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Chris

San Antonio removes Chick-fil-A from airport concessions deal over company’s anti-LGBTQ

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The San Antonio City Council, on a 6-4 vote, removed a planned Chick-fil-A location from an airport concession agreement on Thursday, after a councilman flagged the company’s anti-LGBTQ activity.

Local media reported that the move followed a ThinkProgress report on Wednesday which noted the company’s foundation gave $1.8 million in 2017 to tax exempt groups with anti-LGBTQ records.

The council was considering a seven-year concession agreement for the San Antonio International Airport with Paradies Lagardère, a travel retail company. The agreement, which was up for approval at Thursday’s meeting, originally included 985 square feet for a Chick-fil-A location. District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño successfully proposed an amendment to remove the controversial company from the agreement and the amended version was adopted. He specifically cited Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ record as the reason for the amendment.

“With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion,” Treviño explained in a statement. “San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior. Everyone has a place here, and everyone should feel welcome when they walk through our airport. I look forward to the announcement of a suitable replacement by Paradies.”

As ThinkProgress reported earlier this week, Chick-fil-A has sought to downplay its anti-LGBTQ record since the company’s CEO Dan Cathy made comments in 2012 suggesting that America is “inviting God’s judgment” by embracing same-sex marriage and that the company was “guilty as charged” of having anti-equality positions.

But despite reportedly promising last year to halt donations to causes considered “offensive,” its foundation has continued to fund anti-LGBTQ groups and the company remains one of a few with a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign and a corporate employment non-discrimination policy that does not include sexual orientation or gender identity.

“I want the first thing [a visitor to] see is a San Antonio that is welcoming and that they not see…a symbol of hate,” Councilman Manny Pelaez said, explaining his support for the amendment.

In a statement, Chick-fil-A told a local NBC affiliate that it was disappointed in the decision. “We would have liked to have had a dialogue with the city council before this decision was made. We agree with Councilmember Treviño that everyone is and should feel welcome at Chick-fil-A. We plan to reach out to the city council to gain a better understanding of this decision.”

 

more in link

https://thinkprogress.org/san-antonio-city-council-bans-chick-fil-a-from-airport-concession-deal-anti-lgbtq-cdd076dbdb69/

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Good riddance to bad rubbish. All the local media here is pretty much supporting the decision, even if they don't agree with the exact reason, because they think it's stupid to let a business that gives up 15% of its potential revenue by being closed on Sunday have the space.

Our mayor also got to use this as a slam dunk against his braindead Republican opponent in the first mayoral debate, earlier today. jj2 

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1 minute ago, attitude said:

Food is food.

Chik-fil-a spends a crazy amount of money on activities that are direct attacks on LGBTQ people, especially in the developing world. They’ve funded lobbyists in a number of countries with the express purpose of criminalizing homosexuality and in many cases, have succeeded at getting laws with punishments up to the death penalty passed. They’re also one of the very few major fast food franchises that has no employment discrimination protections in place for LGBTQ people.

 

As you say, food is food, so let’s not give this gross organization the funds to do anything unrelated to food, even if that means boycotting the franchise entirely.

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5 hours ago, Americunt said:

Chik-fil-a spends a crazy amount of money on activities that are direct attacks on LGBTQ people, especially in the developing world. They’ve funded lobbyists in a number of countries with the express purpose of criminalizing homosexuality and in many cases, have succeeded at getting laws with punishments up to the death penalty passed. They’re also one of the very few major fast food franchises that has no employment discrimination protections in place for LGBTQ people.

 

As you say, food is food, so let’s not give this gross organization the funds to do anything unrelated to food, even if that means boycotting the franchise entirely.

Meh. I'll have to look into that but there's many companies we support with shitty people at the top.

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also; a fun fact:

my school has a weekly Chick-Fil-A kiosk in the exit hallway when school ends jj4 

yet we have at least 2 LGBTQ teachers and a GSA jj4 

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