West (R-Fla.) recently spoke out in support of the fast-food restaurant earlier this month during an interview. His recent comments in Chicago follow an announcement from the city’s mayor Rahm Emanuel stating that he is not in favor of the anti-gay marriage views of Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy.
On Monday West and took the opportunity to inject himself once again into an ongoing debate over Chick-fil-A and the fast food chain president’s comments about gay marriage.
“I had to come up from down South because I wanted to try to open up a Chick-fil-A franchise here in Chicago,” West said in an interview with CNBC’s Rick Santelli from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.
His office later told Politicker that he was only “joking” about looking into opening a Chick-fil-A franchise, but the implications of his comments were clear nonetheless: he believes marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Earlier this month, Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, an ardent Christian and backer of anti-gay religious organizations, told an interviewer that he was “guilty as charged” when it came to his opposition to marriage equality.
“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said. “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.”
