Chick-Fil-A Gay Flap A 'Wakp Call' For Compani : NPR

Contents:

• CHICK-FIL-A GAY FLAP A 'WAKP CALL' FOR COMPANI
• HOW CHICK-FIL-A'S SOCIAL-MEDIA BUNGLE FUELED A GAY-RIGHTS BACKLASH
• CHICK-FIL-A THST BACK INTO SPOTLIGHT ON GAY RIGHTS
• CHIGO OFFICIAL ASKS CHICK-FIL-A TO CLARIFY GAY MARRIAGE STANCE
• FACT-CHECKG THE FALLOUT OM THE CHICK-FIL-A GAY MARRIAGE NTROVERSY
• CHICK-FIL-A CEO CATHY: GAY MARRIAGE STILL WRONG, BUT I'LL SHUT UP ABOUT IT AND SELL CHICKEN
• GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO HOLD KISS PROTTS AT CHICK-FIL-A RTRANTS
• CHICK-FIL-A OWNERS UGHT CROSSFIRE OVER GAY MARRIAGE

CHICK-FIL-A GAY FLAP A 'WAKP CALL' FOR COMPANI

Notably, Chick-fil-A never explicly said would permanently stop donatg to anti-gay groups or anizatns that discrimate agast LGBTQ people — jt said was changg s philanthropic givg mol. In 2012, the Chigo-based Civil Rights Agenda issued a statement claimg that Chick-fil-A had promised to “no longer give to anti-gay anizatns, such as Foc on the Fay and the Natnal Organizatn for marriage.

As ThkProgrs reported 2017, Chick-fil-A ntued to bankroll anti-gay groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athlet, the Salvatn Army, and the Pl Anrson Youth Home through s foundatn. But the 2012 cint wasn’t the first time the Cathys were acced of homophobia. A year earlier, a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A’s cisn to donate food to a marriage semar nducted by the Pennsylvania Fay Instute, a group known for s anti-gay advocy, prompted a natnwi boytt of the cha.

HOW CHICK-FIL-A'S SOCIAL-MEDIA BUNGLE FUELED A GAY-RIGHTS BACKLASH

Cathy issued a vio statement rponse to the boytt, which he claimed the pany “serv all people” and that, while he personally believ the “biblil fn of marriage, ” his pany don’t have an “anti-gay agenda. In 2011, the same year a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A anchise donated food to a lol anti-gay anizatn, the LGBTQ advocy group Equaly Matters obtaed tax rerds which revealed that the Cathy fay had donated more than $1.

9 ln to anti-gay groups 2010 through the WShape Foundatn, the Cathy fay’s charable givg anizatn found by Tett Cathy 1984. 1 ln gift to the Marriage & Fay Foundatn, a group that promoted so-lled tradnal marriage and opposed both gay marriage and divorce; $480, 000 to the Fellowship of Christian Athlet, an athletic anizatn that requir applints to agree to a “sexual pury statement” that nmns LGBTQ people for livg “impure liftyle[s]”; and $1, 000 to Exod Internatnal, a group that promot anti-gay nversn therapy. For Chick-fil-A’s opponents, the problem was bigger than Cathy’s anti-gay ments, was that he was apparently puttg his money where his mouth was, and he had a lot of money to go around.

CHICK-FIL-A THST BACK INTO SPOTLIGHT ON GAY RIGHTS

In a 2014 terview wh the Atlanta Journal-Constutn, Cathy admted he regretted gettg volved the gay marriage bate. Though Chick-fil-A never managed to fully shed s reputatn as a homophobic purveyor of lic chicken sandwich, ntued to expand s natnal prence, pecially above the Mason-Dixon le.

The Cathys’ “dissonant view, ” as one brand nsultant lled , may have fally hurt Chick-fil-A’s bottom le — pecially now that a popular, non-homophobic alternative to Chick-fil-A’s sandwich has emerged. Chick-fil-A fac gay marriage backlash. The Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD), meanwhile, is promotg a Natnal Same-Sex Kiss Day to be held at Chick-fil-A rtrants across the untry on Augt 3.

Roughly 250 participants rried signs emblazoned wh rabows and msag of support for gay rights. The number of Amerins who say they have a close iend or fay member who is gay, meanwhile, has jumped om 49% 2010 to 60% today, the first time CNN pollg that a majory of Amerins have said that.

CHIGO OFFICIAL ASKS CHICK-FIL-A TO CLARIFY GAY MARRIAGE STANCE

In the 1990s, most Amerins said they did not know anyone close to them who was gay. In 1998, a majory believed that someone who is homosexual uld change their sexual orientatn if they chose to do so.

Today, only a third feel that way, and the number who say that gays nnot change their orientatn is almost six 10. Chick-fil-A’s stance on gay marriage isn’t banng anyone om their rtrant or refg to serve them.

FACT-CHECKG THE FALLOUT OM THE CHICK-FIL-A GAY MARRIAGE NTROVERSY

Protters om the Human Rights Campaign chant agast Chick-fil-A Print Dan Cathy's anti-gay marriage stance ont of a Chick-fil-A food tck Washgton, D. But when s print, Dan Cathy, went public to fend his pany's stance agast gay marriage, he set off a nsirable ntroversy that has everyone om policians to puppets weighg . The nnectn has long been clear to gay rights groups, which have tried to ll attentn to the lns of dollars Chick-fil-A, through s charable arm, has donated to opponents of same-sex marriage.

Helms' tweet: "Chick-fil-A don't like gay people? Hate to thk what they do to the gay chickens!

" July 19, 2012 On the Chick-fil-A Facebook page, the pany posts a statement sayg 's stayg away om further discsn of the gay marriage bate. Meanwhile, gay and lbian groups have lled for same-sex upl to kiss at Chick-fil-A stor on "Natnal Same Sex Kiss Day" Aug.

CHICK-FIL-A CEO CATHY: GAY MARRIAGE STILL WRONG, BUT I'LL SHUT UP ABOUT IT AND SELL CHICKEN

Support For Gay Rights But other pani see the risks of gog public on ntroversial issu differently.

He explaed the ffee giant's pro-gay posns were about makg s employe proud — and aligng wh s rporate valu. The lure of dollars om a lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr market is another likely motivator for takg certa social stands. Boytts And Bottom L Starbucks, Target and General Mills all stepped to the same-sex marriage issue by supportg gay marriage legislatn their home stat.

It's no secret that fast-food cha Chick-Fil-A donat to anti-gay Christian chari -- the cha has been gettg flak om gay-rights groups for a while now on that. If there was a gay person -- or supporter -- left the U.

GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO HOLD KISS PROTTS AT CHICK-FIL-A RTRANTS

The flam were re-igned Tuday when pany print Dan Cathy told the Baptist Prs he is "guilty as charged" of donatg to anti-gay chari.

This non-rponse didn't answer the qutns on many people's mds: Will the pany stop donatg to groups that are actively opposg gay-marriage laws, and ntroversial "gay-curg" groups such as Exod Internatnal?

Also, how are gay employe treated at the pany given the rporate culture?

CHICK-FIL-A OWNERS UGHT CROSSFIRE OVER GAY MARRIAGE

Now, you n check the Twter hashtag #ChickFilGay for pyt chicken recip so you n make the pany's sandwich at home and avoid patronizg the cha. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTChick-fil-A Thst Back Into Spotlight on Gay RightsJuly 25, 2012ATLANTA — A Southern-ied chicken sandwich on a soft whe bun wh a uple of pickle slic is fast beg the culary symbol of one of the untry’s major social Baptist fay that owns Chick-fil-A, a fast-food cha based Atlanta, has for years given lns of dollars to anizatns fightg same-sex marriage and supportg heterosexual protts agast s posn have swelled and reced over the past uple of years, but recently the battle has spilled to the halls of cy ernments and the printial mpaign. Cathy a rporate hero, echo an ethos the pany has never early 2011, a Chick-fil-A rtrant Pennsylvania donated food to a marriage semar nducted by one of that state’s most outspoken groups agast homosexualy.

Equaly Matters, an onle vtigative anizatn dited to gay and lbian issu, last year obtaed tax rerds that showed that the pany’s operators, s WShape Foundatn and the Cathy fay had given lns of dollars to groups whose work clus featg same-sex marriage iativ and providg therapy tend to change people’s sexual Mr. 3, urgg gays and lbians to show up at the pany’s 1, 600 rtrants around the untry moved Mike Huckabee, the former ernor of Arkansas, to clare Aug. On Friday, said Lisa Henson, the chief executive officer, supported same-sex marriage and would donate money that the pany had received om Chick-fil-A to the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn.