Suck it! |
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[[File:Chick-fil-A Corporate HQ - Entrance.JPG|thumb|Chick-fil-A headquarters in [[College Park, Georgia]]]] |
[[File:Chick-fil-A Corporate HQ - Entrance.JPG|thumb|Chick-fil-A headquarters in [[College Park, Georgia]]]] |
||
'''Chick-fil-A''' (referring to [[fillet (cut)|"fillet"]]) is |
'''Chick-fil-A''' (referring to [[fillet (cut)|"fillet"]]) is a homophobic American fast food [[restaurant chain]] (that wants you to to support them for Jesus who died so you can eat cancer filled hormone chicken)headquartered in the [[Atlanta]] suburb of [[College Park, Georgia]], United States, specializing in [[chicken (food)|chicken]] [[entrée]]s<ref name=factsheet>{{cite web|url=http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Company/Highlights-Fact-Sheets|title=Company Fact Sheet|accessdate= July 30, 2012}} "Headquarters Chick-fil-A, Inc. 5200 Buffington Road Atlanta, GA 30349-2998"</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collegeparkga.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=67|title= City Maps [[College Park, Georgia|City of College Park]] | accessdate=May 25, 2009}}</ref><!--Check the address--> and is known for promoting the company founder's Christian values. Long associated with the [[Southern United States]], where it has been a cultural icon, the chain has expanded. {{As of|2012|April}}, Chick-fil-A has 1,614 restaurants in 39 [[U.S. state|states]] and the [[District of Columbia]], and is focusing future growth in the American [[Midwest]], the [[Philippines]], [[Mexico]] and [[Southern California]].<ref>"Chick-fil-A Celebrates 1,500th Restaurant Location, Continued Sales Growth in 2010", Chick-fil-A press release, August 2010 [http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Media/PDF/StoreOpening1500.pdf full text]</ref> |
||
==History== |
==History== |
This article appears to be
slanted towards recent events. (July 2012) |
File:Chick-fil-A.svg | |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Restaurants |
Founded | 1946 (first Dwarf House opened in
Hapeville, Georgia) 1967 (first Chick-fil-A opened in Atlanta, Georgia) |
Headquarters | College Park, Georgia, U.S. |
Key people |
S. Truett Cathy, Chairman, CEO Dan T. Cathy, President, COO |
Products | Sandwiches, chicken entrées |
Revenue | US$4.0 billion (2011) |
Website | chick-fil-a.com |
Chick-fil-A (referring to "fillet") is a homophobic American fast food restaurant chain (that wants you to to support them for Jesus who died so you can eat cancer filled hormone chicken)headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées [1] [2] and is known for promoting the company founder's Christian values. Long associated with the Southern United States, where it has been a cultural icon, the chain has expanded. As of April 2012 [update], Chick-fil-A has 1,614 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia, and is focusing future growth in the American Midwest, the Philippines, Mexico and Southern California. [3]
Chick-fil-A had historically been identified with shopping malls, as most of its original restaurants were in their food courts. Its first freestanding store opened in 1986; most of its new restaurants also are freestanding. [1] As of 2012, the chain has approximately 1000 such units. [1] It also has 32 drive-through-only locations. [1] Chick-fil-A also can be found at universities, hospitals, and airports through licensing agreements. [1]
The chain grew from the Dwarf Grill (later the Dwarf House, a name still used by the chain), a restaurant opened by S. Truett Cathy, who is still the company's chairman, in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Hapeville in 1946. [1] This restaurant is near the now-demolished Ford plant, where some workers ate between shifts.
