Chick-fil-A Vallejo Location Faces Opposition

A proposed Chick-fil-A location in Vallejo has drawn opposition from LGBT residents and others due to the company's anti-gay history.

The city council is expected to vote at its July 22 meeting on the fast food outlet's proposed restaurant in Vallejo's Northgate area at Admiral Callaghan Lane and Auto Mall Parkway near an entrance and exit to Interstate 80. It would be the company's seventh location in the Bay Area, with outlets in Walnut Creek, Fairfield, San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Rosa.

Due to Vallejo's drive to increase its tax base and add jobs as it continues to pay its bills two years after coming out of bankruptcy, opponents of Chick-fil-A expect the council will vote to approve the new location.

"It is an uphill battle," admitted gay Vallejo resident David Crumrine, who has been organizing opposition to the Atlanta-based company's expansion plan.

Nonetheless, the company's critics are not backing down in opposing the chain from opening in their city. They plan to address the council with their concerns at next week's hearing.

The purpose of doing so, said Crumrine, is so that "no one should be able to say afterward they didn't know what they were approving."

Due to the company's support of discriminatory policies toward LGBT people, it "should not be welcomed into our city," Vallejo resident Nathan Stout told the city's planning commission last month prior to its vote in support of the fast food chain's permits.

Most of the opposition stems from the anti-gay stances espoused by the leaders of the family-owned company. In 2012 Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, the son of company founder Truett Cathy, made headlines for saying he was against same-sex marriage.

Cathy's comments to the Baptist Press , including his saying that his opinion "might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles," set off protests and LGBT kiss-ins at Chick-fil-A eateries.

Supporters of the chain, in turn, flocked to its outlets in a coordinated daylong eat-in action to counter the calls to boycott Chick-fil-A. National and local leaders also weighed in on the controversy, with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee tweeting that he was "very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values and strong commitment to equality for everyone."

He added that the "closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away and I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) also joined in the fray, tweeting that "for the record, I prefer Kentucky Fried Chicken."

Last year on the day the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for federal recognition of same-sex marriages and overturned California's ban against such marriages, Dan Cathy tweeted it was a "sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies."

The tweet was later deleted and the company issued a statement distancing itself from Cathy's position. Yet Cathy's views continue to leave a pall over the company.

Earlier this year he admitted as much in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cathy, an evangelical Christian, was quoted as saying that he regretted "making the company a symbol in the marriage debate" and acknowledged he had made a mistake for taking such public stances.

"Every leader goes through different phases of maturity, growth, and development and it helps by (recognizing) the mistakes that you make," Cathy told the paper. "And you learn from those mistakes. If not, you're just a fool. I'm thankful that I lived through it and I learned a lot from it."

While Cathy's personal views remain the same, according to the article, he pledged to stay out of the public debate over same-sex marriage.

"The wiser thing for us to do is to stay focused on customer service," he said.

A letter sent to local media outlets this month, signed by three Vallejo groups opposed to the company opening in town, pointed out that Cathy broke a pledge to stop funding anti-gay groups such as Focus On The Family and the American Family Association.

"Not only did Cathy break that promise as well, he doubled down the very next year, giving another $4 million to anti-gay causes," stated the letter. "After the ensuing controversy, Chick-fil-A released a statement saying that the corporate foundation would 'leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena,' and not support anti-LGBT causes."

The groups that signed on to the letter were United Democrats of Southern Solano County, on whose board Crumrine serves as vice president; the Bayard Rustin LGBT Democratic Club of Napa and Solano Counties, and Better Vallejo.

The groups also pointed to the company's support of reparative therapy, "the same therapy that was outlawed in California for minors due to its contribution toward depression and suicides. Chick-fil-A has donated millions of dollars to fund reparative therapy through Exodus International, the discredited organization which is now defunct after the founder admitted that the therapy has never been successful in changing gay persons into heterosexuals."

Local LGBT advocates claim their request that the company issue a statement affirming they will not discriminate against LGBT people or same-sex couples was rejected. Calls for the company to donate to LGBT programs for youth or health services in Solano County in exchange for being granted their permits were also rejected, claim the advocates.

