With all of the conservative whining about being called “bigots” just because they “believe in traditional marriage”*, it’s refreshing to receive helpful reminders about what the anti-gay right really stands for. On the heels of last week’s landmark Supreme Court rulings on marriage equality, General Mills announced that Lucky Charms Cereal would be “celebrating Pride month with whimsical delight, magical charms, and two new rainbow marshmallows,” a bid for inclusion that was met with derision by conservatives.

*and want the government to force that belief on others, but only gay others, not straight others who want to get divorced. Traditional Marriage™ refers only to traditions from the Bible, but not the parts of the Bible that contain weirdnesses like 700 wives and incest. Do not take Traditional Marriage™ if you are on blood thinners.

General Mills announced their campaign via a press release to GLAAD, and a Charm-ing video ad pegged to a social media campaign:

From GLAAD:

“We value diversity. We value inclusion. We always have … and we always will,” said Ken Charles, vice president of global diversity and inclusion for General Mills. “We’re proud of our workplace, and we’re proud to be a leader for diversity and inclusion in our community. For decades, General Mills has worked to create an inclusive culture that welcomes and values the contributions of all.”

By inclusion, Charles even means the millions of straight marrieds, and unmarrieds, who support marriage equality, and a safe world for adults and children of all kinds. That kind of inclusiveness can only mean one thing: Lucky Charms is trying to buttsex your children. From gay-porn-star-name-generator victim Rod Dreher of The American Conservative:

Your children’s breakfast cereal is now gay. Just so you know.

Your children’s breakfast cereal is now gay. I don’t think that’s a sentence anybody not a comedy writer ever imagined penning.

What’s next? Snap, Crackle, and Poppers?

Poppers is a reference to amyl nitrate, a recreational drug used as an aphrodisiac. Does that mean that Chick-Fil-A should start selling undercooked sandwiches, in order to encourage kids to hit it raw?

Other conservative blogs declared Lucky Charms to be the “Official Gay Cereal,” and the scolds over at Newsbusters took the opportunity to name and shame other gay-friendly companies, and to suggest a new slogan for Lucky Charms:

General Mills’ pandering to the ever-more-popular gay crowd makes economic sense, given Rudolph’s reaction. After all, they don’t want to suffer the fate of Chick-Fil-A and get splattered with liberal media vitriol for supporting traditional marriage.

Then again, General Mills is joining a long line of big companies who have come out of the closet to play to the gays by supporting same-sex marriage, including Starbucks, Nabisco (Oreo), Macy’s, the Girl Scouts, and Target. After all, they’ve got the mass news media on their side, and that’s a pretty hefty marketing advantage.

So maybe, to continue to “celebrate” this push in favor of all-things-gay. Lucky Charms should add L, G, B, and T shapes to the cereal mix and change it’s catchphrase from “magically delicious” to “openly gay.”

Newsbusters, for its part, celebrated Pride Month by describing everyone and everything as “openly gay,” which is also how it celebrates every other month.

Conservatives seem to be laboring under a grave misunderstanding, which is shocking, I know. Celebrating the inclusion and equality of LGBT people in the human family doesn’t actually make you gay, any more than supporting supporting the civil rights movement makes you black, or supporting the New England Patriots makes you a cheater. I support marriage equality, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and LGBT-inclusive hate crimes legislation, but I am not gay. If I eat Lucky Charms, I might have a dangerous spike in my blood sugar, but it won’t make me gay.

Attempting to slur supporters of equality by association is not a new thing. Ask any white civil rights demonstrator what they were called, and they’ll bear that out. I support the right of people to believe as they wish, and agree with Lucky Charms that even they are #LuckyToBe Americans.

“I don’t agree with them hating on the gays, but their chicken is delicious.”

With one direct quote Tuesday, a 21-year-old Brooklynite identified the ultimate contradiction when it comes to what NYC will stomach: It’s waffle fries over fighting homophobia.

Chick-fil-A, the nation’s largest chicken restaurant chain — which also gave more than $2 million to anti-LGBT groups in 2009 — is tossing the Big Apple into its deep fryer with plans to open 108 new restaurants, including several in New York City, by the end of the year.

Currently, the only Chick-fil-A in the Big Apple resides in an NYU dorm building — in what most certainly has been a company straw poll on how busy and buzzed NYC liberals buy on-the-go regardless of their chicken man’s political beliefs.

So, if New Yorkers take to eating “mor chickin,” does that mean that the franchise has won deep in the homosexual heartland? Hardly. It just means that New Yorkers know a good thing when they taste it. And a cookies-and-cream milkshake is one helluva creation.

This story has confused tolerance with taste buds so often that no one realizes it’s the perfect microcosm for American consumerism. We feed off controversy — only to realize, shoot, we forgot to eat while we were arguing. And we’re hungry. And there’s a Chick-fil-A next door. And it just tastes so good.

“We’re not convinced that Chick-fil-A understands what it means to truly serve their employees and customers with the full respect they deserve,” said Nathan Shaefer, executive director of the gay-rights group Empire State Pride Agenda. Customers don’t need to respect Chick-fil-A, either, to get what they want. When was the last time, New Yorkers, you agreed with the owner of your favorite bodega? You probably don’t agree with the CEO of your favorite clothing store, or maybe the CEO of your favorite wholesale market.

So perhaps the only debate in NYC v. Chick-fil-A will occur when the city asks to replace the customary two pickles with a wedge of kale. And, to that, the franchise might actually comply.

As Chick-fil-A knows: If you can bake it here, you can bake it anywhere.

[Image via Reuters]

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Out of nowhere, months after its CEO made controversial comments affirming the company’s stance against gay marriage, Chick-fil-A has quietly begun pulling its funding from prominent anti-gay organizations, according to LGBT advocates in Chicago.

The Civil Rights Agenda claimed to BuzzFeed that in a letter to a Chicago alderman, followed by subsequent meetings, the fast-food chain quietly told him that the WinShape Foundation, its charitable arm, would stop funding groups with political agendas. They specifically singled out Focus On The Family and the National Organization for Marriage, two prominent socially conservative groups, as organizations who would stop receiving their financial support.

“The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas,” the letter to Proco Moreno supposedly reads.

BuzzFeed notes that though Chick-fil-A responded to their questions with boilerplate, they did not deny that the meetings took place, nor that the letters were sent: “We have no agenda, policy or position against anyone,” said a spokesman. “We have a 65-year history of providing hospitality for all people and, as a dedicated family business, serving and valuing everyone regardless of their beliefs or opinions.”

Given the upcoming presidential election and the drama surrounding it, Chick-fil-A could not have chosen a better time to quietly extract itself from the fast-food culture wars.

(And thus, we quietly retire the tag “Gay Marriage Cluster-Cluck.” Though we shall not miss the artery-busting rhetoric and the heated drama surrounding it, we will miss that cheeky little phrase.)

[BuzzFeed]

Huffington Post: We’ve been avoiding it all day, but, oh fine, we’ll acknowledge the existence of the upcoming cookbook 50 Shades of Chicken. If somebody hooks us up with an advance copy, we promise to compose an essay comparing and contrasting it to Comfort Me with Offal as reflective of its era.

Food and Wine Magazine: What does a cocktail called “The Crushed Nun (Light on the Veil)” taste like? Check out the cocktail/exhibit pairings at the MoMA’s bar The Modern to find out. (Of course it contains absinthe; it’s part of an art exhibit.)

USA Today: Did you do a private happy dance when Chick-fil-A quietly announced that it would pull its support of notoriously anti-gay groups and embrace patrons of all sexual identities? Well all the people on the other side of the fence are McPissed that Chick caved on their so-called Christian principles, and ranting about it on Facebook. Enjoy!

Eater: Tom Colicchio is tired of Chris Cosentino’s reputation for being the badass meat guy. He wants in on the game! At least, that’s the only explanation we can come up with for why he’s opening a meat-centric resto in Las Vegas to complete his Sin City trifecta of ‘wichcraft and Craftsteak. According to the press release, the new restaurant will feature “meats prepared entirely over an open flame — from wood-burning ovens to charcoal grills.” Translation: you’ll never not smell like barbecue again after setting food inside.

New Zealand Herald: Do you have any idea how easy it is to erect a Momofuku pop-up restaurant? Step one: purchase David Chang’s cookbook. Step two: make a bunch of baos according to the recipe. Step three: sell the baos under a sign that says “David Chang’s Famous Momofuku Baos Sold Here At Momofuku Pop-Up Restaurant.” If this guy from Australia pulled it off, why can’t you? Oh, you’ll probably get sued, though, ’cause…you know…that’s what’s happening to him.

Craigslist: What are scalped 21st Century Ltd tickets going for on Craigslist these days? Somewhere around $3000. We shake our fists at rich people things.

