BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — According to the NFTA, there will be a meeting with the NFTA and Delaware North on Monday to discuss the Chick-fil-A controversy.
This all comes a week after an announced Chick-fil-A was pulled from the airport.
The decision to remove the Chick-fil-A came after NYS Assemblyman Sean Ryan (D) said in a statement that Chick-fil-A, which has a history of donating to anti-LGBTQ causes, should not be allowed to operate in a taxpayer-funded public facility. This ultimately led to Delaware North pulling the plug on the restaurant.
The decision to not include Chick-fil-A in the airport's dining plans due to their past is something that one commissioner, Peter Kirsanow, for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights believes violates the first amendment. Below is how he believes this could have happened.
It is irrelevant whether private actor Delaware North was the entity that informed Chickfil-A that it would no longer be welcome at the airport. For example, if the NFTA told Delaware North that it no longer wanted Chick-fil-A in the airport for the reasons stated in the Assemblyman’s post, and then Delaware North excluded Chick-fil-A, Chick-fil-A’s First Amendment rights were violated by state actors. Likewise, if Delaware North yielded to the Assemblyman’s protests, Chick-fil-A’s First Amendment rights were violated by state actors. And if NFTA urged Delaware North to get rid of Chick-fil-A to accede to state actors’ objections to Chick-fil-A’s contributions, Chick-fil-A’s First Amendment rights were violated.
Chick-fil-A has stated repeatedly that "Recent coverage about Chick-fil-A continues to drive an inaccurate narrative about our brand. We do not have a political or social agenda or discriminate against any group. More than 145,000 people from different backgrounds and beliefs represent the Chick-fil-A brand. We embrace all people, regardless of religion, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity."
