New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio urges people to stay away from Chick-fil-A as the Georgia-based restaurant chain plans to open a store in Queens Center Mall, the fourth location in the city. How effective de Blasio will be in calling for the boycott is unclear. Patrons lined up around the block when the three-level, 5,000 square-foot Manhattan location (its largest anywhere) opened last year.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
MORE: Photos of Chick-fil-A's NYC grand opening
"What the ownership of Chick-fil-A has said is wrong," de Blasio said. "I'm certainly not going to patronize them and I wouldn't urge any other New Yorker to patronize them. But they do have a legal right."
He is referring to president and CEO Dan Cathy's 2012 comments to a Baptist website regarding his support of "traditional marriage."
"We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit," Cathy said in article published in the Baptist Press. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."
"As it relates to society in general, I think we are 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,'" he continued.
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson said that the company employees thousands of people who represent varied backgrounds and beliefs and that the business' main focus is on satisfactory service and food.
"The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect -- regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," the spokesperson said.
Social media, as always, was quick to respond to de Blasio's call for a boycott:
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