Dan Cathy, the president and chief
operating officer of Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain based in Atlanta,
recently dragged his company into the middle of the same-sex marriage debate.
He told one interviewer that the country is “inviting God’s judgment on our
nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to
what constitutes a marriage.’ ” Antigay remarks like these are offensive. But
they are not a reason to kick the company out of town, as the officials in
Boston and Chicago have threatened to do.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City
has the correct take on the matter. Mr. Cathy and his family have long
supported efforts to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. Mr. Bloomberg
worked hard for marriage equality in New York State. But, said Mr. Bloomberg,
“You can’t have a test for what the owners’ personal views are before you
decide to give a permit to do something in the city.”
Other officials were considerably less
sensitive to the fact that controversial, even hurtful, political views are
protected by the First Amendment. One Chicago alderman unwisely threatened to
try to use his powers over city businesses to shut out future Chick-fil-A
franchises.
Speaker Christine Quinn of the New York
City Council also overreached when she sent a letter, on Council stationery,
calling for the president of New York University to “sever your relationship”
with a Chick-fil-A eatery on campus. “Let me be clear,” she wrote, “I do not
want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views.”
As a gay woman who recently got married,
Ms. Quinn’s anger about Mr. Cathy’s comments is understandable. And she
stressed on Monday that the letter was “solely my own opinion.” But, as a
powerful city leader and a leading candidate for mayor, she and others in city
governments should take care not to be seen muscling aside businesses whose
owners don’t agree with their views. That won’t work, especially in a city as
big, diverse and opinionated as New York.
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