Chick-fil-A, the now notoriously anti-gay fast-food chain, is once again involved more controversy, this time involving gender discrimination.
Brenda Honeycutt, a former employee of a Chick-fil-A establishment in Georgia, is suing the restaurant for wrongful termination, alleging that she is a victim of gender discrimination, according to GLAAD.
The lawsuit, which was obtained by GLAAD, refers to a June 27, 2011, incident in which Jeff Howard, the owner and operator of a Duluth, Ga., Chick-fil-A, fired Honeycutt so she could be a "stay home mother."
According to the document, Howard held meetings without Honeycutt present and eventually replaced her with a male employee. Her termination is allegedly part of a pattern of gender discrimination "against female employees" at the Duluth establishment.
Prior to her termination, Honeycutt's performance had been "satisfactory-to-above satisfactory."
Jezebel's Doug Barry recently poked fun at Howard's decision to replace Honeycutt with a male, writing, "you know, because guys don't have all that baby-making liability stuffed into their abdomens."
The most recent Chick-fil-A controversy raises temperatures even higher on the pressure cooker.
"This comes after last week’s statements by Chick-Fil-A’s Chief of Operations, Dan Cathy, in which he openly declared that he does not support marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples – now the company has taken one further step of being out of touch with American values," Brian Pacheco, GLAAD's Spanish-Language Media Strategist, wrote on the organization's blog.
The company's anti-gay stance has outraged the people in Hollywood, as well as some politicians in cities across the nation.
Edwin M. Lee, mayor of San Francisco, recently tweeted he was "disappointed" in the chain, the Los Angeles Times reports. Politicians in Boston and Chicago also have expressed disapproval.