What people get wrong about Chick fil-A

Recently, a national controversy has erupted over gay rights and Chick fil-A. After the fast-food restaurant's president Dan T. Cathy stated that Chick fil-A supports "the biblical definition of the family unit", several gay rights organizations expressed their disfavor with this statement since it excludes gay couples and families. The Jim Henson company announced that it was ending its partnership with Chick fil-A and will now be redirecting it's donations to the gay rights group GLAAD. People have also called for a boycott of the restaurant.

                    Unfortunately, a large amount of confusion has arisen over this controversy. For example, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin stated that the boycott has a "chilling effect on our first amendment rights ." This is a moronic statement since holding a boycott is actually an exercise of our 1st Amendment rights and freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. If she actually cared about freedom of speech, she would've been against a Chicago politician's intent to ban Chick fil-A from opening a second store there. Also, relating to that last statement, The Alderman of the city of Chicago & the mayor of Boston. have openly stated their disappointment following Cathy's statements. They were strongly criticized by people on both sides of the political spectrum for showing an intent to ban the restaurant. These threats later turned out to be empty since such a pursuit would be thrown out quickly for violating the 1st amendment.

What bothers me is how these people have now shifted the focus of the Chick fil-A controversy to the issue of Freedom of Speech and it has gained Chick fil-A much sympathy. Most of the media hasn't gone back to the original issue of corporate ethos.And now there's a misconception that Chick fil-A is just being attacked for supporting traditional marriage.. It's most likely why Mike Huckabee's "Chick fil-A appreciation day" resulted in record crowds while the counter-protest National Same-sex Kiss day had lackluster attendance. The people who went to Chick fil-A may have thought they were just "affirming a business that operates on Christian values", but it was more than that. Not supporting gay marriage is one thing, but the problem isn't what Chick fil-A says, it's what it does.

                      It never was a secret that Chick fil-A is a Christian organization. It's founder Truett Cathy, was also founder of the WinShape Foundation which provides several social service programs such as scholarships and summer camps. It's also strongly influenced by Christianity and the foundation is heavily involved with anti-gay organizations. In fact, it has donated almost $2 million dollars to these groups and it's almost entirely funded by the profits Chick fil-A makes. Let's go over some of the groups they've funded.

                         $480,000 was given to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes which recruits people with a love of both sports & religion for it's Ministry Leader program. It then requires applicants to agree with the statement that God disapproves of all sexual impurity including homosexuality.  Exodus International and the Family Research council each received $1,000. Exodus advocates "ex-gay therapy" and is famous for it's pseudo-therapeutic techniques of shame and denial. It's president has even criticised the organisation's promises of change , but continued to state that "The opposite of homosexuality isn’t heterosexuality. It’s holiness." The Family Research Council is listed as a hate group by The Southern Poverty Law Centre for promoting unfounded claims that gay men molest children at higher rates than straight men and the myth that homosexuality is a choice. In 2009, WinShape donated $12,500 to Focus on the Family which opposes anti-bullying initiatives and even founded a website called "True Tolerance" to oppose what they call "homosexual advocacy".

                          While one may argue that these donations are small amounts of money compared to the charitable service the foundation provides to people, it's important to know that it doesn't excuse what they've done and the problem is that these organizations are receiving money from them at all. Also, the National Christian Foundation receives over $200,000  from WinShape and donates this money to other anti-gay groups including Focus on the Family & the Family Research Council. WinShape is indirectly donating them more money. And lastly the Pennsylvania Chick fil-A branch once co-sponsored with the Pennsylvania Family institute an event by Family Life called "the Art of Marriage". This was later criticized since the PFI is anti-gay and once opposed an anti-discrimination bill protecting gay people.

                           As you can see, Chick fil-A has a history of being involved with groups that are opposed to civil rights and spread lies about gay people. I believe many of the ordinary people who eat at Chick fil-A would be repulsed by what these groups do, even if they oppose gay marriage. Only they're probably not aware of this and the conservative commentators who defend this place are probably not aware either or they're being dishonest about this issue. Now some you may say that you just want to eat chicken without having to take sides, but the reality is when you spend your money at Chick fil-A, it can easily end in the hands of those groups. If you care about equal rights for gay people, make a statement by not eating there again or if you don't eat there anyway, spread it around to those who do. It's more than just chicken.