Chick Fil A has made national news for its owner’s stance on gay marriage. Anytime they do something even remotely non-PC, their supposed slip up goes viral. Hash tags pop up all over the place. So why is that what they have done in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, hasn’t received a single mention on the mainstream news channels? It’s probably because people like New York City Mayor, Bill DeBlasio, might have to eat crow instead of chicken. DeBlasio has said that Chick Fil A spreads a message of hate…. In a shocking move the Orlando location, at University and Rouse Road, fired up its grills on Sunday. The chain is notorious for not being openĀ—ever—on the first day of the week. Employees cooked up hundreds of their famous chicken sandwiches. They brewed dozens of gallons of sweet tea. Then, instead of making a single dime, they crated the product of their labor to the One Blood donation center. The food and drinks were handed out, free of charge, to all the people who had lined up to donate blood. But wait, those people were waiting to give blood to victims that were mostly gay. Doesn’t Chick Fil A hate gays? That’s what we keep being told.
Once in a while, if you can manage to wade through the pithy, sanctimonious prose and palpable self-righteousness, it’s possible to find at least a nugget of a story on Conservative websites. In this case, it was the news about a Chick-Fil-A restaurants in Orlando, FL, that did the right thing for the right reasons. The obvious Right-wing snark meant I had to do a bit of research to confirm the story hadn’t been made up out of whole cloth (et tu, Breitbart??), but this random act of kindness really did happen, and those responsible should be commended. On a day when tragedy and heartbreak were the dominant themes, a restaurant not known for being gay-friendly pitched in and did what they could. Good on them; their kindness was one of the good things to emerge from an unspeakably horrible tragedy.
Chick-Fil-A stores are normally closed on Sundays, but in the aftermath of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a store near the club opened so they could help to feed those who’d lined up to give blood. It was an awesome gesture of kindness from a business with a long (and not so very distinguished) track record of hostility towards the interests of the LGBT community. As seems true with many large businesses, it’s often the case that front-line employees have a greater sense of decency, fairness, and humanity than those at the top of the corporate food chain.
Those who came in on their day off to do what they felt to be right should be commended, regardless of anything less. They pitched in and did what they could to help on a day when kindness counted for far more than it would have on a “normal” day.
Chick-fil-A touched off protests by gay rights advocates in 2012 after its CEO, Dan Cathy, voiced support for “biblical families” and opposition to same-sex marriages. As it seeks to expand its national footprint, the company has tried to draw a distinction between its business and the beliefs of its ownership.
Bill Huelsman, who volunteers at the GLBT Community Center of Orlando, said Tuesday he didn’t see food donations from the Atlanta-based restaurant chain as a sign that it was changing its long-held stance against homosexuality.
“They should be trying to do the right thing,” said Huelsman. “Everybody is pulling together.”
Despite DC Gazette’s attempts at tweaking those who’ve called Chick-Fil-A to account for its opposition to homosexuality and marriage equality, one instance of kindness doesn’t erase a history of discrimination. As a drill sergeant once told me during basic training, “One fuck-up can erase 20 attaboys.” I certainly don’t want to minimize the selflessness of those who helped feed those waiting in line to give blood; they’re to be commended for helping out. That said, it doesn’t give a free pass to the company and its supporters for their past overt discrimination against the LGBT community.
One fuck-up can erase 20 attaboys.
Chick-Fil-A is trying to expand their footprint nationally. To do so they’ll need to figure out how to convince people to forget their recent history. This episode, as laudable as it is, does nothing to erase Chick-Fil-A’s corporate culture. If they truly meant to be inclusive and accepting, they’d make it clear that they’re no longer the company known for discriminating against the LGBT community. That they’ve yet to take this step means little has changed. It would be a step in the right direction if they made it clear that the kindness shown by their Orlando employees is what they stand for.
So, well-deserved kudos to those Chick-Fil-A employees who stepped up and did what they felt to be the right thing for the right reasons. They deserve to be commended for their kindness and selflessness, as do the many other people in Orlando who helped on that horrible day. Chick-Fil-A, though, absent a commitment to fostering equality, remains the same homophobic company it’s always been.
What happens next is up to them.
