In July, Cathy told an interviewer that his privately-owned company is “guilty as charged” of supporting “the biblical definition” of the family unit.
Last week, UNF junior Alex Tarter addressed the UNF Student Government Association about Cathy’s comments and the politics of Chick-fil-A.
“Let me tell you how it feels to have someone go on national TV and say they hate you. To say that not only do they hate you, but it’s part of their values and belief system to hate you,” said Tarter, a psychology major.
In recent weeks, company officials have said that Chick-fil-A has rethought its policy concerning contributions to controversial groups and causes, but the behavior of company president Dan Cathy suggests no deviation on his part at least. Last month, Cathy tweeted, “WinShape Ride for the Family bikers locked and loaded for 200 mile ride to Wilmington out of Charleston.”
The Ride serves as a fundraiser for the Marriage and Family Foundation, which lobbies against marriage equality. Registration forms for the event include the Chick-fil-A logo and the WinShape Foundation name.
]]>On Friday, August 3, hundreds of LGBT rights activists and allies protested at South Florida locations of Chick-fil-A, drawing awareness to the company’s history of contributions to anti-gay causes. Registered Independents, Republicans, Democrats, parents, married couples, singles, and concerned citizens, gay and straight, gave voice with their presence to their support for marriage equality and human rights.
On this page: The faces of your fellow Americans.
]]>Several dozen LGBT activists and allies crossed the road to the Pompano Beach Chick-fil-A franchise, in support of National Same-Sex Kiss Day, which was organized as a counter-demonstration to Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. The latter event was encouraged by GOP pastor/ politician Mike Huckabee as a way to mobilize the traditionalist base to support a company—in this case, the 66-yearold chicken chain and its founders, the Southern Baptist Cathy clan—that opens its checkbook for conservative causes.
Organizers of the Same-Sex Kiss Day say their event was set up before Huckabee’s open-mouthed offering to the poultry purveyors, who LGBT activists claim have ponyed-up more than $5 million to support a radical right-wing political agenda.
]]>It seems that high-profile members of the Grand Old Party love themselves some fried chicken—as long as it features a Chick-fil-A sticker someplace on the packaging. Since his interview last month with Baptist Press, CEO Dan Cathy’s comments espousing “the biblical definition of the family unit” have gone viral, and netted the support of such prominent Republicans as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who declared August 1—today—to be “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day,” former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (who genuflected over his family’s love for the chicken joint’s peach shakes, via Twitter), and ex-Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who told Lone Star State supporters last week that she was planning a post-rally poultry-binge— and posted her proof online (replete with pics of her and hubby Todd, pullet prizes in hand).
Images touted by conservative activists depicted traditionalists standing in long lines at Chick-fil-A franchises, presumably waiting for their buckets and side dishes. It would seem that Republicans have succeeded in mobilizing the “base” to rally around the fast food chain as a cause worth protecting. But a new analysis from international internet market research firm YouGov suggests that the company’s brand is being hurt by all this Republican-ized romance— not to mention CEO Cathy’s suggestion that too much progressive thinking (like same-sex marriage) is just “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.”
The U.K.-based online pollster’s Brand Index uses an algorithm that takes its nearly 2 million American fast-food consumer poll subjects, and subtracts their negative feedback numbers from positive totals. Since July 19, perception of the Chick-fil-A brand has dropped to 4 points below the national average—a drop of 15 points (from 19 points above the average) before Cathy bashed gay marriage (and divorcees). According to YouGov, the conservative Midwest is the only place the pullet hasn’t hit the fan.
]]>ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Even as company executives distance themselves from recent remarks by its president concerning same-sex marriage, Chick-fil-A finds itself deeper-than-ever in the fryer with LGBT rights activists, and those who oppose the fast food chain’s opposition to gay rights. U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) added her voice to a chorus that already includes Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, in opposing the chain’s political support for traditional marriage. “For the record, I love KFC,” Pelosi tweeted last week.
Last month, Menino vowed to block the chain from opening a store in Bean Town, and the mayor of Pelosi’s home town of San Francisco, made similar comments.
The brouhaha began on July 16, when company CEO Dan Cathy was asked in an interview with Baptist Press to state his position on gay marriage. “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy, 59, said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives,” adding, “We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families.”
Through the non-profit WinShape Foundation, founded in 1984, Cathy and his father, Truett, the 91-year-old founder of Chick-fil-A, have donated millions of dollars to various Christian organizations and causes, including those dedicated to preserving traditional, straight marriage.
The Cathy family and Chickfil- A were joined by their own political choir, including former GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who praised the Cathy family. Last Wednesday, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum added his own support for the chain. “With two of my boys, enjoying chick-in-strips and an awesome peach shake at Chickfil- A. See you here next Wednesday!” he tweeted. On Friday, former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin tweeted a picture of her and husband Todd giving a thumbs-up in one of the chain’s franchise locations.
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In politics, as in fast food, one man’s chicken is another man’s “beef.” Case in point: While the list of people who are fleeing the Chick-fil-A coop is growing—mostly in urban, gay-friendly areas, by the way— there is a growing chorus of support from traditionalists and social and religious conservatives who stand behind (and with) the Atlanta-based chicken joint, and its corporate policies that favor “the biblical definition of the family unit,” as company president Dan Cathy put it this month.
Those traditionalists, long suspicious of Hollywood-types and other liberal elites, were anything but put off by Cathy’s recent remarks that the fast-food giant stands “guilty as charged” of its backing—backed up by political donations—for candidates and causes that are more inclined to view “marriage equality” as alternating nights doing the dishes than a civil right.
On the left, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino blocked Chick-fil-A’s plans to expand into Bean Town, saying that “You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against the population. We’re an open city. We’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion.”
The Jim Henson Company, creators of the Muppets, recently cancelled a planned partnership with the chicken chain in protest. Dan Cathy, who is the son of company founder S. Truett Cathy, told the Baptist Press , “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives,” throwing divorcees— gay and otherwise—under the bus, for added measure. “We don’t claim to be a Christian business,” Cathy said.
“But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles.” Those principles include closing its 1,600 restaurants on Sundays, and a management philosophy with a “focus on values rooted in the Bible.” Gay rights activists accuse Chickfil- A of promoting an anti-gay agenda, chiefly through political contributions.
A report by Equality Matters found that, from 2003 to 2009, the company donated more than $3 million to Christian groups that oppose gay rights. The report noted that $2 million of that was donated in 2010 alone. The company has consistently denied that it opposes LGBT rights. Last week, officials said that Chick-fil-A will “leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena” and abstain from “proactively being engaged in the dialogue” on marriage equality.
Cathy remains unapologetic about Chick-fil-A’s stand in the public policy debate, and says that he and his company “intend to stay the course.” His father, Truett, 91, is no stage-prop villain. He has been honored for his philanthropy and good works (which include serving as a foster parent for over 30 years, and establishing the WinShape Foundation to serve homeless and foster children). The elder Cathy opened his first restaurant in 1946.
He has attended the same Baptist parish for over 50 years, and was honored in May with a degree from Liberty University, the intellectual cauldron of religious, social, and legal conservatism founded by Jerry Falwell. Last week, former and GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee posted on his Facebook page that he was “incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick-fil-A company.”
He said the Cathys are “a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles, and whose story is the true American success story,” that “is being smeared by vicious hate speech, and intolerant bigotry from the left.” Huckabee, who declared August 1 to be “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” defended traditionalists.
“Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same-sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hatemongers, and intolerant,” he wrote.
]]>Now Florida Gold Coast University, student, Rachad Davis, upon hearing news that a Chick-fil-A has plans to open a location on the school property, has started a Facebook group to put a stop to the move.
“We have the right to choose where our money is going. Giving money to an organization that supports anti-gay networks and isn’t environmentally conscious is the wrong thing to do.
And the more we pay them, the bigger they grow,” said Davis.
His group now has 200 members and the students behind the group say,
“The Student Union is a place where all students should feel safe and welcome. By allowing a company with a history of bigotry and homophobia into our campus, we potentially allow FGCU to place monetary gain above the comfort and safety of the very students who are expected to frequent the Union Building,”
The action of the students at FGCU has created a snowball effect that has started to sweep the country as students at the University of North Texas, Texas Tech University Gainesville State College, the University of New Orleans, Indiana University (Bloomington Campus) and Mississippi State University are all launching campaigns, of a similar nature to draw attention to Chick-fil-A’s ties to anti-gay groups.
The students vs. Chick-fil-A campaign continues… Check out their Facebook, ‘NO Chick Fil a (sic) at FGCU’H
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