The first Chick-fil-A that is in a mall opened in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall in 1967. [1] The company's current trademarked [4] slogan, "We Didn't Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich," refers to their flagship menu-item, the popular quick-serve or fast-food chicken sandwich. In 1961, Cathy found a pressure-fryer that could cook the chicken sandwich in the same amount of time it took to cook a fast-food hamburger. [5]
Since 1994, the Atlanta-based company has been the title sponsor of the Peach Bowl, an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta. Beginning in the 2006 season, the Peach Bowl became the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Chick-fil-A also is a key sponsor of the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 conferences of college athletics. [6] [7]
Chick-fil-A uses a model significantly different from other restaurant franchises, notably in retaining ownership of each restaurant. Chick-fil-A selects the restaurant location, builds it, and pays the rent, while retaining ownership. Whereas franchisees from competing chains need about $2 million to operate a franchise, Chick-fil-A franchisees need only a $5,000 initial investment to become an operator. The company gets 10,000-25,000 applications from potential franchise operators for 60-70 slots they open each year. Chick-fil-A gets a larger share of revenue from its franchises than other chains, but the formula works well for operators — franchisees make an average of $190,000 per year. In 2010 Chick-fil-A took the industry lead in average sales per restaurant, making an average of $2.7 million per restaurant in 2010 ( McDonald's was second with $2.4 million per restaurant). [8]
"Eat mor chikin" is the chain's most prominent advertising slogan, created by the The Richards Group in 1995. The slogan is often seen in advertisements, featuring cows that are often seen wearing (or holding) signs that [usually] read: "Eat mor chikin" in all capital letters. According to Chick-fil-A's advertising strategies, the cows have united in an effort to reform American food, in an effort to reduce the amount of beef that is eaten. They wish the American public to refrain from eating beef burgers, common at Chick-fil-A's competitors, such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, and instead focus on eating chicken. The ad campaign was temporarily halted during a mad cow disease scare on January 1, 2004 so as not to make the chain seem insensitive or appear to be taking advantage of the scare to increase its sales. Two months later, the cows were put up again. The cows replaced the chain's old mascot, Doodles, an anthropomorphized chicken who still appears as the C on the logo. [9]
Chick-fil-A vigorously protects its intellectual property, sending cease and desist letters to those they think have infringed on their trademarks. The corporation has successfully protested at least 30 instances of the use of an "eat more" phrase, saying that the use would cause confusion of the public, dilute the distinctiveness of their intellectual property, and diminish its value. [10] A 2011 letter to Vermont artist Bo Muller-Moore who screen prints t-shirts reading: "Eat More Kale" demanded that he cease printing the shirts and turn over his website. [11] The incident has drawn criticism from Vermont governor Peter Shumlin and has created backlash against Chick-fil-A's "corporate bullying." [12]
Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill — later renamed the Dwarf House — in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946 and developed the pressure-cooked chicken breast sandwich there. [1] At the original Chick-fil-A Dwarf Grill, in addition to the full-size entrances, there is also an extra small-sized front door. [15] The original Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia is open 24 hours a day, six days a week, except on Sundays, when it closes at 4 a.m. on Sunday mornings and reopens at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings. It has a larger dine-in menu than the other Dwarf House locations as well as an animated seven dwarfs display in the back of the restaurant. [15]
Truett's original, full-service restaurants offer an extensive menu and provide customers a choice of table service, walk-up counter service or a drive-thru window. Eleven Chick-fil-A Dwarf House restaurants currently operate in the metro Atlanta area.
