The Hypocrisy of Denver’s War on Chick-fil-A

In Denver, city council members are weighing whether Chick-fil-A will be allowed to open in the Denver International Airport.

Denver council member Paul Lopez “called opposition to the chain at DIA ‘really, truly a moral issue,’” according to the Denver Post, while council member Robin Kniech is alarmed about Chick-fil-A’s “corporate profits used to fund and fuel discrimination.”

“Ten of the 13 [Denver city council] members attended Tuesday’s meeting, and none rose to defend Chick-fil-A, although some didn’t weigh in,” reported the Post.

Chick-fil-A’s crime? Well, back in 2012—when 48 percent of Americans opposed gay marriage, according to Gallup—Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy spoke out about his opposition to gay marriage, setting off a firestorm. The fact that the CEO of a company so committed to Christian values that it’s not even open on Sundays opposed gay marriage was somehow shocking.

But Cathy, while not changing his views (at least publicly), has changed his tone in the ensuing years. “I’m going to leave it to politicians and others to discuss social issues,” Cathy told USA Today in 2014. Campus Pride executive director Shane Windmeyer told USA Today that he had a “friendship” with Cathy and was “appreciative for the common ground we have established in treating all people with dignity and respect — including LGBT people.”

What a hater.

If the Denver City Council is concerned about the morality of the businesses at the airport, they should take a closer look at two current occupants: Ben and Jerry’s and Starbucks.

According to 2nd Vote, Starbucks Foundation has donated to Planned Parenthood, while Starbucks has been “listed as a company that matches employees’ gifts to Planned Parenthood.” Ben and Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, has donated to Planned Parenthood. Neither Starbucks nor Ben and Jerry’s responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment in July when asked about their support for Planned Parenthood.

Maybe that’s because even the best PR whizzes are hard-pressed to explain why a corporation would donate to a company whose executives have been caught on camera cavalierly discussing the sale of fetal body parts. (Planned Parenthood has denied the organization profits from selling fetal body parts or tissue, and has said the organization follows all laws.)

Some of the videos’ highlights suggest that Planned Parenthood, which performs around a third of abortions in the United States, hardly represents American values.

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