Dear Customers of Chick-fil-A

After 18 years, and now with my current (and lifelong) girl for 17 years, but that's not good enough to eat their "chiken," either. I will spend my money elsewhere.

Series.

Thanks.

As I understand the freedom of speech / tolerance issue all started because some government officials made clear statements that they would like to restrict Chick-fil-a from doing business because of the owners personal views.

That is frankly dangerous and intolerant. I don't care what a business owners personal views are the government should never step in to restrict business operators from doing business as long as they follow the law.

constitutional rights do not apply here. A Government is not obligated to approve business licence just because a business requested one.

Stop treating a business as a person, with the same inalienable rights.

Active discrimination of an American citizen, should NOT BE TOLERATED ever.

You remember Rand Paul saying he was against the Civil rights law, on Rachel Maddow. I didnt see the support of his idea then as I do today, I have to question, what is the difference between the discrimination of a Black person and the discrimination of a Gay person? Neither one should be tolerated.

the full force of the law should be applied. Until that happens Chick-fil-a MUST be treated like any other business regarding it's ability to do business, no matter what it's owner may think or support.

So when the next time a bar in not allowed in town, you will come to their defense right? Or when an abortion clinic is denied their right to have a business in say Knoxville, you will be there as well. Or when the homeless shelters are denied a license to practice their art of compassion you will be there. There many restrictions that a town can deny a business in by civil servants slowing down the paper work or health laws strictly enforced or losing the paperwork or building inspector/code enforcer strict reading of laws, so on. My brother in Atlanta miss one government meeting and had to start all over again to get a warehouse turned into apartments. A three month setback! Why? He was given the wrong time for the meeting.

Towns have a right to create zoning laws within specific guidelines and law to set standards on the types of businesses in their communities. What happened to your brother is typical of petty bureaucracies. I've seen it myself. He was hassled needlessly but not excluded.

Chick-fil-a is a fast food restaurant. If a town want to exclude fast food restaurants, homeless shelters, bars or abortion clinics, they can choose to do that within the law.

When a town starts down the road of trying to deny any business the ability to operate because the viewpoint of it owner is different than the towns elected officials, this is a big problem.

Did any town/municipality/state actually deny that Chick-fil-A could not come there? No, just high profile people said they would not be welcome...that's simply expressing their disgust with this organization's hate, which you are bending over backwards to justify, making up what happened, and its nauseating...

When specifically did I indicate any support for Chick-fil-a's owners position. And specifically when did I make up anything.

wasn't getting a business license because of the owner's personal religious values. Zoning laws were not at issue in this case.

Once that bridge is crossed it becomes a doubled edged sword.

I am not impressed w/ Chick-Fil-A's sandwiches or their owner's religious viewpoint but I dropped 10 bucks in one of their stores last night because I believe that Americans have the right to free expression of their religion.

I also don't believe in penalizing an independent owner/ franchisee for something the guy he bought the license from said.

Edit All that said, odds are I will never eat there again because I can get a better chicken sandwich in the freezer aisle at Safeway /Edit

I've just read of boycotting them because they donate money to anti-gay causes and have practiced job discrimination.

me, "family values" talk. I hadn't heard the talk of banning them, thanks for the link.

I agree that banning them is wrong, but any city is free to pursue or not pursue as they wish. And boycotting them for their millions in donations to anti-gay legislation is fine with me.

Did not deny them, just told them what they thought of them...you're really digging your hole, aren't you?

you might have a broader view regarding the meaning of warned.

So just when is it appropriate for high level government official to warn legal businesses not to pursue new franchises in their cities because they dislike the owners viewpoint?

I happen to believe the correct answer is never.

Cite?

Each store is independently owned and I would bet that there are Chick-Fil-A stores owned by gays. I grant they may be rethinking their affiliation with the chain right now but I bet they are out there

but because the company gives its money to hate groups.

This "freedom of spech" brouhaha is a result of cities threatening to restrict business opportunities.

if i don't do it.

Their food is good, service is top notch, and restaurants are clean ad well run. I am sometimes put off by how crowded they are relative to other fast food joints, but that's just a product of their success.

I care as much about their leaders' political views as that of my favorite rock band or actor. The guy that owns my local franchise is a first class dude, but that is also irrelevant when I'm hungry.

Thank you for making that clear. It helps us know you better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A

Thanks for helping them support hate groups. I'm sure your favorite rock bands don't do the same. But hey enjoy your delicious shame

care about politics.

And Chick-Fil-A is the best run fast food joint not named In-N-Out.

a greasy deep fried chicken filet over my civil rights. Your values are something to be admired.

Every ticket you buy to a Tom Cruise or John Travolta movie helps fill the coffers at the Church of Scientology. R. Kelly's fans bought him the mansion where he peed on an underage girl as well as the legal team that worked to get the charges dropped.

I think most fans don't really care that much. Maybe they should, but if you like their work, you're probably willing to not worry about where the money goes.

There's something similar going on here. I don't think Chic-Fil-A is all that good in the first place and I try to avoid fast food anyway, so it's not going to be a problem for me not to go there. But I do understand why people who love it would continue to eat there. That's the whole problem with a principled stand. If they were easy, people would take them all the time.

And while the Church of Scientology are a bunch of assholes who preach really bad things, their influence is negligible as most of mainstream society sees them as lunatics.

Chik-Fil-A's owners have taken up arms on the wrong side of this generation's Civil Rights struggle. And while the tide may be turning, their side is still very much ahead. No you can't prevent every dime you spend from going to something that's morally reprehensible. But sometimes you just have to take a stand in a battle over right and wrong.

Your money is going to groups who want to EXECUTE gay people in Uganda. Proud of yourself now?

Buh bye.

Remind me not to hang around you at dinner time.