By Warner Todd Huston ——Bio and Archives--July 29, 2012
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Generally speaking, governments have a responsibility to not discriminate against businesses on the basis of personal beliefs, just as restaurant chains cannot discriminate against employees on the basis of personal beliefs (or sexual orientation). “It’s very problematic,” explains Alan Weinstein, a law professor at Cleveland State University who studies municipal zoning. “The political, ideological and theological views of a person seeking the land-use permit are entirely irrelevant.” Mayors are free to speak their minds, and city councils can pass resolutions expressing their views, but a judge would almost certainly toss out any punitive action taken against the restaurant chain on such grounds, Weinstein says.
Robust public disagreements over issues like the definition of marriage are a symptom of a functioning democracy, not evidence of its dysfunction. A recent poll in Massachusetts found that 30% of the state believes same-sex marriage should be illegal. In the Chicago area, 42% of residents support same-sex marriage, while the same number, 42%, oppose it. (Indeed, Emanuel’s depiction of “Chicago values” is misleading; the city is divided on the issue of marriage.) Presumably, many business owners in both states are among those who oppose same-sex marriage. Should those businessmen and women worry that their hopes for city permits or mayoral cooperation could be jeopardized if they express their opinions publicly?Of course, Scherer didn't go far enough to scold Emanuel, at least. Even as Mayor Emanuel was raking the owners of Chick-Fil-A over the coals for being Christians, saying that Chick-Fil-A's values were not "Chicago values,"the mayor was welcoming the assistance of virulent Jew-hater, Reverend Louis Farrakhan who offered to help with the city's gang violence and its soaring murder rate. Farrakhan is not only a clear anti-Semite, but he has himself been a staunch opponent of homosexuality and gay marriage. So as his city is suffering higher unemployment than the rest of his state and some of the highest in the nation and as businesses are fleeing the city for nearby communities and other states, Chicago Mayor Emanuel is attacking a jobs maker over a lack of support for gay marriage. And this even as he extends a hand of friendship to Louis Farrakhan, a man who is even more virulent against homosexuals than the businessmen Rahm is attacking. This isn't even to mention the fact that Rahm worked as chief of staff to a president that spoke out against gay marriage the whole time Emanuel worked for him nor that even Rahm's home state has not passed any bills legalizing gay marriage. In the meantime a former Chicago Alderman estimated that corruption has cost Chicago $500 million and notes that the Chicagoland area has seen 1,531 officials go to jail for corruption since 1976. Statewide that number climbs to 1,828 which includes four of the last seven Governors. So much for those “Chicago values.” Yet instead of working to correct all those existing ills, Mayor Emanuel decides to wage a war against Christian businessmen. In any case, it's good to see TIME standing on Constitutional principle for a change.
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
He is also the owner and operator of Publius’ Forum.