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Is Chick-Fil-A Really Changing Their Stance On Anti-LGBTQ Donations?

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We have reason to believe that the religiously-guided chicken sandwich chain is being given more credit than they deserve. If you read this article, you’ll see why.

Back at the beginning of this week, you couldn’t escape discussion of the fact that Chick-Fil-A would no longer donate to anti-LGBTQ donations. That, in fact, was the headline of the article CNN ran on Monday, November 18: “Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to anti-LGBTQ organizations.”

This was cause for both joy and sorrow. Advocate proclaimed this decision by the chain a victory for LGBTQ activists. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who earlier this year signed the “Save Chick-Fil-A” bill to force San Antonio’s airport to accept a Chick-Fil-A franchise, publicly declared his intention to boycott the fast-food chain over their decision. A lot of social media users proclaimed themselves to have made the same decision on Twitter.

But what’s really going on here? Did Chick-Fil-A really ever commit to making no more donations to groups with anti-LGBTQ policies? As you could probably predict, it’s way more complicated than that. What Chick-Fil-A said in the statement all these articles were based on was that they were “introducing a more focused giving approach… Staying true to its mission of nourishing the potential in every child, the Chick-fil-A Foundation will deepen its giving to a smaller number of organizations working exclusively in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger.”

As a result of this change in policy, they would be focusing donations in the immediate future on the education-focused Junior Achievement USA and the homelessness-focused Covenant House International. Those donations and $25,000 donations to local food banks on the occasion of each new Chick-Fil-A location opening would be the the sole donations the fast-food chain would make in 2020.

This wasn’t done specifically to end donations to anti-LGBTQ groups. Indeed, as a result of this decision, Chick-Fil-A ended donations not just to the three anti-LGBTQ organizations they’d previously donated to, but to over 80 organizations that had received donations from the chain in the previous year.

In a statement quoted by Fox Business, Tim Tassopoulos, President and COO of Chick-Fil-A, said that the new fundraising decisions were based on more strictly targeted goals. “Our goal is to donate to the most effective organizations in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger,” he stated. He further refused to rule out any future donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations.

“No organization will be excluded from future consideration – faith based or non-faith based,” stated Tassopoulos.

Therefore, despite the effect of their changed donation policy being that they will give no money to anti-LGBTQ groups in 2020, there’s no reason to see this policy change as indicative of any change in their anti-LGBTQ stance. That’s true regardless of whether or not they plan to give any more money to anti-LGBTQ organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes — who, let’s not forget, has received over $2 million from Chick-Fil-A in the past two years.

Meal from Chick-Fil-A
Photo via Chick-Fil-A

No less an anti-LGBTQ authority on the evangelical right than Franklin Graham confirmed this with a post on his Facebook page Thursday. Beginning the post with the question, “Has Chick-Fil-A caved?” Graham went on to describe a phone call he’d had with Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-Fil-A — the one whose commentary back in 2012 made everyone aware of the fast-food chain’s anti-LGBTQ beliefs and policies.

“Dan was very clear that they have not bowed down to anyone’s demands, including the LGBTQ community,” Graham wrote in the post. “They will continue to support whoever they want to support. They haven’t changed who they are or what they believe. Chick-fil-A remains committed to Christian values. Dan Cathy assured me that this isn’t going to change. I hope all those who jumped to the wrong conclusion about them read this.”

Did you jump to the wrong conclusion? Did you think maybe you could stop ordering your chicken sandwiches from Popeyes and go back to the fast-food chain that claims to have started it all?

Look, it’s your money, and no one at GayRVA is going to tell you how to spend it. But what we will tell you is that, if you were avoiding Chick-Fil-A due to their anti-LGBTQ stances before, you have no reason to stop doing so now.

Top Photo via Chick-Fil-A

Sold Out Nationwide: Popeyes Non-Homophobic Chicken Sandwich Is A Monster Hit

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The new Popeyes sandwich is so popular you can’t get it anywhere. Which is a shame, because it’s 100 percent less homophobic than Chick-Fil-A.

If you’ve been waiting for the lines to go down before you tried the new Popeyes’ chicken sandwich, you’ve waited too long. At least for now. On Tuesday, Popeyes released an official announcement on their Twitter account, saying they’d run out of their stock of chicken sandwiches… everywhere in the country.

While not every location was necessarily out at the time the statement was released, a Popeyes statement said that the supply they’d expected to last through the end of September was already gone. “As a result, Popeyes restaurants across the country are expected to sell out of the Chicken Sandwich by the end of this week,” the statement read.

If you’ve driven by any Popeyes around town over the past two weeks since the sandwich was released, you’re sure to have noticed the lines out the door, packed parking lots, and drive-thru lines snaking out onto the street. For my wife and I, this was enough to keep us away. But it hasn’t deterred many others, who effusively praised the sandwich on social media.

There were even incidents of people using food-delivery apps and having their orders stolen by delivery people.

Of course, the fact that Americans just love a chicken sandwich — and this Popeyes take on the classic fast-food item really is widely considered delicious — is a big part of this viral explosion. But it seems clear that people wanting an alternative to Chick-Fil-A’s proudly homophobic religious conservatism has played a big role as well.

And it makes sense — after the big kerfuffle over the Muppets pulling out of a deal with Chick-Fil-A due to their monetary support for anti-LGBTQ groups, the restaurant became a bit of a cause celebre on the right. And the restaurant has embraced that status, with the head of their charity division, Rodney Bullard, telling Business Insider earlier this year that “There’s a calling to help people, and I think at times that has been confused with a calling, somehow, to exclude,” and that “help[ing] every child” is “a much higher calling than any political or cultural war.”

This, even as their donations continue to go toward well-known anti-LGBTQ groups like the Fellowship Of Christian Athletes, who require their athletes to sign a purity pledge that forbids any form of non-heterosexual sex; and the Family Research Council, a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified anti-LGBTQ hate group.

Members and allies of the LGBTQ community have been seeking alternatives to Chick-Fil-A’s (admittedly tasty) chicken sandwich for quite a while now, and locally, Cobra Cabana’s Gay-Fil-A Sunday special has been a big hit. But the arrival of a non-homophobic fast food chicken sandwich is certainly always wonderful to see.

And for the record, Popeyes mostly stay out of politics, but Showbiz Cheat Sheet has reported that their chairman gives to Democratic politicians in Florida and is involved with the National Stem Cell Foundation. To the extent that they have a political record, it’s solidly liberal.

So whether you tried their briefly available chicken sandwich and loved it or are still waiting for the crowds to die down, let’s all hope that Popeyes gets that chicken sandwich back into its restaurants ASAP. Because as we all know, every time Chick-Fil-A loses a sale, an LGBTQ angel gets their wings.

Top Image via Popeyes/Twitter