of cars stacked up at the Paseo del Norte location in Albuquerque:
Courtesy: KOAT-TV
The background in the controversy: Two weeks ago, the CEO of Chick-fil-A said in an interview with a news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention that he opposes gay marriage.
That prompted gay marriage advocates to call for a boycott of the chain.
In addition, the mayors of Chicago, Boston and Washington DC said Chick-fil-A was not welcome in their cities.
That led to a backlash by some who, while supporting gay marriage, felt that, as Scott Shackford of Reason.com wrote, threats from such mayors “plainly offends the spirit of the Constitution—and sets a horrible precedent—for public officials at any level to punish otherwise legal forms of speech with arbitrary exercises of government power.”
The Boston Globe editorial board — famous for its liberal political stances — scolded Boston Mayor Tom Menino, posing the question, “which part of the First Amendment does Menino not understand? 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.”
Menino backed off his comments a day after the Globe editorial, saying, “I make mistakes all the time.”
In Martinsburg, West Virginia, one Chick-fil-A location had to be evacuated Wednesday for three hours after somebody phoned in a bomb threat.
Here in New Mexico, here’s how KRQE-TV covered the Albuquerque angle in its Wednesday afternoon newscast:
Chicken outlets draw gay-rights protest
Posted under Capitol Report.
Tags: Boston Globe, Chick-fil-A, Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, KRQE-TV, Reason.com, Scott Shackford, Tom Menino
5:06 am on August 2nd, 2012
Freedom of speach !! Have to Love it!!
12:16 pm on August 2nd, 2012
This isn’t a “gay marriage” issue at all. It IS a First Amendment issue, but even that pales in comparison to its being an issue of government thuggery. The fact that politicians felt they could get away with using policing powers to threaten an American citizen for speaking his views is appalling. No American should tolerate it, even for a moment. But, of course, many will, and THAT’S what is wrong in America today.
3:28 pm on August 2nd, 2012
If gays want to have their protest day, fine. If they invade the place and don’t order but loiter around, they can be ordered to leave and that’s fine too. If they don’t leave, and continue to loiter without conducting business, the police should be contacted and they shoud be taken out and issued criminal trespass warnings by the manager. That way, they won’t be able to come back and THAT is DEFINITELY FINE with me.
1:27 pm on August 3rd, 2012
Yep, it’s the Constitution, Stupid! The left doesn’t seem to realize the protections afforded ALL Americans under this awesome law. They took religious and conscience freedoms to task with women’s rights to contraceptives. It’s not about that, it’s about the INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS and FREEDOM!
How childish and void of logic the left is.
1:09 pm on August 4th, 2012
Exactly. And I apologise for leaving the “l” out of the word “should”. But, what the “l” ????