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Chick-fil-A Tag

The faculty at the University of Kansas has asked Chancellor Doug Girod to boot delicious Chick-fil-A from campus. The outrage comes after the school gave the magnificent fast-food restaurant a prime location in the student union. From The Kansas City Star (emphasis mine):
“KU granted Chick-fil-A, a bastion of bigotry, a prime retail location in the heart of our campus,” KU’s Sexuality & Gender Diversity Faculty and Staff Council said in a letter sent this week to Chancellor Doug Girod, the provost’s office and the athletic department.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has his problems, including a probe into alleged campaign fundraising improprieties. So what did he do? Pick-a-Fight with Chick-fil-A. Via BizPac Review (h/t Bo Snerdly):
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for a boycott of popular restaurant chain Chick-fil-A, presumably for its founder, Dan Cathy’s, past public statements supporting traditional marriage.

Manhattan's first Chick-fil-A opened this weekend and despite liberal misgivings of the closed-on-Sundays fast food chain, the demand for chicken sandwiches wrapped around the block.

Back in 2012, gay marriage activists targeted Chick-fil-A for the company owner's traditional stance on the issue. One such protester was Adam Smith, who decided to make a video of himself berating an innocent Chick-fil-A drive through employee who responded to his attack with grace and respect. The stunt backfired on Smith, who was quickly fired from his job and now finds himself on food stamps. FOX News reported:
Ex-CFO who criticized Chick-fil-A reportedly now on food stamps after outcry A CFO who drew widespread condemnation after berating a Chick-fil-A employee in a video that went viral three years ago is out of work and on food stamps, according to a published report. Adam Smith, 37, was the CFO of a medical device manufacturer in Arizona until the summer of 2012, when he started protested Chick-fil-A's stance on gay marriage to an employee at a drive-thru. “Chick-fil-A is a hateful company,” Smith told the employee. "I don’t know how you sleep at night,” Smith adds at another point. This is a horrible corporation with horrible values.” After the employee, who never loses her composure, wished Smith a nice day, he responded, “I will. I just did something really good. I feel purposeful.” Since then, Smith was fired from his job, and his wife and four children lost their home. The family was forced to sell and give away their possessions and move into an RV. He is now on food stamps, he says. “I don’t regret the stand I took, but I regret… the way I talked to her,” he told ABC News' “20/20.”
Last night, the panel on Red Eye discussed the issue: Smith has written a book about the experience which has been panned on Amazon.

S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, died today at the age of 93. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Mr. Cathy, an entrepreneur from an early age, built Chick-fil-A from a small diner founded in an Atlanta suburb 68 years ago into the top fast-food chicken chain in the U.S. Known for its grounding in the tenets of the founder's religious devotion as well as for its fried-chicken sandwiches, the closely held company has expanded to more than 1,800 stores in 40 states. Its sales have grown for 47 straight years, to $5 billion last year, Chick-fil-A says.... After some early setbacks, Mr. Cathy invented the original Chick-fil-A sandwich in 1964, considered to be the first fast-food chicken sandwich, and opened the company's first restaurant in Atlanta in 1967, according to a timeline on the company's website. He expanded the company in part by setting his restaurants in suburban shopping malls. Throughout, Mr. Cathy emphasized Christian values. The chain's locations are closed on Sundays and play religious-themed music. Mr. Cathy founded a youth-ministry organization, WinShape Foundation, in 1984, which provides leadership training and college scholarships to young people. Through the foundation, 13 foster homes have been created to provide long-term care for foster children in a family setting.
Chick-fil-A drew attention when activist groups and local politicians tried to force Chick-fil-A out of some cities because of its founding family's views on marriage and charitable donations. There never was an allegation of discrimination in the workplace -- this was pure political retribution, a precursor to purges such as that against Brendan Eich. We had extensive coverage of the anti-Chick-fil-A movement, including these posts: The anti-Chick-fil-A protests turned ugly at times, as Anne's video showed when this street preacher wa "chaulked": We covered Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day with many reader pictures, such as these: