Banned in Boston

from Stand Firm by David Fischler 

In Boston, it looks like businesses are judged not on whether they boost the community or employ people, but on their political opinions. Those who don’t conform to the reigning liberal sexual orthodoxy are persona non grata. According to an AP article at WHDH-TV:

The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company’s president spoke out publicly against gay marriage.
Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he doesn’t want a business in the city “that discriminates against a population.”
Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press this week that his privately owned company is “guilty as charged” in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family.

Here is what Cathy said to the Baptist Press that has the mayor’s shorts in a bunch:

Some have opposed the company’s support of the traditional family. “Well, guilty as charged,” said Cathy when asked about the company’s position.
“We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.
“We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that,” Cathy emphasized.
“We intend to stay the course,” he said. “We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

Please notice what Cathy did not say: that Chick-fil-A doesn’t hire gays; that Chick-fil-A doesn’t serve gays; that Chick-fil-A treats gay customers or employees any differently from straight ones; that Chick-fil-A and/or its leadership hates gays or thinks them any less deserving of human dignity than anyone else. What he did say is that his company supports a biblical and moral stance on marriage that was an unchallenged consensus in this country until about 20 years ago, when the agitation for same-sex marriage started. For exercising his right to speak his mind and believe as a Christian, his company is now unwelcome in Boston, that great home of liberty and tolerance (except when it isn’t).
You’d think the mayor was afraid of the presence in his city of points of view contrary to his own. You know what that makes him, don’t you?