Okay, now we’re just confused. Remember how Chick-fil-A came out last week and quietly announced that they would pull all financial support of anti-gay groups in an effort to be accepted in the liberal market (in this particular case, Chicago)? And a bunch of people who were protesting them before were like, “Good for you guys! Chicken for all!” But a bunch of people who supported their anti-gay marriage position to begin with were like, “We hate you now, you waffling Anti-Christians giving in to the gay agenda and allowing the liberal media to turn you against God and his ways.” (We’re paraphrasing.)

Yeah, well, apparently, CEO Dan Cathy (who made the anti-gay “guilty as charged” comment in the first place, but whose name wasn’t associated with the announcement that they were backing off anti-gay funding) couldn’t take the heat from critics who were accusing the chicken chain of “caving in” on their Christian beliefs.

He took to Governor Mike Huckabee’s website to issue the following statement:

“There continues to be erroneous implications in the media that Chick-fil-A changed our practices and priorities in order to obtain permission for a new restaurant in Chicago. That is incorrect. Chick-fil-A made no such concessions, and we remain true to who we are and who we have been.”

If you recall, Huckabee is the one who declared Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day back in August in defense of Cathy’s original statements against gay marriage.

So, to be clear, the stance we’re going with here is: The Vague, Line-Toeing Position of Vaguery and Meaninglessness. Cool. Glad that one’s figured out. Uh, chicken for all?

[Huffington Post]

Towleroad: Chick-fil-A rolled out a new ad campaign for its party platters, boasting, “Only a fruitcake wouldn’t love our party trays!” …We want to think they’re being hyper-self-aware and hilarious, but really…?

Reuters: Katie Lee, Marc Murphy, and Art Smith dish on how they keep from putting on excess weight while working in the food industry. Lessons: don’t try to comp Marc Murphy food. You wouldn’t like Marc Murphy when he’s comped food.

Fresh Off the Boat: The last photo in Eddie Huang’s special behind the scenes blog post for his wabbit-hunting web-series politely asks Chef Anne Burrell to match her socks. We won’t repeat the other requests here.

Today Show: It’s October 16th, and do you know what that means? HALLOWEEN CRAFT TIME. Okay, fine, we’re terrible crafters, but we do think we can handle this supremely rad “Eyeball Highball Martini” that Martha Stewart made on The Today Show this morning. Somebody get us a bucket of radishes and a vegetable peeler, stat. Googly eyes for everyone!

Huffington Post: Have you ever wondered what Mick Jagger’s daughter would look like naked, straddling a tuna? Well, thanks to a British campaign to stop overfishing, you can see what that looks like here. Andrew Zimmern never mentioned this as a way to avoid the baconpocalypse…

Obama Foodorama: President Obama prepared his body and mind for tonight’s debate with a chicken and pasta lunch, and a steak and potato dinner. He also spoke the words, “I feel fabulous,” and pretended he was in a Beyonce video with his aides for this photo. Yup. He’s ready.

Twitter: Someone, quick, capture Guy Fieri and subject him to scientific experiments in a shadowy government lair! Blogger Adam Roberts snapped this photo of the oddly long line outside of Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar, showing that absolutely nothing has happened since The Review. We could create a vaccine for cancer out of Guy Fieri.

Huffington Post: The North Carolina One Voice Chorus, Charlotte’s preeminent LGBT chorus, sings a patriotic little ditty about Chick-fil-A.

Reddit: Epic Meal Time does an online AMA on Reddit. Haters can ask their favorite questions of their favorite Epic Meal Time chefs and Epic Chef chefs. Then they’re going to wrap it up in bacon strips, and bacon strips, and bacon strips, and bacon strips, and bacon strips, and bacon strips.

Grub Street: Furious with the Affordable Health Care Act’s mandate that his business’s health insurance cover female contraception, Domino’s Pizza founder and Super Catholic Tom Monaghan filed a 40-page lawsuit against the federal government for violating his religious beliefs. Oooooooh! This filing’s a double whammy of First Amendment “freedom of religious expression” interpretation AND Executive Powers issues! We would really love to see The Pizza Cases become A Thing in the Supreme Court. (Some of us are law nerds.) Side note: is this issue going to become the new Chick-fil-A Gay Marriage Clustercluck?

Eater: Will Ferrell hosted his third official Cancer for College Pub Crawl in San Diego last weekend, held in honor of his college buddy, a cancer survivor, with all proceeds going to college scholarship funds for young cancer survivors. As you might imagine, it was a classy affair, San Diego.

