Bisnow reported on Monday that Chick-fil-A would no longer donate to three Christian organizations that hold to biblical standards on sexuality and marriage.
The restaurant chain’s charitable arm, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, will no longer donate to the Salvation Army, the Paul Anderson Youth Home, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2018, Reuters reports, Chick-fil-A donated $1.65 million to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and $115,000 to the Atlanta branch of the Salvation Army.
Chick-fil-A has come under fire as it expands to additional markets in the United States and beyond by LGBT activists upset that the restaurant chain supports organizations who oppose same-sex marriage.
As a result, Chick-fil-A has been barred from opening restaurants at airports in San Antonio, Texas and Buffalo, N.Y. In 2018, The New Yorker ran an article calling infiltration of the chain that is closed on Sunday into New York City as “creepy.” LGBT pressure also caused Chick-fil-A’s first restaurant in the United Kingdom to close. In 2012, the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, also pledged to block Chick-fil-A’s expansion into his city and Chick-fil-A is poised to open stores there in 2020.
They will now focus their donations on education, homelessness, and hunger. Chick-fil-A plans to donate $9 million dollars to charity which includes a $25,000 donation to a local food bank for each restaurant the chain opens. Chick-fil-A said that the it could give to faith-based or non-faith-based charities, but none of those charities will have “anti-LGBTQ” positions.
“There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are,” Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Tassopoulos said in an interview with Bisnow. “There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”
“When there is a tension, we want to make sure we’re being clear. We think this is going to be helpful,” Tassopoulos added. “It’s just the right thing to do: to be clear, caring and supportive, and do it in the community.”
I understand the pressure that Chick-fil-A is under. There is no doubt that their expansion has been impeded, but their decision to surrender to the demands of the LGBT woke mob is a slap in the face to Christians who have supported them over the years for their stand.
What’s sad is that the organizations Chick-fil-A donated to were doing good work that had nothing to do with the marriage debate. Those organizations were just committed to biblical teaching. And so, Chick-fil-A has announced that it will no longer donate to organizations that follow what the Bible says about sexuality and marriage.
Worse yet, is Chick-fil-A just made it harder for other businesses who want to continue to donate to Christian ministries.
It’s their money, they are free to do with it what they want, and fighting hunger and homelessness is a good cause. But they surrendered to a group that will never be satisfied regardless of what they do and sent an awful message doing so.