LGBT Protests of
Chick-Fil-A at Duquesne University Garner National Attention
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. 23 Apr 2017
The ongoing saga
of LGBT protests of an upcoming Chick-fil-A restaurant on campus at Duquesne University, a Catholic college in Pittsburgh, has taken on biblical dimensions as a test-case
of safe spaces and microaggressions in American higher education.
According to its mission statement,
Duquesne University is “a Catholic university
founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit,” dedicated to
serving God while espousing a “profound concern for moral and spiritual
values.” It also professes a commitment to “an ecumenical atmosphere open to
diversity.”
For its part, Chick-fil-A CEO management has articulated
a biblical understanding of marriage that exactly mirrors Catholic teaching,
while also emphasizing that they do not discriminate in any way, and are more
than happy to serve anyone who wishes to eat at their establishment.
In 2012, Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A, stated:
“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the
family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are
married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
“We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but
thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate
on biblical principles,” he said.
Lambda Gay-Straight Alliance, the LGBT student
organization on campus, considers
Chick-fil-A’s commitment to traditional marriage
potentially offensive to gay students, despite the obvious fact that no one is
required to patronize the restaurant who doesn’t want to.
At the March 26 meeting, Lambda executive board member
Niko Martini proposed
that the Student Government Association (SGA) pass a resolution asking the
university to reconsider the inclusion of Chick-fil-A as a dining option for
students. Martini said he made the proposal on his own behalf and not Lambda’s.
“Chick-fil-A has a questionable history on civil rights
and human rights,” Martini said. “I think it’s imperative the university
chooses to do business with organizations that coincide with the [university’s]
mission and expectations they give students regarding diversity and inclusion.”
Martini did not explain how eliminating a food
establishment committed to a biblical understanding of marriage would increase
diversity on campus.
Meanwhile Lambda President Rachel Coury expressed worries
that the safety of LGBT students might be at risk.
“I’ve tried very hard within the last semester and a half
to promote this safe environment for the LGBTQ+ community,” Coury said. “So I
fear that with the Chick-fil-A being in Options that maybe people will feel
that safe place is at risk.”
Debate sparked by the confrontation, swirling around a
series of issues from religious liberty to gay rights to a proper academic
environment, have now reached a national level, according
to the Duquesne Duke, the university’s campus newspaper.
In an interview on Fox and Friends, retired U.S.
Army Ranger Sean Parnell, an alumnus
of Duquesne University, minced no words in expressing his dissent from the
contemporary environment on the campus of his alma mater.
“They’re a bunch of babies. College is supposed to
prepare you for the real world, not shield you from opposing opinions, and safe
spaces do exactly that. Who doesn’t want as an undergrad Chick-fil-A on their
campus? I would have killed for a c on my campus when I was at Duquesne,” he
said.
“My message is: toughen up. There are no safe spaces in
the real world,” he said. “If you’re going to be successful in this life after
you leave college you’ve got to learn to embrace adversity and open yourself up
to a litany of different opinions. You will never be a CEO of a major company
or an entrepreneur or a manager if you are not willing to work with people
different than you.”
Hostility toward proponents of traditional marriage was
foreseen by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in his potent dissent
of the landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case that made gay marriage
the law of the land.
Alito prophesied that the misguided decision would be
used to damage citizens who do not share a contemporary view of marriage as an
elastic arrangement between an unspecified number of unspecified persons.
“It will be used,” he wrote presciently, “to vilify
Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy.”
Duquesne University
Buchanan
Ingersoll & Rooney is the lobby firm for Duquesne University.
Note: John A. Barbour is the chairman for the Buchanan
Ingersoll & Rooney, and a trustee at the Carnegie Museums of
Pittsburgh.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is a trustee emeritus at the Carnegie
Museums of Pittsburgh, an emeritus life trustee at the Carnegie Mellon University, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and
married to John F. Kerry.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and
the Harlem Children's Zone.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone, is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the founder of the Soros Fund Management.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the Catholic Relief Services.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the president of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a
2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United States in war)
Sam
Nunn is a co-chairman & CEO for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and Michelle Nunn’s father.
Michelle Nunn is
Sam Nunn’s daughter, and was a board
member for Be the Change.
Kevin Jennings
was the president & CEO for the Be
the Change, an assistant deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, and the founder & executive
director for the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the founder of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, an endowed
predecessor schools for the Carnegie
Mellon University, and the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Newton N. Minow
is an honorary trustee at the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past
Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Francis E. George
was a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the archbishop for the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, a trustee at the Catholic University of America, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
and a cardinal for the Roman Catholic
Church.
R. Eden Martin is
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Cameron F. Kerry
is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, a fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and John
F. Kerry’s brother.
John
F. Kerry is Cameron F. Kerry’s
brother, married to Teresa Heinz Kerry,
and was the secretary at the U.S.
Department of State for the Barack
Obama administration.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is married to John F. Kerry,
an emeritus life trustee at the Carnegie
Mellon University, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a trustee emeritus at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
John A. Barbour is a trustee at the Carnegie Museums of
Pittsburgh, and the chairman for the Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.
Buchanan
Ingersoll & Rooney is the lobby firm for Duquesne University.
Stanley F.
Druckenmiller is the chairman & benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone, was a managing director at the Soros Fund Management, and a chairman
& CEO for Duquesne Capital
Management.
Zachary
Schreiber was a managing director at Duquesne
Capital Management, is a trustee at the Harlem Children's Zone, and the CEO for PointState Capital.
Former Duquesne managers prep big launch
Point State Capital to start
with $5 bln, one of biggest launches ever
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) —
Former managers of Duquesne
Capital Management are preparing to start a new
hedge fund that will oversee roughly $5 billion, one of the biggest such
launches ever, two people familiar with the situation said Friday.
The new fund is called Point State Capital. It will focus on a strategy known as global macro,
trading based on broad economic themes.
Point State was
over-subscribed. It will close to new investment on the same day as it
launches, the people said on condition of anonymity.
Point State may be the
second-largest hedge fund launch ever. Jack Meyer, who ran Harvard University’s
endowment for almost 15 years, raised a record $6 billion for Convexity Capital
Management in 2006. Read about Convexity here.
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