In 1996, the first Truett's Grill was opened in Morrow, Georgia. The second location opened in 2003 in McDonough, Georgia, and a third location opened in 2006 in Griffin, Georgia. [16] Similar to the Chick-fil-A Dwarf Houses, these independently owned restaurants offer traditional, sit-down dining and expanded menu selections in a diner-themed atmosphere. One major difference to other Chick-fil-A restaurants, however, is the fact that beef products are served there, including steaks and hamburgers. [17] [18] [19]
S. Truett Cathy is a devout Southern Baptist; his religious beliefs have a major impact on the company. [20] The company's official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." [21] Chick-fil-A has also included interactive CDs designed by Focus on the Family in some children's meals. [22]
Cathy's beliefs are also responsible for one of the chain's distinctive features: All Chick-fil-A locations (company-owned and franchised, whether in a mall or freestanding) are closed on Sundays, [23] as well as on Thanksgiving and Christmas. [24] Cathy states as the final step in his Five-Step recipe for Business Success "I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to close on Sunday. Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business." [25]
In an interview with ABC News's Nightline, Truett's son Dan Cathy gave reporter Vicki Mabrey another reason why the company is closed on Sundays, saying his father opened his first restaurant on a Tuesday and "by the time Sunday came, he was just worn out. And Sunday was not a big trading day, anyway, at the time. So he was closed that first Sunday and we've been closed ever since. He figured if he didn't like working on Sundays, that other people didn't either." The younger Cathy quoted his father as saying "'I don't want to ask people to do that what I am not willing to do myself.'" [26]
In January 2011, the media reported that Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against the trial ruling striking down Proposition 8 in California. [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] PFI had also lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. [32] Another organization connected to Chick-fil-A through financial support, the WinShape Foundation, [33] was also quoted as stating it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. [34]
In response to the reported connections between PFI, WinShape, and Chick-fil-A, students at several colleges and universities formed grassroots efforts to ban or remove the company's restaurants from their campuses. [35]
On July 2, 2012, the LGBT watchdog group Equality Matters published a report with details of donations given by Chick-fil-A to organizations that are opposed to same-sex marriage, such as the Marriage & Family Foundation and the Family Research Council. [36] [37] [38] Also, on July 2, Biblical Recorder published an interview with Dan Cathy, who was asked about opposition to his company's "support of the traditional family." He replied: "Well, guilty as charged." [39] [40] Cathy continued:
"We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. ... We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized. "We intend to stay the course," he said. "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles." [39]
In the wake of this interview, Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston, stated that he would not allow the company to open franchises in the city "unless they open up their policies.” [41] Menino subsequently wrote a letter to Dan Cathy, citing Cathy's earlier statement on The Ken Coleman Show and responding: "We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom for all people." [42] In Chicago alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno announced his determination to block Chick-fil-A's bid to build a second store in the city: "They'd have to do a complete 180," Moreno said in outlining conditions under which he would retract the block. "They'd have to work with LGBT groups in terms of hiring, and there would have to be a public apology from [Cathy]." [43]
Moreno received backing from Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values," Emanuel said in a statement. "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty." [43] San Francisco soon followed suit on July 26 when mayor Edwin M. Lee tweeted, "Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone." Lee followed that tweet with "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer." [44]
The proposed bans in Boston and Chicago drew criticism from liberal pundits, legal experts and the American Civil Liberties Union. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones magazine said "[T]here's really no excuse for Emanuel's and Menino's actions... you don't hand out business licenses based on whether you agree with the political views of the executives. Not in America, anyway." [45] UCLA law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh observed, "[D]enying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation." [46] Echoing those views were Glenn Greenwald of Salon, professor John Turley of George Washington University, and Adam Schwartz, a senior attorney with the ACLU. [47]
In 2006 a lawsuit was brought by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine against McDonald's, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Burger King and Chick-fil-A. [48] The organization asserted that cooking certain meats, including chicken, at high temperatures causes the meat to contain the chemical PhIP, a compound which had caused cancer in lab rats and mice. [49] A 2009 ruling for the defendants was followed by an August 2010 appeal decided in favor of the plaintiffs. [50] The matter has not been legally resolved and is still before the courts of California. [50] [51]
{{
cite web}}
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: Unknown parameter |coauthors=
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{{
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: Check |url=
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$3.84 million was contributed primarily to Christian organizations such as Marriage and Family Foundation, which received $1.18 million, and Family Research Council, which received $1,000. The Family Research Council "believes that homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large," according to its Web site. The Marriage and Family Foundation, whose chairman is Chick-fil-A senior vice president Donald Cathy, gave grants totaling $639,000 to six organizations that support strong traditional marriages and families.
as an organization we can operate on biblical principles.
Chick-fil-A doesn't belong in Boston. You can't have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We're an open city, we're a city that's at the forefront of inclusion... That's the Freedom Trail. That's where it all started right here. And we're not going to have a company, Chick-fil-A or whatever the hell the name is, on our Freedom Trail.
