Saturday, July 28, 2012

Every Now And Then A Blind Squirrel Gets A Nut

From Newsmax:  Chicago and Boston might want to keep Chick-fil-A out of their cities but that doesn’t mean they have the right to do so, according to the ACLU.
Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy’s recent comments supporting the “biblical definition” of marriage as between a man and a woman has led to calls by gay rights advocates to boycott the chain. The mayors of Boston and Chicago have recently promised to stop further expansion of the restaurants in their cities. Emanuel weighed in after Chicago Alderman Proco Joe Moreno said he intends to block the chain from opening its second Chicago location because of Cathy’s remarks.

Legal experts said the cities’ push to stop Chick-fil-A doesn’t stand a chance because barring Chick-fil-A over the personal views of its owner is an “open and shut” discrimination case,
Fox News reported.
 “The government can regulate discrimination in employment or against customers, but what the government cannot do is to punish someone for their words,” Adam Schwartz, senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, told Fox News. “When an alderman refuses to allow a business to open because its owner has expressed a viewpoint the government disagrees with, the government is practicing viewpoint discrimination.”
The ACLU “strongly supports” same-sex marriage, Schwartz told Fox, but said that if a government can exclude a business for being against same-sex marriage, it can also exclude a business for being in support of same-sex marriage.

“But we also support the First Amendment,” he said. “We don’ think the government should exclude Chick-fil-A because of the anti-LGBT message. We believe this is clear cut.”

I'll disagree with the ACLU about 95% of the time but this time they get it right.
The Chick Fill A issue is not about gay marriage but it is about free speech.  Sure, politicians can say they disagree with a person's view, but they cannot discriminate against them for their spoken word.  If Chicago, Boston and other cities deny Chick Fill A based on the owners view, they better be prepared to write a big check to the owner for violating his and his companies rights.  How is that for karma. 
Seems like the blind ACLU just got their nut.

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