Boston Mayor Thomas Menino Says He'll Ban Chick-Fil-A
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | July 21, 2012
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has said he is prepared to ban Chick-Fil-A restaurants in his city.
The chicken chain is reportedly scouting locations for its first Boston outlet. One possible location is just steps from the Freedom Trail, a series of historic American Revolution sites.
Menino on Thursday pledged to block Chick-Fil-A's plans over its president's recent comments in opposition to gay marriage.
“Chick-Fil-A doesn't belong in Boston,” Menino told The Boston Herald. “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.”
Menino said he was preparing a letter to the company's Atlanta headquarters “telling them my feelings on the matter.”
“If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult – unless they open up their policies,” he added.
Chick-Fil-A President Dan Cathy unleashed a firestorm of controversy when he said gay marriage is “inviting God's judgment on our nation.”
Cathy pivoted in a subsequent interview with San Antonio Fox affiliate Fox 29, saying “we appreciate everybody” and insisting “we don't have anti-gay or anti-anything policy or attitude toward anybody that's out there.”
Between 2003 and 2010, Chick-Fil-A gave nearly $5 million to groups opposed to gay rights, according to Equality Matters.