As most people have heard by now, the president of Chick-fil-A is in hot water for speaking out against same-sex marriage, and for donating money to anti-gay causes. A few days ago, just when you thought it couldn't get worse than losing the support of the Muppets, the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, released an open letter kindly suggesting that the chain stay the fuck out of Boston. Rahm Emanuel has now expressed similar feelings, but as it turns out--no, you can't actually ban a business from your city because you don't like the guy who runs it, on account of that whole First-Amendment thing.
I don't think either man genuinely has (or had) plans to try, either directly or indirectly, to fight Chick-fil-A's efforts to operate in their cities (which it is indeed doing), but this entire situation, I think, is actually a wonderful example of the First Amendment in action--Dan Cathy, the amusingly-effeminately-named Chick-fil-A president, is completely free to express his opinion, Emanuel and Menino are completely free to use their positions to call bullshit on his opinion (and even organize boycotts or protests if they so desire), and gay couples are completely free to stand in front of Chick-fil-A locations and make out.
No comments:
Post a Comment