Mayor Bloomberg may want to keep New York open for any and all business — including of the homophobic variety — but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is having none of it. In a press release put out this morning, Quinn’s office demanded that Chik-fil-A president Dan Cathy apologize for his “repugnant and un-American” statements about traditional marriage. (Quinn married her longtime partner in New York in May.) The online petition only has 17 signatures as of this writing — not counting Quinn’s — but more people are signing it every few minutes.
As for the only existing Chik-fil-A in the city, housed on NYU’s campus, Quinn already has it in her crosshairs. In a letter addressed to NYU President John Sexton, and acquired by the New York Observer, Quinn writes:
Let me be clear ‐‐ I do not want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views. […] As such I urge you to sever your relationship with the Chick‐fil‐A establishment that exists on your campus.
While NYU has yet to respond to the request. It’s not clear whether or not the university would actually be able — or willing — to ask Chik-fil-A to vacate its spot in favor of something more West Village-friendly, but it seems they’ll need to at least address the issue soon.
