Board Thread:Kart Kingdom/@comment-43536696-20191024130014/@comment-26810678-20191102143536

 "Chick-fil-A, the Georgia-based fast-food chain known for its juicy chicken sandwiches — and for its executives’ conservative strain of Christianity — has continued donating to anti-LGBTQ charities through its foundation despite claiming it had no political affiliation, ThinkProgress reports.

The Chick-fil-A Foundation donated more than $1.8 million to three groups with a history of anti-LGBTQ discrimination in 2017, according to recently released tax filings analyzed by ThinkProgress. That year, Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm gave $1,653,416 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a religious organization that requires its employees to refrain from “homosexual acts”; $150,000 to the Salvation Army, whichhas been accused of anti-LGBTQ discrimination and advocacy for years and whose media relations director once claimed gay people “deserve death”; and $6,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a Christian residential home that teaches young boys that same-sex marriage is a “rage against Jesus Christ and His values.”

These donations were made five years after Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy said the US was “inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and we say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.” Cathy’s comments prompted a nationwide boycott — as well as a counter-boycott, called “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” created by then-Fox News host Mike Huckabee — and an eventual apology from the company, which claimed it would “leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and the political arena.”

People weren’t just upset about Cathy’s comments; they were angry that the WinShape Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 1984 by Truett Cathy, Cathy’s father and the founder of Chick-fil-A, donated money to a number of anti-gay charities like the Marriage & Family Foundation, the Georgia Family Council, and Exodus International, a group that promotes conversion therapy. In response to the inevitable PR crisis caused by Cathy’s comments, the fast-food chain even promised to stop donating to anti-gay organizations, the Chicago-based advocacy group Civil Rights Agenda claimed.

But as ThinkProgress’s report shows, the company kept donating to anti-LGBTQ causes and charities. This news may not be surprising to those who are familiar with Chick-fil-A’s contentious history with the LGBTQ community.

In 2012, after the Civil Rights Agenda claimed Chick-fil-A had said it would no longer give money to anti-gay causes, the company declined to confirm whether that was true. “We have no agenda, policy, or position against anyone,” a spokesperson toldBuzzFeed at the time. “We have a 65-year history of providing hospitality for all people and, as a dedicated family business, serving and valuing everyone regardless of their beliefs or opinions.” Not present in that statement was any clarification on whether Chick-fil-A would keep donating to anti-gay causes.