U.K.-based LGBTQ+ activist Peter Tatchell is protesting the opening of the first Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant in London, citing worries the company will continue its long history of supporting anti-LGBTQ+ causes. The restaurant began serving customers in London today.
“We asked Chick-fil-A to give assurances that it will not fund individuals, organizations, and campaigns that oppose LGBT+ human rights,” Tatchell said, according to Attitude magazine. “We have been unable to secure assurances that Chick-fil-A will not in the future fund homophobic organizations that campaign against LGBT+ human rights…. They have refused to give any assurances…. Every letter and request for a meeting has been ignored…. Until we have that commitment, consumers should boycott Chick-fil-A.”
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Specifically, Tatchell mentioned the company’s past donations of millions to organizations like theFellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), a religious group whose “sexual purity policy” prohibits any homosexual acts;the anti-LGBTQ+ Christian group Focus on the Family;and theNational Christian Charitable Foundation, a major donor-advised fund that distributed $56.1 million to 23 organizations classified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Variously, these groups have opposed same-sex marriage, promoted conversion therapy as a way to forcibly change the identities of LGBTQ+ people, and campaigned against any LGBTQ+-related civil rights and legal protections, Tatchell said.
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“These organizations have campaigned against the U.S. Equality Act [legislation that would explicitly add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal anti-discrimination laws] and continue to promote discriminatory homophobic laws and policies,” Tatchell said. “Chick-fil-A’s funding of bigotry is out of step with British values… There should be no place in the U.K. for a business that uses its profits to fund prejudice.”
A short history of Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ+ past
Since 2003, the WinShape Foundation, a charity co-founded by Chick-fil-A’s now-deceased founder S. Truett Cathy and his wife Jeanette Cathy, has donated millions to groups that actively oppose same-sex marriage, including Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum; Focus on the Family; the SPLC-certified hate group Family Research Council; the now-defunct ex-gay therapy group Exodus International; the Marriage & Family Legacy Fund; and the FCA.
In January 2011, Chick-fil-A co-sponsored a marriage conference with the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a group that opposes expanded LGBTQ+ civil rights. In 2012, Chick-fil-A executives promised to stop supporting anti-LGBTQ+ organizations.
However, The Chick-fil-A Foundation’s IRS filings from 2015 revealed that the foundation donated $1 million to the FCA; $200,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a Georgia-based residential home for troubled youth which said that child abuse causes homosexuality; and $130,000 to the Salvation Army, a religious international charity that has longopposed same-sex marriage and anti-LGBTQ+ housing discrimination protectionswhile supporting religious exemptions from LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws. In 2017, Chick-fil-A’s donations to these groupsequaled nearly $2 million.
In 2012, Chick fil-A’s then-president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy made repeated comments against same-sex marriage. Later that year, gay rights activists around the nation held kiss-in protests in opposition to the restaurant’s anti-LGBTQ+ donations and Cathy’s anti-gay views.
By 2014, Cathy said it was a “mistake” to involve his company in the public debate against same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, even into 2021, Cathy — who still serves as the company’s chairman — continued using his money tofund the National Christian Charitable Foundationand its “dark money operations” supporting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
More recently, in 2020, the Chick-fil-A Foundation announced that it would donate $3 million to combat youth homelessness via the LGBTQ+-inclusive charity Covenant House International. The anti-LGBTQ+ Family Research Council (FRC)criticized Chick-fil-Afor publicly withdrawing its support from the FCA and Salvation Army and announcing its support for Covenant House, something the FRC called “an endorsement of an LGBT agenda.”
While Chick-fil-A’s donation strategy has changed for the time being, it still carries an image of being anti-gay. This image has led city airports and college campuses to protest the openings of new Chick-fil-A restaurants. In response, conservative politicians have continued to defend the company’s Christian beliefs.
In 2019, the LGBTQ+ rights organization the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the queer media watchdog group GLAADboth said theywanted Chick-fil-A to implement fair hiring practices, be transparent about donations, and provide proof that Chick-fil-A has actually stopped donating to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations.
The company could certainly do more to become LGBTQ+-inclusive. It has never participated in HRC’s Corporate Equality Index to assess its own queer-inclusive workplace policies. The company also has no internal employee resource groups for addressing the needs of LGBTQ+ team members. It’s unclear if the company offers LGBTQ+-inclusive anti-discrimination training or equal employee benefits, like parental leave and domestic partner benefits, regardless of workers’ sexual orientations or gender identities.
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