Don’t ‘Eat Mor Chikin’? NJ Officials Cite Outdated ‘Anti-LGBTQ’ Claims in Opposing New Chick-fil-A

Two New Jersey town officials have told the state turnpike authority they don’t want Chick-fil-A to open a location along the Garden State Parkway, even after the restaurant chain has worked to debunk the narrative that alleges they are “anti-LGBTQ.”

The stigma seems to follow Chick-fil-A years after the company denounced those claims, saying they’ve been based on “misleading” news reports

NJ.com reports Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia criticized the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, demanding the agency reconsider a decision to open a Chick-fil-A restaurant in the soon-to-be reconstructed Brookdale South service area on the Garden State Parkway. Venezia said he may ask state legislators for help blocking the chicken restaurant.

Authority officials previously announced that McDonald’s restaurants at two different locations on the turnpike would be torn down and replaced with a newly constructed Chick-fil-A at Brookdale in Bloomfield Township and a Shake Shack at Vauxhall in Union Township.

Venezia and Bloomfield Councilman Rich Rockwell, who is gay, both condemned the decision, pointing to the Chick-fil-A CEO’s traditional marriage comments from almost 10 years ago and its past support for allegedly anti-LGBTQ lawmakers and organizations.

“I just can’t feel comfortable eating, giving money to someone who’s opposing my rights,” Rockwell told News 12 The Bronx. “For that to be on a publicly funded, state agency highway, that seems inappropriate to me.”

The news outlet reported it’s unclear exactly what the town officials can do to prevent the new Chick-fil-A location, since the restaurant’s contract is with the food service company that oversees most of the restaurants along the turnpike and not with the authority.

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