Chick-Fil-A: From NYC To San Francisco, Mayors Weigh In On Banning The Bird

Big city mayors from San Francisco to Boston to Chicago to New York have all weighed in on banning Chick-Fil-A from their cities, and the results are mixed. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was the first to declare his distaste for corporate discrimination, saying “Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston,” because “You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population.” Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel was next to add his voice to the call to ban the bird:

“Chick-Fil-A’s values are not Chicago values,” Emanuel said. “They’re not respectful of our residents, our neighbors and our family members, and if you’re going to be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect the Chicago values.”

WATCH: CNN Grills Chicago Lawmaker Over Chick-Fil-A Comments While Ignoring Discrimination Lawsuit

Both Mayor Menino and Mayor Emanuel have since clarified they won’t block Chick-Fil-A from their towns, after much rhetoric, including, of course, Rush Limbaugh, who today, in his usual off the charts nuttiness called both mayors  “essentially Stalinist,” according to Politico:

“That is a direct assault on Christianity,” Limbaugh said on his radio show. “That is a direct assault on Christians, with economic punishment thrown in, including threats from government officials that are in direct violation of the Constitution.”

“This company hires gays, they serve gays, they don’t discriminate,” Limbaugh said. “It’s just that the owner happens to be a publicly professed, witnessing Christian.”

READ: Chick-Fil-A Sued For Firing Woman So She Could Be A ‘Stay Home’ Mom

“People are defecating on the escalators and the mayor of San Francisco wants everybody to know he won’t let any damn Christians in town,” Limbaugh said, referring to a San Francisco Chronicle story about workers finding human waste underneath escalators in the area’s subway stations, according to the same Politico piece. “He wants every San Franciscan to know he won’t stand these Christians coming to town. As long as he does that, these people can defecate all over the BART escalators all they want.”

But Independent New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has no problem advocating for banning sales of large sodas, welcomes Chick-Fil-A into same-sex marriage friendly NYC.

“Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show on WOR that it is inappropriate for a government entity “to look at somebody’s political views and decide whether or not they can live in the city, or operate a business in the city, or work for somebody in the city,” the Washington Post reported.

Of course, Limbaugh, CNN, and many others are all claiming Chick-Fil-A does not discriminate in their stores. The owner of the Chick-Fil-A in Chicago, Lauren Silich, went so far as to claim, “We hold fundraisers for hospitals, schools, fallen police, and we donate to a wide variety of causes, including everything from churches to gay and lesbian organizations.”

Of course, when pressed on the statement, Silich, whom The New Civil Rights Movement contacted yesterday, refused to respond to our email, requesting “a list of all the gay and lesbian organizations you donate  to, and if possible, the amount or type of donations.”

So, there’s that.