New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging New Yorkers not to patronize Chick-fil-A because the company opposes gay marriage.
“What the ownership of Chick-fil-A has said is wrong,” he said, according to DNA Info. “I’m certainly not going to patronize them and I wouldn’t urge any other New Yorker to patronize them. But they do have a legal right.”
The national chain is set to open its first restaurant in Queens this fall. It already has three in Manhattan and has plans to continue expansion throughout the city.
In 2013, the company underwent scrutiny when CEO Dan Cathy criticized same-sex marriage. He also came under fire for is donations of millions of dollars to anti-gay groups, although he said those donations have been cut back.
A Chick-fil-A spokeswoman told DNA Info that the company has a diverse workforce of 80,000 employees and its “culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”
New York City Council Member Daniel Dromm also called for a boycott of Chick-fil-A, saying the company “imparts a strong anti-LGBT message by forcing their employees and volunteers to adhere to a policy that prohibits same-sex love.”
