By Zanub Saeed
A local Chicago alderman is under fire by church officials this week as he chose to go against Chick-fil-A's anti-gay and same sex marriage policies, which were made public by the fast food chain's president earlier this month.
First Ward Ald.Proco "Joe" Moreno is currently trying to stop the opening of a new Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Northwest side of Chicago, on 500 block of North Elston Ave, because of how strongly he stood against what Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, stated in early July, noted the Chicago Tribune this week.
When news first came out that Moreno was fighting against the opening of the store as a means of standing up for civil rights, those in the Christian community called him a hypocrite. Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David Smith said Moreno was "turning around and being intolerant and discriminatory because somebody has a different view than he does," he told the Chicago Tribune.
Moreno retaliated, stating, "The intolerance of an organization and then my lack of acceptance of that intolerance is not hypocrisy," he told the Tribune. "That's sophomoric thinking."
The mayor of Chicago fought back, though did not say he was going to stop the opening of Chick-fil-A stores in the major city. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has always been a supporting of gay marriage, and firmly stood against the company's overly-discriminatory Christian values.
Cathy's views "are discriminatory against people who are our neighbors and our residents. Those aren't our values," Emanuel told the Chicago Tribune.
There is only one Chick-fil-A store open in the entire Chicago area, near the Magnificent Mile in Ald. Brendan Reilly's 42nd Ward, said the Chicago Tribune. Reilly was diplomatic in his stance towards Chick-fil-A.
"If citizens find the corporation's views distasteful, they can vote with their feet," Reilly told the Chicago Tribune.
