It is not a little known secret that the head of the moreover southern fast food chain, Chick-Fil-A, Dan Cathy, is against marriage equality and homosexuals in general. In fact, Cathy has openly proclaimed his opposition to the subject proudly.
Obviously the proclamation caught criticism and resulted in multiple politicians (mostly north) putting up a fight about letting the closed-on-sunday's food chain from opening up shop in their cities. Some took the protest about opening the chain as a violation of Cathy's First Amendment rights to free speech over religion. However, as stated in the CNN article, " The First Amendment protects you from government action suppressing your right to free speech. It does not protect you from private individuals' negative reaction to your speech." Meaning, if the government had actually gotten involved in the protesting of opening Chick-Fil-A's because of Dan Cathy's proclamation, he could argue that his First Amendment rights were being violated. However, there has been no government involvement, therefore no claim can be made.
Though politicians cannot simply stop a business from opening up in their towns or city's just because they don't like their ideals they do have ways to make the process more difficult by using zoning laws and claiming that the business would create "adverse secondary effects". Boston's mayor Thomas Menino, who is one of the many politicians against Chick-Fil-A opening up in their city put up a fight about the restaurant opening in the city. Along with Menino, a municipal council member, Joe Moreno is holding a strong stance on the subject and planning on making it extremely difficult for any Chick-Fil-A's to open in the city. Moreno defended his view by saying "You have the right to say whatever you want. but zoning is not a right" and has come up with many reasons including increased traffic as to why the chain should not open.
Though both Menino and Moreno both do not have the rights or power to stop Chick-Fil-A from opening a store, they do have the right to speak their opinions on why they would oppose such a place from restaurant from open in their cities. Menino said his reasoning for being opposed to Chick-Fil-A opening was due to the fact that because he welcomed equal rights marriage in his city with open arms and it would be insulting to those who are in same sex marriages to open a food chain that was openly anti-gay in a city that is so supportive of same sex marriages.
If you want to read more about the topic of Chick-Fil-A and their First Amendment controversy read here
I feel like the Chick-Fil-A company has always been under pressure due to the views on the LGBTQ population among other things. However, I do feel like zoning laws should not be enforced on a business simply because some do not agree with what they stand for, instead I think boycotting said business would be a more appropriate action
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post because it incorporates the First Amendment into zoning laws that are occurring throughout the United States. After reading this blog post it was great to see how issues like this are still occurring today. You made some great points about explaining how the government cannot shut down their business because they have to honor their First Amendment rights.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting the the head of Chick-Fil-A knew that what he is saying isn't a First Amendment issue because it is not the government making these claims. This is an issue that most Americans do not understand. It is good to see an American who know the law correctly.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good post for your First Amendment class! Also, it was really easy to find your link so thank you for that. I am not sure I like the fact of the zoning laws.
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