For years Chick-fil-A has been bullied by leftist lawmakers and a militant LGBT mob.

The most recent battleground? Airport food halls. Lawmakers in San Antonio and Buffalo banned Chick-fil-A from opening franchises — strictly because of the restaurant chain’s religious beliefs.

They claimed Chick-fil-A supports anti-gay hate groups like the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Now, let’s be clear: Both of these organizations are well-respected, revered Christian ministries. The Left calls them anti-gay because they follow the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexuality.

And the Miami Beach City Commission is calling on Miami-Dade County to ban Chick-fil-A from the airport there.

Commissioner Michael Gongora’s resolution states Chick-fil-A has “become known for its exclusionary views on the LGBTQ community and gay marriage.”

That’s a lie, folks — a flat-out lie. I invited Gongora to come on my radio program and defend his comments, but he refused. That’s because he’s not only a liar, he’s also a coward.

Now comes word the Federal Aviation Administration has launched an official investigation into the actions of lawmakers in San Antonio and Buffalo. The FAA has a policy that bans federally funded airports from discriminating on the basis of religion.

Here’s a statement from the FAA provided to “Starnes Country”:

“The Department of Transportation has received complaints alleging discrimination by two airport operators against a private company due to the expression of the owner’s religious beliefs.”

First Liberty Institute, a law firm that handles religious-liberty litigation, alerted the Department of Transportation to what it called blatant discrimination. It said federal taxpayers should not be required to subsidize religious bigotry.

I love Chick-fil-A, and I’m a regular customer of the franchise across the street from us at Fox News Channel. It’s made up of good, Christian people. They take care of their employees and their communities.

They are kind and gracious and, clearly, they are slow to anger. But the time has come for Chick-fil-A to fight back. It has turned the other cheek far too many times.

And now it’s time to fire back at lawmakers and journalists and gay activists who intentionally lie about Chick-fil-A. We must stand up to chicken-hating, Christphobic bigots wherever they might be.

And if that means shutting down the international airports in San Antonio and Buffalo, then I say it’s time to ruffle some feathers.