Village Voice: ChowHound’s co-founder Jim Leff has apparently fallen victim to some unfair reporting by The New York Times. He wrote a post on his new blog about knowing Nancy Lanza, mother of Adam Lanza, the shooter behind the grizzliest elementary school massacre to date in Newtown, CT on Friday. The New York Times swiftly called Leff for comment after his blog post went up, of which he provided none, leading the Times to “lift quotes” off his blog, print them out of context, and paint a less-than-flattering portrait of Nancy Lanza, which understandably upset Leff.

Sometimes, food and social media do wonders for a cause. After Chick-Fil-A, you know, botched up everything two summers ago, the great hashtag #ChickFilGay was born. Oreos won everything by posting the Rainbow Oreo that changed the world. Bertolli profited off of Barilla’s f*ck-up. Honey-Maid turned One Million Moms’ horsesh*t into social media gold (golden Teddy Grahams, to be exact). And then, you know, food brands like SpaghettiO’s post Pearl Harbor Tweets and everything goes to shit.

So naturally, when “hashtag activism” meets food in a very real (and threatening) global crisis, it’s enough to make us sit back and wonder what this all really means. #HummusSelfies doe exactly that — as in, what the hell do we do with a bunch of people posing with a container of Sabra?

We can’t entirely blame them — but we can’t entirely believe them either. Writes Erin Gloria Ryan for Jezebel:

So, I guess out of a feeling of utter uselessness and despair, a group called The Hummus Initiative invented the hashtag #hummusselfies so that people who wish they could do something substantive but in fact can (or will) not can feel like they’re doing something more productive than “nothing” to end the conflict in Gaza. Hummus is delicious, but will Netanyahu get the message? If he won’t listen to hummus, then what hope is there?

Well, not much. But hummus, as a cultural entity, is far more complicated than a Chick-Fil-A sandwich or rainbow Oreo. Taking a stance on issues via your chicken sandwich or brightly-colored cookie seems like a cakewalk, in fact. Even “social boycotting” an organic food company who — surprise! — doesn’t believe a woman should have access to contraception is easy to do in comparison to a #HummusSelfie. Because — surprise but not really! — hummus contains much of the hurt, anger, and misappropriation from both sides, Israel and Palestine, in a magical schmear.

Munchies gives perhaps the best all-around 101 on the complicated politics on hummus (worth a read from top to bottom). But while the issues are complicated, the stance of #HummusSelfies is not: “Centering a slacktivist campaign around a food that encapsulates the cultural and political tensions between Israelis and Palestinians suggests a deep misunderstanding of history and the very real sensitivities both groups feel about heritage and ownership.”

So for chips and dips’ sakes, what are we supposed to do with #HummusSelfies? Offer a sly grin at the Hummus Initiative’s mission statement to “counterweight the countless hate messages currently invading the social space” with a quick pic of hummus and hope for the best? Be sad that this is the best our generation can come up with for a meaningful dialogue of peace and understanding? Wish we could just go back when we knew who to come down against when it came to gay marriage chicken and pasta and Pearl Harbor SpaghettiOs? Or even back when Subway was making hummus and that was the very worst thing that could happen to hummus?

In the words of Liz Lemon:

[Jezebel, Munchies]

Image via @ihned_zpravy

The Atlanta businessman, known for the chicken sandwiches you love to eat and love to hate, died at his home on Sunday.

The Associated Press obituary of S. Truet Cathy doesn’t fail to remind us of the gay marriage clustercluck that his chain of Chick-fil-A restaurants incurred, thanks to homophobic statements by his son and chairman, Dan. But also, those chicken sandwich haters have nothing on his $6 billion-empire:

Cathy opened his first postwar diner in an Atlanta suburb in 1946 and by 1967 he had founded and opened his first Chick-fil-A Inc. restaurant in Atlanta. Over ensuing decades, the chain’s boneless chicken sandwich he is credited with inventing would propel Chick-fil-A expansion to more than 1,800 outlets in 39 states and the nation’s capital.

By early 2013, the company says on its website, annual sales topped $5 billion as the chain offered up a taste of the South that went beyond chicken to such offerings as sweet tea, biscuits and gravy.

The New York Daily News notes how his Southern Baptist roots shaped his business from the beginning; long before the 2012 protests of the chain, Chick-fil-A stirred up controversy by closing on Sundays for the Sabbath. Cathy was also a huge donor to local foster homes, reports the Christian Post, and formed a scholarship fund through the chain.

[Washington Post, New York Daily News, Christian Post]

RELATED: WATCH: Chick-fil-A CEO Reverses Reversal, Says That Company Still Supports “Biblical Families”
Chick-fil-A Waffles On Their Waffling, Claims They ‘Made No Concessions’ To Marriage Equality
Everything You Need To Know About Yesterday’s Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day

We’re just going to be as straightforward as possible with this one.

Social media is great for many things: keeping in touch with friends and family, discovering people who share the same interests, and showing the world how much of an idiot you can be. So, with the recent influx of social media use to advertise where people stand on the Chick-fil-A debate, Jon Stewart was ready to poke fun at social media missteps on The Daily Show.

Twitter has recently become the preferred way for conservative Republicans to show their support for Chick-fil-A in the midst of their gay marriage-opposition scandal. Senator Lindsay Graham is the latest political figure to hop on this bandwagon, posting a picture of his fast food breakfast along with a comment about how he enjoys his fried chicken with a nice, cold Coke Zero. However, Stewart is quick to point out that Coke Zero is the gayest Coke of all. “Even diet, caffeine free Coke is like ‘Ugh, give it a rest, Coke Zero'”.

However, it’s not only those opposed to gay marriage who are using social media to speak up. Stewart highlighted the man who filmed himself berating a Chick-fil-A employee at a drive-through window over the company’s “hateful” position. But, what was his favorite thing about the rant?

“That dude posted that video himself! He uploaded that to a computer and hit send like, ‘Wait ’til the world sees this!’

Well, that and the fact that Stewart thinks the gentleman doth protest too much: “Your company sucks, and I don’t blow dudes!” he declares in an impression of what he thinks is the reasoning behind the guys’ logic. Whether you agree or disagree with Chick-fil-A’s stance on gay marriage, everyone can agree on one thing — that employee definitely deserves a raise.

Just when we thought the Chick-fil-A meme would finally die off, a video surfaces from last week’s Chicago Chick-fil-A “Kiss-In” protest, in which a gay activist taunts an elderly black preacher and gets into a mild confrontation with him.

In the short footage, protesters are seen standing around the seated man while he preaches aloud. They shout arguments at him and laugh occasionally, while one particularly annoyed activist mocks the preacher and engages in a bit of a debate.

It is unclear what the specific theological debate was over, but the plaid-donning activist said things in a mock fire-and-brimstone voice like: “Your Bible is, in of itself, immoral…. I am tired of your hypocrisy, sir. I am tired of the hypocrisy coming out of these books.” The preacher seems to have muttered in response “then you hate God,” which prompted the activist to shout back: “I do hate God! Because the God that you worship stoned rape victims.”

The end of the video shows a chalk drawing that reads “He’s Really Gay Deep Down” with an arrow pointed directly to where the preacher was seated.

Over at The National Review, Jack Fowler linked to the video with seemingly breathless outrage:

So where are the folks who are always crying “racist,” because surely this does qualify? Watch this vile dude mock a black street preacher, in a video taken last week… As usual: Imagine if this was a conservative doing the mocking — MSNBC would be in its fifth straight day of 24-hour coverage about right-wing bigots (well, I guess it would be hard to tell the difference).

No, this does not qualify as racism. To be fair, I am not one of those “folks” who are always crying racism, so this isn’t my forte. However, it should be pretty clear that the preacher’s skin color has nothing to do with the fact that his religious views are upsetting to the gay activists protesting a chicken sandwich company for its views on homosexuality. Crying “racism” here is just petty and misses the point.

– RELATED: Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day Brings In ‘Record-Setting’ Sales Numbers

The protester’s actions are rather obnoxious, but if you’ve ever been on a college campus this should be a familiar scene: you’ve likely seen a preacher standing in the middle of the “free-speech zone” spouting off while surrounded by angry students shouting insults and antagonistic questions. In some way, it’s an invitation for controversy to go into the belly of the beast like that and read controversial passages aloud from the Bible.

The Chicago protester, identified as Spencer Thayer, responded to the criticism by saying:

The preacher was equating Gay people to pigs and Satan. He was being loud and rude while using his Bible to interupt [sic] the event with the intent of shaming peoples life styles. He has his right to free speech, just as I had every right to call him out on his bullshit. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that ass hat Christian’s [sic] can’t be called out for being dick heads by other dick heads. […] This “preacher” was nothing but a bigot. I asked and he agreed that Deuteronomy 22:24, which states raped women who do not scream loud enough should be stone, should be followed. He also said “lazy sons” should be stoned to death as well.

While that particularly profane response does say a lot about Thayer, the content itself sounds pretty accurate. These street preachers often do say and believe in rather hardline parts of the Bible that many people find offensive or distasteful in modern society. The appropriate response is probably to walk away and ignore them.

