Chick-Fil-A “Surrenders to LGBT Bullies”
The Chick-fil-A Foundation will no longer support the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, two organizations which affirm a Biblical definition of marriage.
The foundation said it would now focus its giving in the areas of education, homelessness, and hunger. But many observers have noted that the Salvation Army focuses on just these issues. They believe the real reason for the withdrawal of funding is the position of the FCA and the Salvation Army on traditional marriage. Both organizations affirm a Biblical definition of marriage.
Blogger Matt Walsh wrote, “Incredibly stupid move by Chick-fil-A. They won’t appease the critics by caving but they might alienate some of their customers.” Rod Dreher was equally direct. “This is a sad day,” he wrote. “Even though Chick-Fil-A is hugely profitable, it still capitulated to progressive bullies.”
Mainstream media outlets wasted no time representing the changes at Chick-Fil-A as a capitulation to LGBT groups. The headline at USA Today read: “Chick-Fil-A to stop donating to some groups following LGBTQ protests.” ABC News: “Chick-Fil-A will no longer fund anti-LGBTQ organizations.” UPI’s headline read, “Chick-Fil-A to stop funding groups that oppose gay rights.”
Dreher was not the only commentator who expressed sadness rather than outrage. John Stonestreet, president of The Colson Center for Christian Worldview, wrote,
“I find Chick-Fil-A’s decision sad on at least two levels. First, their growth has clearly shown that you don’t have to cave to the pressure in order to survive and grow as a company. Even more sad, however, is that without ever mentioning their names, the Chick-Fil-A Foundation… [reinforces] the slander that the organizations they are no longer giving to are, in fact, anti-LGBT. It will reinforce that all the good these organizations do is immediately made invalid, if they are Christian groups with historic and biblical Christian convictions. By refusing to offer any clarity on the reasoning behind their decision, Chick-Fil-A allowed the headlines to be re-written in a way that furthers the goals of the LGBT bullies, that ultimately there is only one acceptable position on these controversial issues: full-support and full affirmation.”
Rodney Bullard, the head of the Chick-fil-A Foundation, told Business Insider, “For us, that’s a much higher calling than any political or cultural war that’s being waged.” However, Dreher said this comment indicated Chick-Fil-A leaders were “cowards,” suggesting that it supported Christian causes because it helped the brand, but dumped these same Christian groups when their Biblical views became unpopular.
Chick-fil-A is a privately owned company, but it does release some financial information. By the end of 2018, Chick-fil-A was the third-largest chain in the US by sales, growing revenue by 16.7 percent in 2018 to reach nearly $10.5 billion, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. According to Business Insider, “Only McDonald’s and Starbucks brought in more money in the US last year and with vastly more restaurants.”
