San Antonio reaffirms ban on Chick-fil-A at its airport after city councilor tries to derail it

San Antonio’s city council voted to keep a ban on Chick-fil-A at their airport in place as the city prepares for local elections.

Last month, the city council voted against giving Chick-fil-A a lucrative spot at their airport, citing the fast food chain’s donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations.

“With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion,” said City Council member Roberto Treviño at the time. “San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior.”

Now the city council voted against a proposal that would have forced them to revisit the issue on May 2, just two days before municipal elections.

Related: Chick-fil-A gave over $1.8 million to anti-LGBTQ groups according to recent tax returns

Council member Greg Brockhouse, who is challenging San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg in the May 4 elections, moved for the second vote on Chick-fil-A.

“I consider this opportunity for us today to be a defining moment for the San Antonio City Council,” he said when he introduced the proposal.

The city’s attorney kept control of the proceedings, though, and didn’t allow public comment on the vote, saying that it was a procedural vote on a matter that already passed. This meant that Brockhouse’s supporters, which included the notoriously anti-gay televangelist John Hagee, couldn’t speak, and Hagee reportedly left the room when the attorney said he couldn’t speak.

The motion failed in a 6-5 vote.

“We’ve spent far too much time letting Councilman Brockhouse try to exploit a fast food subcontract for his own political gain,” Mayor Nirenberg said in a statement.

“I’ve said from the beginning that I voted in the best interests of passengers and taxpayers, and it’s important to have something open 7 days a week and preferably local,” he said, a reference to how Chick-fil-A closes on Sundays.

The city council also voted against sending its lobbyists to the state capitol to work against a bill that would overturn a local paid sick leave ordinance.

Last year, the city council passed an ordinance that required employers in the city to provide paid sick leave to employees. Now the state of Texas is trying to pass a law to overturn local paid sick leave ordinances.

The city council voted 6-5 against sending lobbyists to fight the bill in Austin.

“We are extremely disappointed that our Mayor and City Council today chose to relinquish local control to the state because they don’t want to anger large corporate interests,” said Michelle Tremillo, the executive director of the Texas Organizing Project, which advocates for paid sick leave.

“We are extremely upset that our City Council today chose to sell out the working families that make San Antonio strong to appease their corporate backers.”

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