Suck it! |
|||
Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
[[File:Chick-fil-A Corporate HQ - Entrance.JPG|thumb|Chick-fil-A headquarters in [[College Park, Georgia]]]] |
[[File:Chick-fil-A Corporate HQ - Entrance.JPG|thumb|Chick-fil-A headquarters in [[College Park, Georgia]]]] |
||
'''Chick-fil-A''' (referring to [[fillet (cut)|"fillet"]]) is |
'''Chick-fil-A''' (referring to [[fillet (cut)|"fillet"]]) is a homophobic American fast food [[restaurant chain]] (that wants you to to support them for Jesus who died so you can eat cancer filled hormone chicken)headquartered in the [[Atlanta]] suburb of [[College Park, Georgia]], United States, specializing in [[chicken (food)|chicken]] [[entrée]]s<ref name=factsheet>{{cite web|url=http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Company/Highlights-Fact-Sheets|title=Company Fact Sheet|accessdate= July 30, 2012}} "Headquarters Chick-fil-A, Inc. 5200 Buffington Road Atlanta, GA 30349-2998"</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collegeparkga.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=67|title= City Maps [[College Park, Georgia|City of College Park]] | accessdate=May 25, 2009}}</ref><!--Check the address--> and is known for promoting the company founder's Christian values. Long associated with the [[Southern United States]], where it has been a cultural icon, the chain has expanded. {{As of|2012|April}}, Chick-fil-A has 1,614 restaurants in 39 [[U.S. state|states]] and the [[District of Columbia]], and is focusing future growth in the American [[Midwest]], the [[Philippines]], [[Mexico]] and [[Southern California]].<ref>"Chick-fil-A Celebrates 1,500th Restaurant Location, Continued Sales Growth in 2010", Chick-fil-A press release, August 2010 [http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Media/PDF/StoreOpening1500.pdf full text]</ref> |
||
==History== |
==History== |
This article appears to be
slanted towards recent events. (July 2012) |
File:Chick-fil-A.svg | |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Restaurants |
Founded | 1946 (first Dwarf House opened in
Hapeville, Georgia) 1967 (first Chick-fil-A opened in Atlanta, Georgia) |
Headquarters | College Park, Georgia, U.S. |
Key people |
S. Truett Cathy, Chairman, CEO Dan T. Cathy, President, COO |
Products | Sandwiches, chicken entrées |
Revenue | US$4.0 billion (2011) |
Website | chick-fil-a.com |
Chick-fil-A (referring to "fillet") is a homophobic American fast food restaurant chain (that wants you to to support them for Jesus who died so you can eat cancer filled hormone chicken)headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées [1] [2] and is known for promoting the company founder's Christian values. Long associated with the Southern United States, where it has been a cultural icon, the chain has expanded. As of April 2012 [update], Chick-fil-A has 1,614 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia, and is focusing future growth in the American Midwest, the Philippines, Mexico and Southern California. [3]
Chick-fil-A had historically been identified with shopping malls, as most of its original restaurants were in their food courts. Its first freestanding store opened in 1986; most of its new restaurants also are freestanding. [1] As of 2012, the chain has approximately 1000 such units. [1] It also has 32 drive-through-only locations. [1] Chick-fil-A also can be found at universities, hospitals, and airports through licensing agreements. [1]
The chain grew from the Dwarf Grill (later the Dwarf House, a name still used by the chain), a restaurant opened by S. Truett Cathy, who is still the company's chairman, in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Hapeville in 1946. [1] This restaurant is near the now-demolished Ford plant, where some workers ate between shifts.
