I hope someone somewhere is developing a plan to oust Chick-Fil-A from University Mall once and forever. Sure the company has a right to think whatever it wants, but it doesn't have a right to sit smack dab in the middle of our town in a perpetual contract with the mall owners.
Over the years, there have been countless boycotts and civil uprisings against dastardly corporate interests ... only a few of which have had any impact at all. So in the spirit of crowdsourcing, I'm throwing this question open to the community at large.
What can we do as a group of citizens to turn Chick-Fil-A's public positions on gay rights into a corporate liability and get the company out of our town? At a time when Christian homophobes are coming out of the woodwork to celebrate the company's discriminatory policies, is there not something we can do ...symbolic, practical, or otherwise ... to rise to this challenge?
I'd especiallywelcome input from the lawyers among you who might be able to think outside the box.
James
Issues:
Comments
Don't do it often, but gotta disagree with you, James, this time
Assuming that Chick-Fil-A's business practices are all kosher & that it's able to attract enough customers to stay in business, they got a right "to sit smack dab in the middle of our town," even if it's galling to the rest of us. If the company lives up to existing business codes, employee hiring/treatment codes, food safety codes, tax codes, etc., then I believe they should be able to locate anywhere they can draw customers, regardless of the political beliefs of the company's owners. And, within the law, those owners should be able to contribute to whatever causes they perfer. I would certianly demand the same for myself and for people who believe as I do, and so I gotta extend the same to those I disagree with.
On the other hand, it's perfectly appropriate for those in the community who find the company's practices abhorrent, as I do, to boycott the restaurant and to publicly decry and protest those practices, etc., also within the law. Chick-Fil-A's objectionable practices should not be protected by apathy by the rest of us, we should not allow the perception that "silence gives consent." And, of course, it's appropriate if the company's supporters counter-demonstrate: this is the messy business of free self-government.
Pesonally, I find the CFA controversy to be a side-show, a distraction. Despite the recent passage of that awful amendment (a MUCH bigger issue than Chick-Fil-A) the homophobic religious right seems to be clearly on the losing side in this issue. Public opinion and demographics show that, soon, they will be no more than oddities in the history museum. They're engaging in last-ditch, stop-gap campaigns -- that should be opposed at every turn, since they hurt real people -- but they can also feel the techtonic shifts happening right under their feet. We should guard boths sides of the aisle as they shuffle into oblivion, but we should not abandon our other values because they win the occasional fight.
Hamlett
Eat Les Chikin'
I completely with Hamlett. In fact, I think homophobes "shuffle into oblivion" can only be slowed by attacks that allow them to wrap their hatred in the flag. If they can define their homophobia as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, economic freedom, etc. (see Huckabee) then they will attract supporters who aren't homophobic to their cause.Just eat elsewhere. Encourage others to eat elsewhere. Try to convince whoever coordinates lunches in your office to order catering elsewhere.Try to convince your school and your PTSA to not have fundraisers there.
Eat Mor Chickin'
From MSNBC: