SANTA BARBARA,
Calif. -- While customers are already
camping out for free chicken, gay rights advocates say they will boycott the new
Chick-Fil-A franchise opening in Santa Barbara.
The city of Santa Barbara supported the restaurant to
open on State Street last year.
But when the president of Chick-Fil-A openly opposed
same-sex marriage, architectural review board members opposed the restaurant
opening in the city abstaining from approving the final requirements for the
project.
Board members had to
sign an agreement to separate political views and personal decisions from their
board decisions and go through ethic training in order to keep Chick-Fil-A from
filing a lawsuit against the city.
"Tax returns show from
2003 to 2010, (Chick-Fil-A) not only donated to anti-gay organization but the
most extreme of which," says Pacific Pride Foundation Advocate Lauren Gunther.
The Pacific Pride
Foundation is boycotting the restaurant and when Central Coast News asked the
company about its donations and tax returns.
"I'm not a corporate
employee so it's not, you know, I'm not the best person to talk to about
corporate giving," says Franchise Owner Carol Ruiz. "You'd have to talk to
someone from corporate about that. However, there was a press release last week
that stated all of the 2011 tax returns show no funding was given to hate
groups."
Despite the
controversy, more than 85 people are camped outside the new franchise for the
grand opening on Thursday and many say they don't take into account political
view while choosing their food.
"I just don't tend to
hold it against any business, I mean, I eat Indian food restaurants, I've eaten
at Vietnamese, Chinese, all different religious beliefs," says customer Ryan
Ellis. "But when I got to eat food, I go to eat food. I don't try to pick a
fight."
But for gay rights
advocates, it's a fight they won't give up on.
"We would love to see and are hopefully that they would
end theses sort of donations," says Gunther. "But until then, it's a matter of
waiting and hoping that this is something they will do."
The owner of the new
franchise, Carol Ruiz told Central Coast News she reached out to Pacific Pride
to schedule a meeting but the group canceled due to scheduling issues.