The first Chick-fil-A that is in a mall opened in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall in 1967. [1] The company's current trademarked [4] slogan, "We Didn't Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich," refers to their flagship menu-item, the popular quick-serve or fast-food chicken sandwich. In 1961, Cathy found a pressure-fryer that could cook the chicken sandwich in the same amount of time it took to cook a fast-food hamburger. [5]
Since 1994, the Atlanta-based company has been the title sponsor of the Peach Bowl, an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta. Beginning in the 2006 season, the Peach Bowl became the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Chick-fil-A also is a key sponsor of the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 conferences of college athletics. [6] [7]
Chick-fil-A uses a model significantly different from other restaurant franchises, notably in retaining ownership of each restaurant. Chick-fil-A selects the restaurant location, builds it, and pays the rent, while retaining ownership. Whereas franchisees from competing chains need about $2 million to operate a franchise, Chick-fil-A franchisees need only a $5,000 initial investment to become an operator. The company gets 10,000-25,000 applications from potential franchise operators for 60-70 slots they open each year. Chick-fil-A gets a larger share of revenue from its franchises than other chains, but the formula works well for operators — franchisees make an average of $190,000 per year. In 2010 Chick-fil-A took the industry lead in average sales per restaurant, making an average of $2.7 million per restaurant in 2010 ( McDonald's was second with $2.4 million per restaurant). [8]
"Eat mor chikin" is the chain's most prominent advertising slogan, created by the The Richards Group in 1995. The slogan is often seen in advertisements, featuring cows that are often seen wearing (or holding) signs that [usually] read: "Eat mor chikin" in all capital letters. According to Chick-fil-A's advertising strategies, the cows have united in an effort to reform American food, in an effort to reduce the amount of beef that is eaten. They wish the American public to refrain from eating beef burgers, common at Chick-fil-A's competitors, such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, and instead focus on eating chicken. The ad campaign was temporarily halted during a mad cow disease scare on January 1, 2004 so as not to make the chain seem insensitive or appear to be taking advantage of the scare to increase its sales. Two months later, the cows were put up again. The cows replaced the chain's old mascot, Doodles, an anthropomorphized chicken who still appears as the C on the logo. [9]
Chick-fil-A vigorously protects its intellectual property, sending cease and desist letters to those they think have infringed on their trademarks. The corporation has successfully protested at least 30 instances of the use of an "eat more" phrase, saying that the use would cause confusion of the public, dilute the distinctiveness of their intellectual property, and diminish its value. [10] A 2011 letter to Vermont artist Bo Muller-Moore who screen prints t-shirts reading: "Eat More Kale" demanded that he cease printing the shirts and turn over his website. [11] The incident has drawn criticism from Vermont governor Peter Shumlin and has created backlash against Chick-fil-A's "corporate bullying." [12]
Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill — later renamed the Dwarf House — in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946 and developed the pressure-cooked chicken breast sandwich there. [1] At the original Chick-fil-A Dwarf Grill, in addition to the full-size entrances, there is also an extra small-sized front door. [15] The original Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia is open 24 hours a day, six days a week, except on Sundays, when it closes at 4 a.m. on Sunday mornings and reopens at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings. It has a larger dine-in menu than the other Dwarf House locations as well as an animated seven dwarfs display in the back of the restaurant. [15]
Truett's original, full-service restaurants offer an extensive menu and provide customers a choice of table service, walk-up counter service or a drive-thru window. Eleven Chick-fil-A Dwarf House restaurants currently operate in the metro Atlanta area.
