Do You Boycott?

[SWTXBelle]

My only problem is with elected officials who want to forbid legal businesses from opening based solely on the stated beliefs of their CEO. Let the market decide which restaurants succeed. Boycott your little hearts out - but don't unilaterally decide that a business which doesn't pass your subjective litmus test can't be allowed to open. That sets a dangerous precedent.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

My only problem is with elected officials who want to forbid legal businesses from opening based solely on the stated beliefs of their CEO. Let the market decide which restaurants succeed. Boycott your little hearts out - but don't unilaterally decide that a business which doesn't pass your subjective litmus test can't be allowed to open. That sets a dangerous precedent.

No precedent will be set, because nobody is actually doing this - Menino and (to a somewhat lesser extent) Emmanuel chose bluster because they know that there's approximately a 0% chance (and possibly lower) that they could refuse any sort of permit or similar on basis of these views alone. Which is why they didn't threaten that specifically - just vague notions of "That's not how we do business here, and you should stay away!"

Mumbles may not be the brightest public speaker, but he has plenty of lawyers on staff who know far, far better than what you're proposing.

[SWTXBelle]

Then I'll just hate the bluster.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Then I'll just hate the bluster.

That seems completely reasonable

[UGAalum94]

Do you think the bluster and social network righteousness ends up being a win or a lose for same sex marriage and GLBT equal protection (or protected class?) advocates?

I feel like one of the things that sort of becomes hard to ignore in this discussion is that people are drawing direct equivalence between Cathy's "support for traditional marriage" or conservative groups and homophobia or hate.

If you are already firmly in the same sex marriage supporting camp, this connection may seem to make perfect sense.

But if you are friends with a lot of traditional marriage fans who accept and love individual gay people and/or you are familiar with a lot of the positive community support Chick-fil-a and Winshape provide in other areas, then the push back against Chick-fil-a seems overplayed.

If seemingly forced to choose sides, I think some otherwise weak supporters of same-sex marriage will throw in with the traditional "Christian" IceDream and illiterate cow loving side.

If the main plan/hope to advance same-sex marriage remains a state-by-state initiative, then I think this mini-culture war may end up being a set back in a lot of more moderate to conservative states and the faster it dies out, maybe the better for the same-sex marriage cause. Chick-fil-a isn't probably likely enough to suffer from the boycott in these states anyway.

If the overall same-sex marriage advocacy momentum shifts to one based more on a civil rights challenge in the courts, then it doesn't matter so much.

But this Chick-fil-a tempest-in-a-sweet-tea glass is making facebook a whole lot less interesting.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

My only problem is with elected officials who want to forbid legal businesses from opening based solely on the stated beliefs of their CEO. Let the market decide which restaurants succeed. Boycott your little hearts out - but don't unilaterally decide that a business which doesn't pass your subjective litmus test can't be allowed to open. That sets a dangerous precedent.

Originally Posted by KSig RC

No precedent will be set, because nobody is actually doing this - Menino and (to a somewhat lesser extent) Emmanuel chose bluster because they know that there's approximately a 0% chance (and possibly lower) that they could refuse any sort of permit or similar on basis of these views alone. Which is why they didn't threaten that specifically - just vague notions of "That's not how we do business here, and you should stay away!"

Mumbles may not be the brightest public speaker, but he has plenty of lawyers on staff who know far, far better than what you're proposing.

San Francisco mayor Ed Lee put out a similar message through his twitter account @mayoredlee Which isn't a real issue as San Francisco is full of snobby foodie types who are known to protest big business coming into the neighborhood, regardless of the political leanings of said company.