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Chick-Fila

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  • KimmyEB
    KimmyEB Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Employment based on marital status is illegal in California. I'm guessing Chick-Fil-A stores here could get themselves in hot oil asking those sorts of questions.

    I was working at a store there in Virginia. Homophobia, racism, and sexism all unite there. :laugh:
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    The site below says that discrimination based on marital status is prohibited in Virginia for Employment, Housing, Insurance, and Credit. No idea how long the law has been in effect nor how strongly it is enforced. From your description, it sounds like the Chick-Fil-A store didn't come out and ask about marital status but asked all around it.

    http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/ms-statutes.htm
  • KimmyEB
    KimmyEB Posts: 1,208 Member
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    The site below says that discrimination based on marital status is prohibited in Virginia for Employment, Housing, Insurance, and Credit. No idea how long the law has been in effect nor how strongly it is enforced. From your description, it sounds like the Chick-Fil-A store didn't come out and ask about marital status but asked all around it.

    http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/ms-statutes.htm

    He basically just asked me who I lived with, I told him "my boyfriend." He then asked how long we'd been together, why we were living together, and if we had plans on getting married. I thought it was very weird, since I'd never been asked those questions before at an interview, and certainly wasn't asked that at the job I had afterwards, either. :laugh:
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    I take back what I said. Sounds like he directly asked about marital status. I wonder if the Virgina law was in effect then, or whether that Chick-Fil-A store just didn't care that they were skating on thin ice. Answering to a higher law, as it were.
  • lour441
    lour441 Posts: 543 Member
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    The site below says that discrimination based on marital status is prohibited in Virginia for Employment, Housing, Insurance, and Credit. No idea how long the law has been in effect nor how strongly it is enforced. From your description, it sounds like the Chick-Fil-A store didn't come out and ask about marital status but asked all around it.

    http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/ms-statutes.htm

    He basically just asked me who I lived with, I told him "my boyfriend." He then asked how long we'd been together, why we were living together, and if we had plans on getting married. I thought it was very weird, since I'd never been asked those questions before at an interview, and certainly wasn't asked that at the job I had afterwards, either. :laugh:

    It's not illegal to ask those questions. It's illegal to discriminate based on the answers. Slippery slope but no wrong doing.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    No argument, Lour441. It just seems strange to ask questions when it's illegal to use the answers. I believe most employers avoid the possibility of discrimination suits by not asking questions that give them information that they can't legally use.
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
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    As much as I believe in gay rights, I also believe others are free to practice and profess their own family values and if they are different than my own, so be it. I do not believe his personal views impact myself or my family - just like my neighbors view doesn't impact myself or my family unless they try to impose it upon me.

    The thing is he's not just stating his opinion. He is giving money to originations that are stopping others from practicing their own family values. If it was just him 'I don't agree with your family' but 'i mask against your family I will fight to deny you rights that are enjoyed by my family'

    It's the right of any individual to express their beliefes and support those organizations that they feel represent their own beliefs.

    It is your right to refuse to patronize those organizations. Don't eat at Chick-Fila.

    FWIW, the money that people are complaining about isn't his personal money, but the COMPANY'S money being spent on anti-gay lobbying efforts. Chik-fil-a's corporate donations total over $5 million to anti-gay organizations between 2003 and 2010. That's not personal money.

    Source:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-group-donations-_n_1644609.html

    The problem I see with this is that we now have companies essentially expressing free speech just like a person would by making donations to organizations whose main purpose is lobbying. It all comes back to the citizen's united ruling in 2010 and the majority opinion about money = free speech even if it's money coming from a company, not necessarily the individual sanctioning this kind of monetary policy.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    This is from a press release from an organization claiming to have aided in negotiations with Chic-Fil-A to get them to stop supporting anti-gay organizations and ensure they don't discriminate against gay employees.
    In a letter addressed to Alderman Moreno and signed by Chick-fil-A’s Senior Director of Real Estate, it states, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.” Winshape, a non-profit funded by Chick-fil-a, has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT groups, including some classified as hate groups, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage. In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations.

