Following a national furor over the Chick-fil-A corporation’s financial support for antigay groups, the company pledged today to stop giving money to such groups.
A gay and lesbian advocacy group called The Civil Rights Agenda announced that the fast food company met with them and agreed to cease donations to groups such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy sparked the controversy over gay marriage and the role of companies and consumers in social movements in July when he told the Baptist Press:
"We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that ... we know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."
He further drew the ire of gay rights advocates when he said in a radio interview on the The Ken Coleman Show:
"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is about.”
According to Equality Matters, a gay, lesbian and transgender rights group, Chick-fil-A donated nearly $5 million to groups that lobby against gay marriage from 2003 to 2010.
In Orange County, residents were quick to come out in favor or against the company’s stance on gay marriage by staging protests at Chick-Fil-A locations or spending money at the restaurant on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS
What do you think? Will Chick-fil-A earn your fast food dollars by pledging not to fund antigay groups, or are you disappointed to see the reversal? Why?
