In Defense of Chick-fil-A

Re: “Denver City Council right on Chick-fil-A at DIA,” Aug. 25 letter to the editor.

As a lawyer, I can’t think of any national restaurant chain that has had only a dozen discrimination lawsuits against it in its history, other than Chick-fil-A. Most have faced hundreds of lawsuits. Yet letter-writer Tom Mellish argued that this tiny number of suits by Chick-fil-A employees is somehow a reason to deny its franchisee an airport concession. But those lawsuits may have been meritless.

Mellish says Chick-fil-A asked potential franchise owners about things like their marital status. But even if true, that’s perfectly legal. Discrimination laws generally protect employees, not franchise owners. The only discrimination law governing franchisee selection is 42 U.S.C. 1981, which only bans discrimination based on race, not marital status.

By contrast, Chick-fil-A is bound by state and local laws that protect gay employees and patrons, and there is no evidence that it violates them.

Read at The Denver Post