    “We are very pleased with this outcome and thank Alderman Moreno for his work on this issue,” said Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda. “I think the most substantive part of this outcome is that Chick-fil-A has ceased donating to organizations that promote discrimination, specifically against LGBT civil rights. It has taken months of discussion, both with our organization and with the Alderman, for Chick-fil-A to come forward with these concessions and we feel this is a strong step forward for Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community, although it is only a step.”

    http://jointcra.org/

    Great result, if true.
  • KimmyEB
    KimmyEB Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I doubt they were "hurting for business," but I do wonder if what happened last month/month before last (has it really been that long?) affected their business greatly enough that they came to this. Either way, if that is true, good to hear one less corporation will be sticking it's nose into areas where it shouldn't. Just my opinion, of course.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    My guess is that they looked at the demographics of who supported their anti-gay stance and who rejected it. Young people tend to be less anti-gay and mystified by opposition to marriage equality. And young people are more likely to be fast food customers and more likely to be customers for decades to come.

    I'm just speculating based on reading things like this:
    Yet even before the national controversy, students at colleges and universities have been among the most vocal critics of Chick-fil-A's well-reported donations to groups like Exodus International, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. In February, New York University student Hillary Dworkoski launched a petition against the fast food chain, calling for NYU to close its Chick-fil-A franchise, reportedly the only one in Manhattan.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-organizations-funding-ceased_n_1896580.html
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
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    All I know is that this whole Chik-fil-a thing opened my eyes to kind of people in my personal life and changed my opinion of them.

    I ended up deleting a couple who posted extremely offensive anti-gay/pro-chik-fil-a stuff. A few old classmates and many cousins, some things said were so offensive to me that I couldn't keep them around any longer.
  • KimmyEB
    KimmyEB Posts: 1,208 Member
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    All I know is that this whole Chik-fil-a thing opened my eyes to kind of people in my personal life and changed my opinion of them.

    I ended up deleting a couple who posted extremely offensive anti-gay/pro-chik-fil-a stuff. A few old classmates and many cousins, some things said were so offensive to me that I couldn't keep them around any longer.

    I (thankfully) didn't have anyone I know PERSONALLY (as in, friends or family or anything) who said anything like that, but I definitely saw stuff like that blasted all over friend's pages from their friends/family. Saw some pretty heated arguments. One person I knew even had her entire family delete her and leave some pretty harsh stuff on her page simply because she said she was no longer going to support a company like that. I have so many people "hidden" on Facebook, so for all I know, they could have been spewing hate on there, but I didn't see it. I definitely understand how you feel, though--I've had to delete quite a number of people due to racist remarks. It's one thing to put it on your own page...but when people start commenting on MY stuff or leaving racist remarks/photos/"jokes" on my page, then yeah...access to my page will then be blocked. :tongue:
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    That press release keeps talking about "Alderman Moreno." I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize that "Alderman" is his title, not his first name. I did think it was strange they kept calling the guy by his first name, but I didn't even notice that they kept putting "the" in front of (what I thought was) his first name! It all started to make more sense to me when I saw this:
    Chick-fil-A agrees to stop funding antigay groups, Chicago alderman says
    By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 2 hrs 41 mins ago

    Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain that sparked a firestorm earlier this year after its president made public comments against same-sex marriage, has agreed to stop funding antigay groups, a Chicago alderman says.

    Joe Moreno, the alderman whose opposition of a proposed Chick-fil-A on Chicago's north side helped fuel the controversy, told the Chicago Tribune the company has pledged to include a statement of respect for all sexual orientations in a memo to staffers, and has promised that the WinShape Foundations, its not-for-profit arm, would no longer contribute money to groups that oppose gay marriage. Moreno said he will recommend that Chick-fil-A's construction plans be approved. . . .

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chick-fil-funding-anti-gay-groups-175154249.html
  • Gilbrod
    Gilbrod Posts: 1,216 Member
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    People will still find something offensive since he still believes that marriage is between a man a woman. They will still probably label him as a homophobe. We shall soon see.
  • KimmyEB
    KimmyEB Posts: 1,208 Member
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    People will still find something offensive since he still believes that marriage is between a man a woman. They will still probably label him as a homophobe. We shall soon see.

