The conservative fried chicken restaurant chain Chick-fil-A has agreed to stop funding groups opposing rights for LGBT people, some of which have been labeled as hate groups.
A press release from The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) said that Chick-fil-A had confirmed to Chicago Alderman Proco “Joe” Moreno that its nonprofit, the WinShape Foundation, would no longer donate money to anti-LGBT organizations.
“The WinShape Foundations [sic] is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas,” the letter stated.
TCRA noted that the company had clarified that groups like Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage would cut off from future donations.
In a memo, Chick-fil-A executives have also told franchisees and stakeholders that the company’s policy is to “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect-regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation and gender,” and the “intent is not to engage in political or social debates.” Those guidelines were included in a document titled “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are.”
As a result of the new stance, Moreno has agreed to drop his efforts to block Chick-fil-A from opening a new restaurant in Chicago’s Northwest Side ward.
“We are very pleased with this outcome and thank Alderman Moreno for his work on this issue,” TCRA executive director Anthony Martinez said in a statement. “I think the most important part of this outcome is that Chick-fil-A has ceased their donations to anti-gay groups in 2011 and going forward. With some of the groups that they were donating to being classified as hate groups, and others actively trying to halt the movement toward full civil rights for LGBT people, Chick-fil-A has taken a big step forward.”
“We feel this is a strong step forward for Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community; although it is only a step,” Martinez added to Chicago Phoenix. “I’m not going to be eating at Chick-fil-A any time soon. … I think people should make that decision for themselves.”
Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A founder Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press that his company was “guilty as charged” of working to prevent marriage equality, sparking to a series of protests and counter-protests.
September 18, 2012 – Chicago, Illinois – The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA), Illinois’ largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights advocacy organization, has learned that Alderman Moreno has finalized his negotiations with Chick-Fil-A. Alderman Moreno’s advocacy has resulted in the company confirming that they will no longer give money to anti-gay organizations. The Civil Rights Agenda worked closely with the Alderman in an advisory role as he negotiated these concessions with the executives at Chick-fil-A.
In a letter addressed to Alderman Moreno and signed by Chick-fil-A’s Senior Director of Real Estate, it states, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.” In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage.
Additionally, they have sent an internal memo to franchisees and stakeholders that stated that, as a company, they will “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect-regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation and gender,” and that their “intent is not to engage in political or social debates.” This statement was placed into an official company document called “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are.”
“We are very pleased with this outcome and thank Alderman Moreno for his work on this issue,” said Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda. “I think the most important part of this outcome is that Chick-fil-A has ceased their donations to anti-gay groups in 2011 and going forward. With some of the groups that they were donating to being classified as hate groups, and others actively trying to halt the movement toward full civil rights for LGBT people, Chick-fil-A has taken a big step forward. We are encouraged by their willingness to serve all people and ensure their profits are not used to fight against a minority community that is still trying to gain full and equal civil rights.”
“Although we are encouraged by their internal statement, we still would like for the company to adopt an anti-discrimination policy at the corporate level,” said Rick Garcia, policy advisor for The Civil Rights Agenda. “It is one thing for a company to say they respect everyone they serve and employ, it is quite another for them to put that into their policies and demand that all employees adhere to that behavior. As we have heard from gay employees that work for Chick-fil-A, there is a culture of discrimination within the company and we would like to ensure that employees can speak out and call attention to those practices without fear of reprisal. It takes time to change the culture of any institution and steps like a corporate policy ensure that progress is made.”
It's all over their facebook page with people posting asking for confirmation, but from my googling around there has been no official word from ChickFilA that the donations are stopping.
And I'm happy to say that the FB comments on their page of people thanking them for stopping the donations far far outweight the comments of people who are angry that they will no longer support FOTF. (though those are there)
Post by penguingrrl on Sept 19, 2012 10:38:42 GMT -5
That's great news! I stopped going there years ago because of these donations and will be unlikely to go back since the only one around is in the mall and I hate the mall, but I'm glad to see it!
Oh and Wawa - Can I admit when I saw this heading I was like "Wait. Is there some reason pregnant women can't have chicken sandwiches and lemonade?"
LOL! There better not be since I've been drinking lemonade and eating chicken sandwiches from every other possible source like they're going out of style.
royal farms chicken sammiches aren't bad if you were wondering. (do you have those down there?) discovered that on the drive home from vacation last week.
does anybody know how you look into where a company has donated if they don't just come out and say it on their site? Like...Hobby Lobby used to have the Alliance Defense Fund listed on their ministry page, but it's gone now. Is there somewhere you can see where they've actually donated? Or no since it's a privately held company? Do non-profits release where their donations come from?
royal farms chicken sammiches aren't bad if you were wondering. (do you have those down there?) discovered that on the drive home from vacation last week.
But you wnat to be sure to get it "hot" - not one that was sitting in their warmer.... (Made that mistake)
royal farms chicken sammiches aren't bad if you were wondering. (do you have those down there?) discovered that on the drive home from vacation last week.
But you wnat to be sure to get it "hot" - not one that was sitting in their warmer.... (Made that mistake)
yeah, I had to wait 10 minutes for my sandwich so I know for sure it was fresh. We were driving home from the shore along with OC bike week traffic so the place was PACKED.
will someone please tell me why my gay neighbors shop at Hobby Lobby??? !
They hate themselves, much like women who vote for republicans? . Sorry, I am really punchy and stuck in a a meeting,
lol. i could write a book on these 2. they're part of the group that is flipping their shits that we have bus stops now instead of the kids being picked up at the door but they didn't bother to vote on the school budget. well, guess what? you get what you vote for, dipshits.
"This prick is asking for someone here to bring him to task Somebody give me some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him I'll pull the trigger on it, someone load the gun and cock it While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket."
"This prick is asking for someone here to bring him to task Somebody give me some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him I'll pull the trigger on it, someone load the gun and cock it While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket."
Aw yeah. If this is real, I can finally have my chicken tenders and Chik-fil-a sauce again! Man, I was tempted to sneak to the Chik-fil-a in the mall and claim H forgot to get the sauce when we had actually ordered chicken strips from Popeyes.