See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Thomas Tracy
Brooklyn Daily
Chick-fil-A, the fast food chicken restaurant chain whose chief executive officer came out against gay marriage should open in Southern Brooklyn, according to a borough Republican leader who said he can’t wait to chow down on one of the franchise’s signature sandwiches in the borough.
Russell Gallo, president of the Brooklyn Young Republicans, sent a letter to Chick-fil-A head Dan Cathy last week, claiming that one of his restaurants would do well in neighborhoods like Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay.
“We would definitely welcome your business and the jobs and revenue it would create,” Russell wrote in his letter to the Cathy, who is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. “I look forward to enjoying a Chick-fil-A Sandwich in Brooklyn sometime in the near future!”
Cathy grabbed headlines last week when he came out against gay marriage, claiming that he and his company were “very much supportive of the biblical definition of a family unit.”
The statement created a firestorm of both controversy: upon hearing the comments, Council Speaker Christine Quinn called on New York University, where the only Chick-fil-A in the city is located, to cut ties with the fast-food chain because of its discriminatory views. At the same time, hundreds of diners descended on Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country last week to support Cathy’s views. In response, hundreds of gay couples, held a “kiss in” to oppose Cathy’s views at Chick-fil-As on Friday.
Mayor Bloomberg defended Cathy’s statements, claiming that opposing the restaurateur’s views “isn’t what America stands for.”
“Those people who don’t like Chick-fil-A don’t understand their rights were protected by people who took a difficult position in the past and stood by it,” Bloomberg said last week. “They stood up so everybody else would be free.”
Gallo, who will be running against Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay) in November, says he’s against gay marriage, but claims that he invited Cathy to open a franchise in Brooklyn to defend free speech.
“Christine Quinn wants to add political correctness to the growing list of licenses, taxes, requirements and fees already passed by democrats like Cymbrowitz that already burden our small businesses,” said Gallo. “I will not stand idly by and allow Quinn and Cymbrowitz to suppress free speech, free enterprise and job creation.”
Calls to Chick-fil-A were not successful by our breakneck midnight deadline.
Reach Deputy Editor Thomas Tracy at ttracy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2525.