Letter to the Editor: Fast Food and the First Amendment

To the Editor:

I believe the wiser course for fast-food titan Chick-fil-A would have been to keep its views of gay marriage to itself, but so long as it cannot be shown to be discriminating in hiring and promotion, it can and must be permitted to operate where it wishes and has every right to state an opinion and to contribute to organizations that support what it considers to be the traditional family.

It is chilling that some political leaders have sought to keep this outstanding and successful company out of their communities on the basis of a moral disagreement, and I wonder how these individuals would feel if conservatives sought to deny a liberal-leaning entity like Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream from securing occupancy permits in their localities.  Imagine the outrage that would ensue! Resignations would be demanded and the complainants would be marching off to court.

We tread on dangerous territory when elected officials hold themselves out as our moral arbiters, determining which merchants' ideologies are appropriate for their communities.

No one need patronize Chick-fil-A if they have a sufficiently strong objection to its positions on morality, but no "leader" has the right to kill First Amendment protections which are to be enjoyed by all Americans, even arch-conservatives.

Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair