Nearly 16,000 people have signed the petition on change.org to the NYU president to remove Chick-fil-A from the one its dining halls, following the owner’s statement on gay marriage.

Dan Cathy, owner of Chick-fil-A and a devout Christian, confirmed the company's commitment to the traditional family unit and said that same-sex marriage was bringing God's judgment on the nation.

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"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'" said Cathy.

Famous Christian leaders, Mike Huckabee, of Fox News, and Billy Graham support Cathy and the traditional definition of marriage. Huckabee declared Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on August 1.

But others, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, oppose Cathy’s personal views on marriage and are highly considering blocking the fast food chain from expanding into their territories.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a possible mayoral candidate, wrote a letter this past weekend to New York University President John Sexton to remove Chick-fil-A immediately.

"Let me be clear ?? I do not want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views. We are a city that believes our diversity is our greatest strength and we will fight anything and anyone that runs counter to that," Quinn stated in her letter, used with official letterhead.

Quinn’s spokesperson said that she was “simply voicing her own opinion.”

As for NYU, its Student Senators Council voted in 2011 not to close down the Chick-fil-A on the campus because "to ban any entity from campus for ideological reasons is, in most every case, to limit freedom of expression."

But John Beckman, a spokesman for NYU recently said that Dan Cathy’s comments "are out of step with NYU’s views on this matter," according to the Daily News. He added that the school’s University Senate would reexamine in the fall on whether to keep the fast food restaurant on campus.