But of course, given the over-the-top response from Thayer, conservatives are likely to latch onto this video as proof that liberals cannot protest without being “vile” and “rude”… just as liberals latch on to any unseemly incidents of the Tea Party as proof that conservatives cannot protest without being “racist” or “sexist.”

And so it goes.

Watch below, by Anne Sorock via YouTube:

[h/t Julian Sanchez]

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Family Research Council president Tony Perkins appeared on The O’Reilly Factor Thursday night to comment on the Wednesday shooting at the conservative Christian lobbying group’s offices. Perkins said that the Southern Poverty Law Center’s labeling his organization as “hate group” gives “license to lunatics” to come in and attempt to harm its employees.

There is clearly, based on what took place there, a motive,” Perkins began. “Now, Bill, let me say: the gunman, Floyd Corkins, pulled the trigger yesterday. He is responsible for shooting my colleague and my friend. But, let me say, I believe that the Southern Poverty Law Center is responsible for creating the environment that led to this. … [B]ecause they disagree with our positions on marriage and certain religious issues have labeled us a ‘hate group’, and that gives license to lunatics like this to come in with a gun and shoot innocent people.”

Bill O’Reilly then asked Perkins about the reports that Corkins had a large amount of ammunition on him, in addition to 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches as a reference to the company’s recent controversy over gay marriage. Perkins said that the media’s subsequent identification of FRC as one of the “anti-gay” groups that Chick-fil-A supports gave way to an environment for which people feel free to take armed action.

Perkins clarified that FRC’s involvement with the fast food company has been very limited, and that he believes the “hate group” labeling has been misused by the media: “[Chick-fil-A gave us $1,000 a few years ago. Far from being a big supporter of ours. We wouldn’t mind having their support but they haven’t been that way. In those reports, they say, ‘The Family Research Council, which is a hate group, a certified hate group from the Law Center.’ when you you marginalize people like that it gives license to people like this to take action.”

Watch below, via Fox News:

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Presidential hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg of Southbend, Indiana, who is openly gay, said joked that he would consider brokering a “peace deal” between LGBTQ Americans and the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, which has a history of homophobic advocacy work.

“I do not approve of their politics, but I kind of approve of their chicken,” Buttigieg said of the restaurant chain during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, a New York-based hip-hop radio show. “Maybe if nothing else, I can build that bridge. Maybe I’ll become in a position to broker that peace deal.”

Chick-fil-A has been criticized for donating to anti-gay causes in the past and it’s president Dan Cathy has voiced his company’s support for “the biblical definition of the family unit.”

While Buttigieg may have been joking about an LGBTQ-Chick-fil-a peace summit, the Democratic mayor, who was a small name in politics prior to his 2020 presidential announcement, later emphasized the need to bridge the gaps that divide Americans.

“We’ve got to find a way to use our identities to reach other people… What can we talk about that brings us together?” He asked. “I have no clue what it’s like to walk in the shoes of so many other people, but I can talk about some of the pieces of what I carry with me, and see if it rhymes with their life experience.”

Buttigieg added that “good art has that, good music has that, good literature has that” and can bring people together, and so should politics.

Watch above, via The Breakfast Club. You can see the full interview below:

[image via screengrab]

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has officially launched an investigation into the San Antonio City council after they banned Chick-fil-A from a concession contract at the city’s airport.

KENS, San Antonio’s CBS affiliate, reports the council banned the popular fast food restaurant from applying for a new airport concessionaire contract because of the founders’ religious beliefs. They voted in favor of the ban last Thursday.

“The City of San Antonio’s decision to exclude a respected vendor based on the religious beliefs associated with that company and its owners is the opposite of tolerance,” Paxton said. “The city’s discriminatory decision is not only out of step with Texas values, but inconsistent with the Constitution and Texas law.”

The City of San Antonio’s decision to exclude Chick-fil-A based on the religious beliefs associated with the company and its owners is the opposite of tolerance. It’s discriminatory, and not only out of step with Texas values, but inconsistent with the Constitution and Texas law. pic.twitter.com/iOk7G9Eltv

— Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 28, 2019

He also sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asking for her department to open an investigation into San Antonio’s potential violation of federal law and Transportation Department regulations.

“The First Amendment protects individuals and closely held companies from governmental restrictions based on their religious views or religious status. Additionally, federal regulations governing grant money provided to the San Antonio airport prohibit religious discrimination,” Paxton’s office stated.

[header photo via Getty Images]

New York Assemblyman Sean Ryan (D) praised the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and the food vendor company for the Buffalo Niagara International Airport banning Chick-fil-A from the airport. The reason for the ban was because of the company’s support of “anti-LGBTQ groups.”

Ryan had earlier stated he was “disappointed” with the airport’s decision to have Chick-fil-A.

I just received a statement from @NFTAMetro on the potential Chick-fil-A location at the @BUFAirport.
I don’t believe there is anything to discuss with the NFTA on the issue. We can’t allow companies who support anti-LGBTQ groups to do business at state owned facilities. pic.twitter.com/1FYhXCswj3

— Assemblyman Sean Ryan (@SeanMRyan149) March 29, 2019

“A publicly financed facility like the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is not the appropriate venue for a Chick-fil-A restaurant. I applaud the decision that has been made to remove Chick-fil-A from the plans for this project,” Ryan said.

“We hope in the future the NFTA will make every effort to contract with businesses that adhere to anti-discriminatory policies, and we’re confident another vendor who better represents the values of Western New York community will replace Chick-fil-A as a part of this project in the very near future,” he added.

Update: I applaud the decision that has been made to remove Chick-fil-A from plans for the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Thank you to everyone who reached out to share their opinion. pic.twitter.com/HA5t1CjwkV

— Assemblyman Sean Ryan (@SeanMRyan149) March 29, 2019

The latest decision from the Buffalo airport mirrors the city of San Antonio banning the popular fast food restaurant from its airport.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has officially launched an investigation into the city council for possibly violating the First Amendment since they banned it for the founder’s personal views.

The City of San Antonio’s decision to exclude Chick-fil-A based on the religious beliefs associated with the company and its owners is the opposite of tolerance. It’s discriminatory, and not only out of step with Texas values, but inconsistent with the Constitution and Texas law. pic.twitter.com/iOk7G9Eltv

— Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 28, 2019

The New York Civil Liberties Union backed Chick-fil-A after the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority banned the restaurant from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport after lobbying from a local assemblyman because of the company’s support of “anti-LGBTQ groups.”

“Government actors cannot officially silence speech or take punitive actions based on a person’s or private entity political viewpoints. The First Amendment does not permit the NFTA to base its contracting decisions on the political views of the vendors,” Erika Lorshbough, assistant director for legislative affairs, told the Washington Free Beacon.

New York Assemblyman Sean Ryan (D) pressured the NFTA to ban Chick-fil-A from the airport. He later praised them after preventing them from being able to contract with the airport.

“I applaud the decision that has been made to remove Chick-fil-A from plans for the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Thank you to everyone who reached out to share their opinion,” Ryan said.

“We hope in the future the NFTA will make every effort to contract with businesses that adhere to anti-discriminatory policies, and we’re confident another vendor who better represents the values of Western New York community will replace Chick-fil-A as a part of this project in the very near future,” he added.

The city of San Antonio made a similar decision to ban the popular fast food restaurant from its airport.

For what’s it worth, I also emailed the Texas and national ACLU about the San Antonio airport Chick-Fil-A case. No response.

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) April 3, 2019

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton officially launched an investigation into the city council for possibly violating the First Amendment.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

The first Chick-fil-A in the United Kingdom is set to close following a campaign from LGBT activists — despite the fact it opened just last Thursday.

According to the BBC, the Oracle mall in Reading, Berkshire, decided it was “the right thing to do” to not allow an extension on Chick-fil-A’s lease beyond its initial “six-month pilot period,” after LGBT activists campaigned for a mass boycott.

“At the Oracle, we offer an inclusive space where everyone is welcome… We always look to introduce new concepts for our customers, however, we have decided on this occasion that the right thing to do is to only allow Chick-Fil-A to trade with us for the initial six-month pilot period, and not to extend the lease any further,” the mall declared.

Reading Pride praised the “good news,” and the UK Pride Network also celebrated.

Cluck off @ChickfilA you are not welcome! The protest is still happening from 11am tomorrow and Pride Organisers from across the UK will be there alongside @Reading_Pride https://t.co/CSzNS0ss6E

— UK Pride Network (@UKPrideNetwork) October 18, 2019

Reading Pride had previously led the campaign against Chick-fil-A’s new location, with the group’s CEO Martin Cooper proclaiming, “We are a progressive country and certainly a very progressive town… What we have here is a restaurant owned by a family that has very backward beliefs that actively promote anti LGBT charities, which have sent preachers to Uganda to assist in the ‘kill the gays law’.”

