Chick-fil-A to end donations to anti-LGBTQ organisations
Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to two charities that have a history of opposition against same-sex marriage, after facing years of backlash from LGBTQ campaigners.
On Monday, the company announced that it would no longer be funding The Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, both of which have received millions in donations from Chick-fil-A’s charitable foundation.
According to the chicken chain, it will instead “deepen its giving to a smaller number of organisations working exclusively in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger”.
The company also explained its previous donations to the two charities were a result of “multi-year commitments”.
“We made multi-year commitments to both organisations, and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018,” Chick-fil-A said in a statement to Business Insider. “Moving forward you will see that the Chick-fil-A Foundation will support the three specific initiatives of homelessness, hunger and education.”
In 2017, Chick-fil-A’s tax filings showed donations of more than $1.8m to anti-LGBTQ charities, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which requires its employees to refrain from “homosexual acts”.
Chick-fil-A’s support for initiatives that discriminate against LGBTQ people continued after president Dan Cathy sparked outrage in 2015 with comments regarding same-sex marriage.
Appearing on the Ken Coleman talk show, Cathy said at the time: “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’”.
The fast-food company later issued a public apology in which it announced it would be leaving the “policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena”.
The decision to end the donations to anti-LGBTQ charities comes after the restaurant was banned from opening a kiosk at San Antonio International Airport in Texas due to its alleged anti-LGBTQ bias.
“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 behaviour,” councilman Roberto C Treviño said at the time.
The first UK branch of the restaurant also announced it would be closing following public criticism.
The Independent has contacted Chick-fil-A for comment.
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