"They came back and said they would bring chicken to a picnic," said Crumrine. "We said basically that is not what we are talking about, not some minimal effort."

Trudi Loscotoff, a local public relations professional working with Chick-fil-A who has met with those opposed to the company, did not return the Bay Area Reporter's request for comment by press time.

Earlier this year a company spokeswoman, Jennifer Daw , told the Vallejo Times Herald that the new location would be "a locally owned franchise, employing approximately 60 area residents. We're excited for the opportunity to be working and involved in this unique community."

Ironically, next door to the chicken sandwich purveyor, the gay-owned Mexican fast food chain Chipotle is also seeking approval to open. The Vallejo Chamber of Commerce is supportive of seeing the chains open their doors, as are a number of local religious leaders and residents.

"We are absolutely elated that Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, and CVS wants to come to our city," Anthony Summers , a pastor whose own anti-gay statements became an issue when he ran for a city council seat last year, told planning commissioners in early June.

The Vallejo City Council meets at 7 p.m. inside City Hall at 555 Santa Clara Street.

SF Supes Adopt LGBT Housing Rule

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday adopted a new rule aimed at protecting LGBT tenants nationwide from anti-gay housing discrimination.

Under the policy, pushed by gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos and LGBT housing activists, national developers wishing to build residential projects with 10 or more units in the city would have to disclose if they prohibit LGBT discrimination.

As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in March, the new rule was crafted with an eye toward providing nationwide protections for LGBT tenants. Currently 21 states in the U.S. prohibit housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 16 states also ban gender identity based housing discrimination.

"This is really, I think, a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation that aims to address the very real issue we still have in this country, not withstanding the many advances of the LGBT community, of many instances of discrimination against the LGBT community when it comes to housing," Campos told the board's land use committee Monday when it took up the proposal.

The committee voted 3-0 without debate to recommend that the full board approve the rule, known as the LGBTQ Equal Housing Ordinance. The board unanimously backed the proposal the next day, July 15.

"This is a very common sense piece of legislation," said gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener , who chairs the committee and is a co-sponsor of Campos's proposal.

Under the rule the planning department, as part of its routine application process, will ask developers of larger projects if they have a national policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the sale, lease, or financing of any dwelling unit. Planners cannot use the information when considering the merits of a project but will submit the responses to the city's Human Rights Commission, which will be tasked with compiling a yearly report to send to the supervisors.

Advocates, however, could use a firm's lack of such pro-gay policies to rally opposition against its projects or as leverage to seek concessions such as increasing the number of affordable units a developer would be required to build.

Simply asking the question, argue backers of the measure, could prompt companies to adopt LGBT housing protections on a nationwide basis.

"This is a minor procedural change we believe has the power to make substantial impact to housing policies for corporations outside of San Francisco," said Campos, adding that he hoped other cities would adopt a similar rule. "As more jurisdictions pay attention to this, the more likely it is change will occur."

The rule is set to take effect within 30 days of its passage.

SF Mayor, Supervisor Call for End to Gay Blood Ban

Joining the list of Bay Area politicians calling for an end to the ban against gay and bisexual men from donating blood are San Francisco Mayor Lee and Supervisor Wiener.

As the Political Notebook last week reported, a number of South Bay officials held a press conference July 7 to call on the federal Food and Drug Administration to drop its discriminatory policy that bars any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood. Among them were Congressman Mike Honda (D-San Jose), Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, Santa Clara Supervisor Dave Cortese, and gay Campbell Councilman Evan Low.

Last Friday, July 11, Wiener joined a press conference promoting the National Gay Blood Drive that day, which had called on people to donate blood on behalf of gay and bi men. Tuesday of this week he introduced a resolution at the board calling for an end to the FDA's policy.

"This archaic ban has no basis in public health and is discrimination, plain and simple," stated Wiener.

Lee issued a statement Tuesday to voice his support of Wiener's resolution and called for an end to the anti-gay blood ban.

"Donated blood is critical to helping our hospitals and trauma physicians. Even one single donation can make a life-saving difference," stated Lee. "I stand with the American Red Cross, American Medical Association, Blood Centers of the Pacific and the National Gay Blood Drive to urge the Food and Drug Administration to change its policy that prohibits gay and bisexual men from donating blood."