Chik-Fil-A’s Anti-Gay Contributions

Jim Burroway

November 1st, 2011

Chick-Fil-A’s charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, has received $7.8 million in funding from Chick-FilA, Inc. WinShape, which was founded by Chick-Fil-A’s founder and chairman S. Truett Cathy, turned around and gave more than $1.7 million to several anti-gay groups in 2009, including the Marriage and Family Legacy Fund ($994,199), Fellowship Of Christian Athletes ($480,000), National Christian Foundation ($240,000), Focus On The Family ($12,500) Eagle Forum ($5,000), Exodus International ($1,000), and Family “Research” Council ($1,000). Equality Matters has the details. Remember that the next time you’re hankering to “Eat Mor Chikin.”

Terry T

November 1st, 2011

I don’t eat there and I do my best to talk others out of eating there as well. Bigotry makes Chicken Bitter.

Bose in St. Peter MN

November 1st, 2011

It would be interesting to know how representative these folks are among anti-gay conservative Christians. Either Exodus and FRC have been ineffective fundraisers with WinShape, or it’s a big snub that under 0.02% of the anti-gay donations went their way.

Bruce

November 1st, 2011

It really is a pity; I used to like eating there. Now whenever I’m with my family I categorically refuse to go to Chick-Fil-A, and tell them why.

Blake

November 1st, 2011

I guess I’m back on the boycott… dern. Chick-fil-a as a whole is really creepy. Has anyone else seen the Forbes article entitled “The Cult of Chick-fil-a”? They have an interesting business model.

Also, Dan Cathy is a lousy tipper and a self-righteous blowhard. He once tipped me in coupons while simultaneously delivering a lecture about how to properly run a restaurant. I instantly felt sorry for any other wait-staff he might come in contact with.

Mark F.

November 1st, 2011

I’m not big on boycotts, but I think one is justified here.

tristram

November 1st, 2011

Three organizations received the vast bulk of the grant money. What do we know about them? Is there any good on-line analysis of their anti-lgbt activities. I know I’ve tried to check out the FCA in the past and come up with scant real info:

– Marriage and Family Legacy Fund ($994,199),

– Fellowship Of Christian Athletes ($480,000),

– National Christian Foundation ($240,000),

tristram

November 1st, 2011

Please strike my prior post. There’s a link in the article to the Equality Matters report which says all that needs saying on these orgs.

CPT_Doom

November 1st, 2011

I refused to eat there beginning years ago, when the first outlet opened in a Mall near DC. Seeing that the place self-righteously closed on Sundays so their employees can go to church (apparently any Jewish employees can stuff it) was the only reason I needed to dismiss them as not worthy my money. If I want greasy unhealthy chicken, I’ll go to Popeye’s.

Aaron

November 1st, 2011

I think a kiss-in would be more effective here than a boycott. The fact is that they don’t want us there, and we should use that. It’ll get far more media attention as well.

Timothy Kincaid

November 1st, 2011

tristram,

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes was founded on the notion that part of being a good Christian was being physically fit as opposed to, I suppose, a layabout couch potato. It sort of falls into the same category as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) or the Scouts.

There is value to the idea. Tying a responsibility to your body into your code of morals or ethics would probably do many of us some good and would reduce our burden on each other.

And I think there certainly is a place for an organization that values ethics and honor over points, a group that teaches that winning a football game is a very cheap price to receive for the sale of your conscience.

Unfortunately, that isn’t FCA.

While the Y went inclusive and nearly entirely secular, and the Scouts took a middle path (secular focus coupled with right-wing values) the FCA came under the control of the evangelical fundamentalist end of Christianity. And their goals turned from encouraging Christian young men to engage in athletics to instead evangelizing athletes to become Christians.

And by “Christians”, I don’t mean mainline Christianity. This is not the organization for devout UCC or Episcopalian or ELCA Christians. Probably even UMC Christian kids would be uncomfortable with the ubermasculine Jesus that FCA follows.

The FCA is currently a tool for evangelizing on school campuses. While The Bible Club doesn’t have much draw, Fellowship of Christian Athletes sounds like cool kids who are popular. Their hero is not Christ the rebel who questioned authority but “Jesus Christ – the greatest competitor of all time.” (Sometimes I wonder if right-wingers have ever opened a Bible).

And they do that extremely annoying thing where they “give glory to God”. That way they can boast or brag all they want, but you can’t object because it’s all for God. (And gee, God must really love them better than you, huh dweeb?) They get to be arrogant jerks but not be called on it.

They are decidedly anti-gay, requiring leaders to follow:

FCA’S SEXUAL PURITY STATEMENT
God desires His children to lead pure lives of holiness. The Bible is clear in teaching on sexual sin including sex outside of marriage and homosexual acts. Neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitute an alternate lifestyle acceptable to God.
While upholding God’s standard of holiness, FCA strongly affirms God’s love and redemptive power in the individual who chooses to follow Him. FCA’s desire is to encourage individuals to trust in Jesus and turn away from any impure lifestyle.

Lindoro Almaviva

November 1st, 2011

You know? I am not big into boycotts, and to be honest, their chicken is good. I propose a compromise: from now on, let’s eat Chick fil’a only on sundays. How abouth that?

Ezam

November 1st, 2011

Went there once a week ago: overpriced and overrated. Now I won’t go back again until CFA makes a public apology to LGBT people and breaks ties will all the aforementioned groups.

