By Zanub Saeed
Although major cities like Boston and Chicago are frowning upon and even considering banning Chick-fil-A stores in their areas due to the anti-gay controversy, New York City will not join in the boycott of the fast-food franchise, reported the Wall Street Journal.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that a ban on the store in the metropolitan area is "not going to happen," he revealed on his weekly radio show this week.
Controversy arose when Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy admitted that his institution only supported the "biblical definition" of marriage, which is of a man and woman, and thus was against anything outside of that, including same-sex marriage. Cathy stated this during an interview last week with the Baptist Press.
While Bloomberg does support same-sex marriage, the former businessman admitted he was "really strongly" against banning a business from running in New York City, and refused to have a government-issued ban because of the company's policies, he said on his radio show. He went on to say that stopping the opening of the store based on the company's beliefs was an infringement on the First Amendment right of freedom of speech, quoted the Wall Street Journal.
"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," Bloomberg said on his radio show. "You really don't want to ask political beliefs or religious beliefs before you issue a permit, that's just not government's job."
Admittedly there is only one Chick-fil-A location in the metro area, one on the New York University campus in downtown Manhattan, but Bloomberg would not stop franchise owners from wanting to open more.
"This is just a bad idea, and it's not going to happen in New York City," Bloomberg said.
