Five Texas residents have filed a lawsuit against the city of San Antonio for banning Chick-fil-A from its airport.
Plaintiffs Patrick Von Dohlen, Brian Greco, Kevin Jason Khattar, Michael Knuffke, and Daniel Petri filed the suit on September 5 under SB 1978, also known as the “Save Chick-fil-A Bill,” according to the lawsuit.
Fox News reported:
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs pushed for the court to declare that the city of San Antonio “violated and continues to violate” the law by banning Chick-fil-A from the San Antonio airport and issue an injunction to block the city and airport shop operator Paradies Lagardère from banning the chain at the air hub in the future.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs also hope to issue another injunction to have a Chick-fil-A open at the airport and issue an order to stop the city from “taking any adverse action against Chick-fil-A or any other person or entity, which is based wholly or partly on that person or entity’s support for religious organizations that oppose homosexual behavior” and receive attorney’s fees and other relief.
On March 19, San Antonio City Council moved to ban the popular fast food giant from the airport because of its support of traditional Christian values, according to Breitbart News.
The report continued:
District 1 City Councilman Roberto Treviño entered a motion on March 19 to approve the city’s Food, Beverage and Retail Prime Concession Agreement but added a clause to ban the nation’s favorite fast food company from the list of vendors eligible to open a kiosk at the San Antonio International Airport.
However, the Department of Transportation announced in May that the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating religious discrimination claims after the restaurant was “dismissed” from San Antonio International Airport and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation following the city council’s decision to ban the fast food chain.
“Blatant discrimination based on the religious beliefs associated with a company and its owners violates the Constitution and is inconsistent with both Texas and federal law,” Paxton said.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Chick-fil-A bill into law on July 18, prohibiting local governments from “retaliating against an individual or business for their membership in, or support for, faith-based organizations,” Breitbart News reported.
In a statement on Monday, Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values Action, said, “The continued religious ban on Chick-fil-A by the San Antonio City Council has left citizens with no choice but to take this case to court,” adding that “any other vendor that tries to replace Chick-fil-A at the airport will be doing so under a major cloud of long and costly litigation with the city.”
However, Laura Mayes, the chief communications officer for the city of San Antonio, told reporters that the lawsuit “is an attempt by the plaintiffs to improperly use the court to advance their political agenda.”
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