Chick-fil-A’s Foundations Dramatically Reduce Anti-LGBT Giving

It has been many years since I last patronized Chick-fil-A given the company's funding of vicious anti-gay organizations.  And I know many others who likewise make a conscious effort to avoid spending a penny at Chick-fil-A.  Now, even though the move is unexplained, Chick-fil-A seemingly has drastically reduced its anti-gay funding effort.  No doubt the Christofascists who rallied to Chick-fil-A's past bigotry will not be pleased to learn this news.  Think Progress looks at this development.  Here are some highlights:

A year after nearly doubling its anti-LGBT giving, Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation apparently reversed course in 2012, eliminating nearly all its grantmaking. Its separate Chick-fil-A Foundation made about $120,000 in grant donations, including about $25,000 to the anti-LGBT Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Between 2010 and 2011, Chick-fil-A’s corporate foundations increased their grants to anti-LGBT groups like the Marriage & Family Foundation and the National Christian Foundation, from $1.9 million to more than $3.6 million. Neither of these organizations received a penny in 2012, according to the foundations’ 2012 Form 990s, publicly available tax documents filed by non-profit organizations. The foundations’ overall spending was roughly even, meaning more of its efforts were focused on its own programs. But the drop from $3,623,938 to $25,390 in anti-LGBT donations represented a reduction of more than 99.2 percent.

In the summer of 2012, the company came under fire for its anti-LGBT giving and company president Dan Cathy’s comment that the company was “guilty as charged” of advocating a biblical view of the family. Amid the criticism, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and others organized a “Chick-fil-A” appreciation day. 

But it appears that the company foundations scaled back anti-LGBT giving by simply scaling back all of its giving to outside non-profits. Their few donations included contributions to WinShape’s home in Brazil for needy children, scholarships for a Christian college in Georgia, and money for Habitat for Humanity and the United Negro College Fund.

This trend will have to continue for a period of time before I again grace the doorway - or drive through window - of a Chick-fil-A.  It would be nice if the trend proved permanent. 

Chick-fil-A Foundation’s Anti-LGBT Giving Nearly Doubled

Just as the pro-slavery elements during the lead up to the Civil War and the segregationists nearly one hundred years later doubled down on the anti-equality efforts before ultimately being overcome by the tide of history we are now seeing the forces of anti-gay bigotry dig in for one last stand against the tide of equity and modernity.   A case in point is the Chick-Fil-A foundation which has doubled its giving to anti-gay organizations even as a new Southern Baptist Convention backed survey found that 64% of Americans deem marriage equality on a national level to be inevitable.  Hate and bigotry do not die easily or quietly.  All one can do is boycott such founts of discrimination and encourage friends and family members to do likewise.  Think Progress looks at Chick-Fil-A's stepped up anti-gay efforts.  Here are highlights:

[D]espite suggestions by some that the company’s WinShape Foundation had already scaled back its anti-LGBT giving before that point, its newly released annual IRS filings for 2011 indicate nothing of the sort.

Most of the WinShape’s anti-LGBT giving in previous years went to groups like the Marriage & Family Foundation ($1,188,380 in 2010), the Fellowship Of Christian Athletes ($480,000 in 2010), and the National Christian Foundation ($247,500). Additionally, the group made small donations to the “ex-gay” group Exodus International ($1,000) and the hate group Family Research Council ($1,000).

In 2011, the group actually gave even more to anti-LGBT causes. Its contribution to the Marriage & Family Foundation jumped to $2,896,438 and it gave the same amount to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and National Christian Foundation as it had in 2010. In total, the anti-LGBT spending exceeded $3.6 million — almost double the $1.9 million from the year before.

While the group gave nothing directly to Exodus International or FRC, a large amount of Chick-fil-A/WinShape money still made its way to those groups. The National Christian Foundation (aka the National Christian Charitable Foundation) gave $4,100 to Exodus International and a stunning $1,260,040 to FRC. This was possible, in part, because of the $247,500 it received directly from WinShape and because the WinShape-backed Marriage & Family Foundation also transferred $870,834 to the group — the self-described “largest Christian grant-making foundation in the world.”

In essence, Chick-fil-A’s “charitable” contributions in 2011 were no less hateful than in 2010 — just less transparent.

If readers have friends who continue to patronize Chick-Fil-A, they truly need to confront these people and make sure they are aware of the hate and bigotry that they are helping to finance.   Personally, I go even further and tell my friends its either me or anti-gay organizations like Chick-Fi-A.   If they continue to support Chick-Fil-A it's obvious that they are not really friends and I don't waste my time with them.  Eventually, it is they, not me, who will become the social pariahs.

Emory University Dumps Chick-Fil-A

While Neanderthals and Christofascists may continue to support Chick-Fil-A's policy of funding anti-gay organizations, another major university has decided that it doesn't like Dan Cathy's style of bigotry and is dumping Chick-Fil-A from its food court.  No doubt some of the Christofascists will howl that "Christians are being persecuted" as they forget that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two way streets.  Kudos to Emory University for sending Chick-Fil-A packing.  Here are highlights from Huffingon Post:

In the wake of its 2012 anti-gay media firestorm, Chick-fil-A has been removed from the food court at Emory University.

Think Progress points to a tweet from the Georgia-based university's campus newspaper Emory Wheel, which confirms the news but offers few details:

UPDATE: Chick-fil-a to be removed from Cox Hall this Summer as part of FACE's new Cox Hall layout.

Previously, the university's administration issued a Dec. 17 statement saying Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's confirmed donations to anti-gay organizations did not reflect the school's "values of access, inclusion and equity," according to the Georgia Voice. Still, the statement did not ask for the restaurant to be removed, according to the report.

Despite the administrators’ stance, lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender (LGBT) students and allies continued to campaign against the restaurant.   Atlanta is also home to Chick-fil-A’s corporate headquarters.