“To have a company with such values in our town is abhorrent to us,” he continued, following the opening of the restaurant. “We need to educate the community about what’s happened. The feedback and support we have got is overwhelming, so a protest and demonstration seems appropriate.”

Chick-fil-A responded to Reading Pride’s campaign by refuting claims that it had anything to do with “legislative campaigns” in Uganda.

“We hope our guests in the UK will see that Chick-fil-A is a restaurant company focused on serving great food and hospitality, and does not have a social or political agenda,” the company declared. “We are represented by more than 145,000 people from different backgrounds and beliefs, and we welcome everyone. Chick-fil-A has not supported legislative campaigns of any kind in Uganda.”

Chick-fil-A, a Christian company, has previously been at the center of controversy over reports the company donated to groups which opposed same-sex marriage.

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

In a dramatic twist of events, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk slammed Christian fast food chain Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, vowing to never eat its chicken again.

“Chick Fil A betrayed us,” Kirk declared in a Twitter post. “We stood by them for years during every attack and controversy… Despite this they announced they will no longer support Christian organizations.”

“Even worse, it has come out they support the Southern Poverty Law Center!!” he added, concluding, “No more Chick-Fil-A, ever!”

Chick Fil A betrayed us.

We stood by them for years during every attack and controversy

Despite this they announced they will no longer support Christian organizations

Even worse, it has come out they support the Southern Poverty Law Center!!

No more Chick-Fil-A, ever!

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 27, 2019

Before his recent fall out with Chick-fil-A, Kirk had promoted the fast food chain on at least 13 separate occasions on his Twitter account, citing the company’s Christian and conservative beliefs.

“Chick Fil A is America at its best,” posted Kirk in April, and in 2018, Kirk praised the chicken restaurant for running “their company with high moral conduct and standards.”

“They honor the sabbath, treat their workers well, greet all customers wonderfully, and have the best waffle fries ever,” he proclaimed.

Chick Fil A is America at its best

Family owned

Reverent to God

Obedient Christ followers

Tithe their earnings

Employ tens of thousands

Make incredible waffle fries

Exceedingly polite

The left protesting them are the TRUE intolerant radicals

Stand with Chick Fil A!

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 3, 2019

The left hates Chick-Fil-A because they unapologetically defend their deeply held Christian beliefs and run their company with high moral conduct and standards

They honor the sabbath, treat their workers well, greet all customers wonderfully, and have the best waffle fries ever

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 11, 2018

Tonight, my appetite funds conservative values. #chickfila @TEBOW_TIME15 @TimTimTimTim_

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 28, 2013

On Wednesday, noted plagiarist Benny Johnson, who works for Kirk’s Turning Point USA, also slammed the fast food chain.

“@ChickfilA turned their back on all of us,” he declared.

Chick Fil A stopped funding Christian organizations yet records reveal they fund abortion groups and leftist hate: https://t.co/o2gIjVrm3m@ChickfilA turned their back on all of us https://t.co/AeXXvWL1G5

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 27, 2019

This month, Chick-fil-A announced that it had stopped donating to several Christian charities, including the Salvation Army, following criticism from LGBT activists.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) became the latest conservative figure to call out Chick-fil-A, Wednesday, after the chicken chain made a donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Linking to a Breitbart News article on Chick-fil-A’s donation to the SPLC, Cruz declared, “If true, @ChickfilA has badly lost its way.”

“Millions of Christians have been proud of ChickFilA’s courageous stands for religious liberty. To fund those who hate your customers is just sad,” he continued.

If true, @ChickfilA has badly lost its way. Millions of Christians have been proud of ChickFilA’s courageous stands for religious liberty. To fund those who hate your customers is just sad. https://t.co/fF8Po4eu8l

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 28, 2019

Cruz is just one of the latest conservative figures to turn on Chick-fil-A, after the company dropped donations to Christian charities like the Salvation Army, following protests from LGBT activists.

On Wednesday, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was a big fan of the fast food company just months ago, posted, “Chick Fil A betrayed us.”

“We stood by them for years during every attack and controversy… Despite this they announced they will no longer support Christian organizations,” he proclaimed. “Even worse, it has come out they support the Southern Poverty Law Center!! No more Chick-Fil-A, ever!”

Kirk’s loyal manservant Benny Johnson added, “@ChickfilA turned their back on all of us.”

Chick Fil A stopped funding Christian organizations yet records reveal they fund abortion groups and leftist hate: https://t.co/o2gIjVrm3m@ChickfilA turned their back on all of us https://t.co/AeXXvWL1G5

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 27, 2019