Chick-fil-A’s nonprofit arm, the WinShape Foundation, has for years donated millions to anti-gay Christian groups like Focus on the Family, which once warned Americans, “[T]he homosexual agenda is a beast.”…. Dan Cathy, Chick-fil-A’s CEO, hasn’t even made an effort to sooth his many critics. In early 2011, when it was discovered that a Chick-fil-A operator had donated free food to a conference dedicated to marriage under “God’s design,” Cathy responded by offering this paradox: “[W]e will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family. This decision has been made, and we understand the importance of it. At the same time, we will continue to offer resources to strengthen marriages and families.”
I could say something about how I boycott Chick-fil-A because of their support of hyper-religious hate groups. Truth is, I don’t eat at Chick-fil-A because their food sucks…and I’m not even certain they have any franchises in the Portland area. It’s easy to take a principled stand against a company when you wouldn’t purchase their product if someone held a gun to your head.
That said, why would any business with any hope at all of being successful choose to alienate their customer base by supporting groups that major in hatred, discrimination, and fear-mongering in the name of Jesus Christ? I could advocate a boycott, but why not leave the matter up to the individual to decide what’s the right thing to do? You don’t necessarily have to boycott a business to have an impact. F’rinstance, you could try this novel approach:
I like this approach: A friend of mine, Trey Pollard, offers a clever-albeit slightly more costly-way to offset the karma of his chicken sandwich purchases. He now matches every dollar he spends on food at Chick-fil-A with an equal donation to an organization that supports gay rights, either the national Human Rights Campaign, or an outfit right in Chick-fil-A’s backyard, Georgia Equality.
Nice; the aforementioned Mr. Pollard gets his bad chicken fix, and a couple organizations that support gay rights end up a few dollars to the good.
Really, though; Chick-fil-a? I suppose if you like cardboard chicken sandwiches with your hyper-religious hypocrisy and homophobia….
