Tolerance: San Mateo County Supervisor Launches Shame Campaign to Force Chick-fil-A to Withdraw Expansion Plans

The Chick-fil-A at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Screen grab via CFA.
CFA at Mercedes Benz Stadium
The Chick-fil-A at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Screen grab via CFA.

Inspired by the success of the San Antonio city council banning Chick-fil-A from opening a location at their airport, and a Democratic state lawmaker’s successful push to get the restaurant banned from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, a San Mateo County supervisor has come up with a plan he thinks will stop the company’s expansion in Redwood City, CA.

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The San Mateo Daily Journal reports:

“Chick-fil-A’s values don’t represent our values,” said San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa. “The logo might as well say ‘we hate gay people.”

[…]

Canepa hopes for a similar outcome [to San Antonio and Buffalo] in San Mateo County and plans to write a letter to the company discouraging it from setting up shop in Redwood City.

“I expect demonstrations and protests,” he said. “My goal ultimately is that they withdraw their permit and not do business in San Mateo County.”

Unlike the Buffalo and San Antonio locations that came under fire, the one in Redwood City would be on private property:

The Georgia-based purveyor of chicken sandwiches has obtained city approval for renovations and will replace the McDonald’s at 536 Whipple Ave., city spokeswoman Meghan Horrigan confirmed last week.

Another local official is in agreement with Canepa that the proposed location is not welcome in San Mateo county:

Craig Wiesner, sits on the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission, said the community should stand up to the company.

“I don’t think that we should necessarily be regulating what businesses can open in Redwood City, but I do think that as a community, we can stand up and say we don’t want this particular business which has taken a very open stand against LGBTQ people and spent millions of dollars against us at the heart of our county,” Wiesner said.

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Canepa told KPIX 5 that “When people think of the Chick-fil-A logo — what they think of is anti-LGBTQ.”

Literally nobody thinks about this outside of concern-trolling social justice warrior types and their authoritarian government allies who have nothing better to do with their time than to try to force private businesses to conform to their belief system – or else.

I get that Canepa is not using his position as a county supervisor to get the county to ban the restaurant from opening, but he IS using his position to whip up phony outrage and essentially shame the company into withdrawing their expansion plans – all because he disagrees with the owner’s personal beliefs.

That is a key point in all of this anti-Chick-fil-A madness, I think. There is zero evidence – nada, none – that the company discriminates against the LGBTQ community in its hiring practices. But because the owner of the chain is personally opposed to gay marriage, he should be outed, shamed, and – ultimately – forced out of business.

What will happen if Chick-fil-A doesn’t comply with Canepa’s letter encouraging them to withdraw their plans? Will government force be the next step? It doesn’t appear that local media outlets have asked him that question, but they should.

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—Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–

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