Jess

November 1st, 2011

Honestly this will be hard for me, I love their breakfast. I think though that they won’t be hurt if non conservative people don’t eat there. Something other than a boycott is called for in this case.

Richard Rush

November 1st, 2011

Like CPT_Doom, I had never eaten at a Chick-Fil-A because I knew from the beginning that they were owned by religious fanatics who aren’t above using their “closed on Sundays” policy as a marketing gimmick. But I decided to eat there once about a month ago to see what it was like, and I have to grudgingly admit that my sandwich was pretty good. I won’t be eating there again, though, unless there are major changes in their policies.

If Chick-Fil-A were gay-owned and had all those “Eat Mor Chikin” billboards, the fanatically religious anti-gay crowd would be screaming that the owners were promoting sex with underage teens – because everything gays think and do is exclusively about the sex.

Reilly

November 2nd, 2011

I’ve always gotten a laugh out of the Ben Folds Five song “Army” (“Grew a mustache and a mullet / Got a job at Chick-fil-A…”) What I didn’t realize until now was that the mullet is in fact a NECESSITY. :-D

In all seriousness, though, Blake is right about the “cult of Chick-fil-A”. I had a roommate in college who worked at the location in our student union. One night he brought home a training video that featured 80s-vintage footage of the company CEO handing out chicken nuggets to kindergartners, contingent on their use of the “magic word”. Most of them tried “please”, but it elicited no response from the exec. Then one kid had a sudden flash of inspiration – you could literally see the light come on – and he shouted “Chick-fil-A!” Who knew robotic brand loyalty could be instilled at such a young age?

BlackDog

November 2nd, 2011

Okay, THAT strikes me as more than a little creepy…

Kelly

November 2nd, 2011

Why can companies that are owned by someone that is gay or even a democrat support anyone that they please but a Christian owned company can not support in things that they believe? I am a Christian and I have gay friends and I could care less about what they are. To me I sin just as much as any homosexual. I am just not sure why ALL Christians get a bad rap because we believe a little differently. How did you guys like it when “SOME” Christians decided to boycott everything that supported gays? Stupid! It is just stupid. Everyone should be able to support what they want without being boycotted. I still went to Disney, I still go to Walmart. Come on people. You want everyone to let you live how you want and I think that is fine. But you now do not want others to live how they want???? How does that work????

Doug

November 2nd, 2011

Kelly

Be careful. There is a vast difference between live and let live with differing opinions, and contributing to organizations that actively pursue anti-gay policies and/or principles. I have no problem with any Christian donating to any Christian charity of their choosing who’s purpose is for the good of all (or even for the good of a select group) and not for the specific detriment or discrimination of any. And as consumers, we all have the right and the responsibility to know where our money goes when we patronize a business. Me personally, I don’t consider it a “boycott” if I choose not to spend my money at a business that contributes to, or shares the views of, anti-gay organizations like FRC, Exodus International, or Focus on the Family. That’s not boycotting, that’s being true to myself. And by doing so, I’m not stopping them from doing anything they wish to do.. I’m merely choosing not to give them my money.

Richard Rush

November 2nd, 2011

I almost forgot, during my one and only visit to Chick-Fil-A, I had one anecdotal observation: All the employees interacting with the customers at the front counter were young white women, while all the employees I saw in the back were black. Of course, this may have been a fluke, but I couldn’t help noticing it.

Priya Lynn

November 2nd, 2011

Kelly said “Come on people. You want everyone to let you live how you want and I think that is fine. But you now do not want others to live how they want????”

That’s a false equivalence Kelly. The anti-gays want do deny gays the right to marry, destroy their relationships, fire them from their jobs and evict them from their homes – that’s a huge impediment to gays living how they want. If anti-gays aren’t able to oppress gays that’s a trivial, virtually non-existant impact on how they want to live their lives. The gays “infringment” on the lives of anti-gays doesn’t remotely even begin to compare with the anti-gays infringement on the life of gays.

BlackDog

November 2nd, 2011

Hasn’t this place had a few anti-gay posters named Kelly already who kept spewing a lot of the same crap as this one??

Just an observation.

Priya Lynn

November 2nd, 2011

Yes, that’s right, there was a Kelly/dmitri/andy/Becky/etc.

Kelly

November 2nd, 2011

Actually, I have never even been on this sight. I read the story on yahoo and was directed here. And I am pretty sure I was nice and not “spewing” anything. Guess my comments were not welcome. My apologies. So I guess no one is allowed to question or have a differing opinion. No problem. Thank you Doug for your remarks and being kind.

Timothy Kincaid

November 2nd, 2011

Kelly,

You are allowed to question and have a different opinion. You are not, however, entitled to be free of criticism over that opinion.

When you demanded “come on, people”, they came on. And very politely rebutted your argument. They didn’t even use four question marks per sentence to do so.

So, if you really are sincere, Kelly, I have an assignment for you:

Go talk to those gay friends of yours (assuming they are actually friends and not distant acquaintances). Ask them how they feel about organizations that exist solely for the purpose of denying them equality under the law. Then ask yourself how you feel about organizations that exist solely for denying your friends equality under the law.

And finally, Kelly, should you decide that you are okay with your friends being denied equality, tell them so. Look them in the face and say, “I think that laws should treat you as inferior to me.”

You may discover something about “friendship” that you didn’t know.

Rob in San Diego

November 2nd, 2011

Any business that only takes Sunday off for religious purposes does not deserve my money or good word.

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