    It's one thing to hold those beliefs...but to help spread the hate? That's entirely another. I know a lot of people (and am related to a lot of people) who are anti-gay...but they aren't giving out mass amounts of money (or any money) to support that agenda. Thankfully. :tongue:
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
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    Yep, and for better or worse, the whole issue brought to light an entire breed of nasty people who used it to declare their bigotry by stuffing their faces with MSG-laden fast food chicken..
  • Yieya
    Yieya Posts: 168 Member
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    While I don't agree with Chick-fil-a, I support any privately owned business to serve whoever they want or express any opinion they choose.


    If a private business offends me, I don't ptronize that business, but I defend their right to express themselves.

    Agreed. If I go to a Chick Fil A and they said "We don't like Hispanics because they're taking all our agricultural and landscaping jobs", but still choose to buy those awesome milk shakes because they're not denying me my food, that's my business. Now if they outright tell me, "sorry, we don't serve sp!cs, please leave the premesis", different story. Good ole consumerism. It's nice to be able to choose. When gov't gets involved in what private businesses get to open where, it's kinda like socialism no? Regardless, Chick Fil A, whether you love em or hate em, are making millions today.

    Well stated... I agree 100%
  • Yieya
    Yieya Posts: 168 Member
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    Yep, and for better or worse, the whole issue brought to light an entire breed of nasty people who used it to declare their bigotry by stuffing their faces with MSG-laden fast food chicken..

    someone sounds bitter
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    All I know is that this whole Chik-fil-a thing opened my eyes to kind of people in my personal life and changed my opinion of them.

    I ended up deleting a couple who posted extremely offensive anti-gay/pro-chik-fil-a stuff. A few old classmates and many cousins, some things said were so offensive to me that I couldn't keep them around any longer.

    I (thankfully) didn't have anyone I know PERSONALLY (as in, friends or family or anything) who said anything like that, but I definitely saw stuff like that blasted all over friend's pages from their friends/family. Saw some pretty heated arguments. One person I knew even had her entire family delete her and leave some pretty harsh stuff on her page simply because she said she was no longer going to support a company like that. I have so many people "hidden" on Facebook, so for all I know, they could have been spewing hate on there, but I didn't see it. I definitely understand how you feel, though--I've had to delete quite a number of people due to racist remarks. It's one thing to put it on your own page...but when people start commenting on MY stuff or leaving racist remarks/photos/"jokes" on my page, then yeah...access to my page will then be blocked. :tongue:

    Thankfully, I didn't have any of that either.... and I have friends from all walks of life, political/religious leanings... There is one person though that I restricted some of her posts to only "important" events so I wouldn't see her political ones... and it wasn't so much her political posts as her friends would all attack me for my opinions... so rather than be tempted to chime in, I just filtered those out... she has a daughter the same age as mine, so I like seeing "those" updates.... anyway... that's what I think is wrong with this country... not that people have differing opinions on things, but the lack of tolerance for the different opinions. I don't agree with many people here in this forum or even in real life... but that doesn't mean that I hate anyone for their opinions, beliefs, life style choices, parenting choices... whatever.... but we (as a society) have gotten to a point where disagreement of something automatically means you are a bigot or hate such and such group... when that isn't always true.
  • lour441
    lour441 Posts: 543 Member
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    All I know is that this whole Chik-fil-a thing opened my eyes to kind of people in my personal life and changed my opinion of them.

    I ended up deleting a couple who posted extremely offensive anti-gay/pro-chik-fil-a stuff. A few old classmates and many cousins, some things said were so offensive to me that I couldn't keep them around any longer.

    I only have one person on my friends list on Facebook that posted anything about Chic-Fila. He also happens to be gay and felt very strongly on the issue so his remarks were pretty inflammatory. I accept people get passionate about things that they feel strongly about and just read the remarks and moved on. Soon after, during the republican convention, he shared an image of Chris Christie and made some disparaging remarks about how obese people have no right to be in politics blah blah blah.

    chrischristiearrivesrncconventiontampa2012.jpg

    All this exercise showed me was that even the self righteous can be *kitten* bigots at times. I love him like a brother so I pointed out his hypocrisy and dropped it. He removed the share.

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