Imagine just getting out of prison for a major offense. You plan to move into a new town where most of your neighbors already know about your crimes against humanity.
This is the case for Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based food chain that was recently under fire for slurring homosexuality and funding numerous anti-gay organizations. The franchise plans to open a new restaurant right next door to our college, which has already publicly expressed its discontent with Chick-fil-A and its homophobic history. The only thing holding the restaurant back is a Pasadena City Council zoning hearing next month and the voice of the public.
Last year, CEO Dan Cathy openly stated that the federal government’s ruling to strike down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act was a “sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages…”
This chicken place should be concerned with how it may soon serve a college campus whose leaders have been outspoken with deep dislike for it.
Last week, openly gay Student Trustee Simon Fraser became red-faced with anger that Chick-fil-A planned to come next door, stating that students who plan to eat there should be well aware of the restaurant chain’s history of homophobia.
“I would not think that Dan Cathy and his homophobic band would be welcome here and I would be very disappointed in all people who consider themselves LGBT allies who would go and eat there,” Fraser said. “When a business makes a point of making its public views part of the public record, then by eating there you are implicitly supporting the idea that gays are significantly lesser people than everyone else.”
Robert Miller, senior vice president of college and business services, also did not support Chick-fil-A’s plans to open next door.
“As a corporation, Chick-fil-A has not shown itself to be supportive of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities, Miller said in a press release. “As a result, out of respect for our LGBT students, faculty, and staff, the college is not in favor of granting the conditional use permit and will appear at the Board of Zoning Appeals hearing to register its strong concerns.”
If Chick-fil-A wants to come here, it should be ready for its main consumers, the college campus community, to be absent in its lines.
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