(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Chick-fil-A, a fast food chain owned by a Christian family and known for closing on Sundays and including Bible verses on its products, has announced it will discontinue its donations to Christian charities that oppose same-sex marriage.
After facing years of backlash from radical leftists, Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Tassopoulos said the company will focus its charitable efforts on “education, homelessness, and hunger.”
“There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are,” Tassopoulos told Bisnow. “There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”
Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to organizations like the Salvation Army, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Paul Anderson Youth, the company said, noting that it “made multi-year commitments to both organizations and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018.”
Chick-fil-A has frequently come under attack by LGBT groups.
In Texas, the San Antonio City Council effectively banned the fast food chain from the city’s airports, and the LGBT caucus in the state legislature blocked Republicans’ attempts to prevent San Antonio’s directive from going into effect.
“When there is a tension, we want to make sure we’re being clear. We think this is going to be helpful,” Tassopoulos said of the company’s decision to pull its support from the charities. “It’s just the right thing to do: to be clear, caring, and supportive and do it in the community.”
After years of “taking it on the chin,” a Chick-fil-A executive said the negative coverage was beginning to impact the company’s growth.
Shortly after San Antonio blocked Chick-fil-A from its airport, two more cities announced similar bills.
Moving forward, the company will focus on annual grants, Tassopoulos said, which will be reviewed and renewed on a year-by-year basis.