In 1996, the first Truett's Grill was opened in Morrow, Georgia. The second location opened in 2003 in McDonough, Georgia, and a third location opened in 2006 in Griffin, Georgia. [16] Similar to the Chick-fil-A Dwarf Houses, these independently owned restaurants offer traditional, sit-down dining and expanded menu selections in a diner-themed atmosphere. One major difference to other Chick-fil-A restaurants, however, is the fact that beef products are served there, including steaks and hamburgers. [17] [18] [19]
S. Truett Cathy is a devout Southern Baptist; his religious beliefs have a major impact on the company. [20] The company's official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." [21] Chick-fil-A has also included interactive CDs designed by Focus on the Family in some children's meals. [22]
Cathy's beliefs are also responsible for one of the chain's distinctive features: All Chick-fil-A locations (company-owned and franchised, whether in a mall or freestanding) are closed on Sundays, [23] as well as on Thanksgiving and Christmas. [24] Cathy states as the final step in his Five-Step recipe for Business Success "I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to close on Sunday. Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business." [25]
In an interview with ABC News's Nightline, Truett's son Dan Cathy gave reporter Vicki Mabrey another reason why the company is closed on Sundays, saying his father opened his first restaurant on a Tuesday and "by the time Sunday came, he was just worn out. And Sunday was not a big trading day, anyway, at the time. So he was closed that first Sunday and we've been closed ever since. He figured if he didn't like working on Sundays, that other people didn't either." The younger Cathy quoted his father as saying "'I don't want to ask people to do that what I am not willing to do myself.'" [26]
In January 2011, the media reported that Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against the trial ruling striking down Proposition 8 in California. [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] PFI had also lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. [32] Another organization connected to Chick-fil-A through financial support, the WinShape Foundation, [33] was also quoted as stating it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. [34]
In response to the reported connections between PFI, WinShape, and Chick-fil-A, students at several colleges and universities formed grassroots efforts to ban or remove the company's restaurants from their campuses. [35]
On July 2, 2012, the LGBT watchdog group Equality Matters published a report with details of donations given by Chick-fil-A to organizations that are opposed to same-sex marriage, such as the Marriage & Family Foundation and the Family Research Council. [36] [37] [38] Also, on July 2, Biblical Recorder published an interview with Dan Cathy, who was asked about opposition to his company's "support of the traditional family." He replied: "Well, guilty as charged." [39] [40] Cathy continued:
"We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. ... We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized. "We intend to stay the course," he said. "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles." [39]
In the wake of this interview, Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston, stated that he would not allow the company to open franchises in the city "unless they open up their policies.” [41] Menino subsequently wrote a letter to Dan Cathy, citing Cathy's earlier statement on The Ken Coleman Show and responding: "We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom for all people." [42] In Chicago alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno announced his determination to block Chick-fil-A's bid to build a second store in the city: "They'd have to do a complete 180," Moreno said in outlining conditions under which he would retract the block. "They'd have to work with LGBT groups in terms of hiring, and there would have to be a public apology from [Cathy]." [43]
Moreno received backing from Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values," Emanuel said in a statement. "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty." [43] San Francisco soon followed suit on July 26 when mayor Edwin M. Lee tweeted, "Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone." Lee followed that tweet with "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer." [44]
The proposed bans in Boston and Chicago drew criticism from liberal pundits, legal experts and the American Civil Liberties Union. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones magazine said "[T]here's really no excuse for Emanuel's and Menino's actions... you don't hand out business licenses based on whether you agree with the political views of the executives. Not in America, anyway." [45] UCLA law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh observed, "[D]enying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation." [46] Echoing those views were Glenn Greenwald of Salon, professor John Turley of George Washington University, and Adam Schwartz, a senior attorney with the ACLU. [47]
In 2006 a lawsuit was brought by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine against McDonald's, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Burger King and Chick-fil-A. [48] The organization asserted that cooking certain meats, including chicken, at high temperatures causes the meat to contain the chemical PhIP, a compound which had caused cancer in lab rats and mice. [49] A 2009 ruling for the defendants was followed by an August 2010 appeal decided in favor of the plaintiffs. [50] The matter has not been legally resolved and is still before the courts of California. [50] [51]
{{
cite web}}
: URL–wikilink conflict (
help)
{{
cite book}}
: Unknown parameter |coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (
help)
{{
cite news}}
: Check |url=
value (
help)
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
$3.84 million was contributed primarily to Christian organizations such as Marriage and Family Foundation, which received $1.18 million, and Family Research Council, which received $1,000. The Family Research Council "believes that homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large," according to its Web site. The Marriage and Family Foundation, whose chairman is Chick-fil-A senior vice president Donald Cathy, gave grants totaling $639,000 to six organizations that support strong traditional marriages and families.
as an organization we can operate on biblical principles.
Chick-fil-A doesn't belong in Boston. You can't have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We're an open city, we're a city that's at the forefront of inclusion... That's the Freedom Trail. That's where it all started right here. And we're not going to have a company, Chick-fil-A or whatever the hell the name is, on our Freedom Trail.