Stunning move outrages Christian bigots

AN ANNOUNCEMENT by US fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A that it is to stop funding the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has stunned and outraged bigots who fervently supported the faith-based company’s long-standing opposition to LGBT rights.

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Among furious Christian commentators is the deranged Christian writer Rod Dreher, above.

Beneath the headline “Chick-Fil-A Surrenders to LGBT Bullies”, Dreher, writing for The American Conservative said in a lengthy rant:

I despise the LGBT bullies, but I’m not letting Chick-fil-A’s leadership off the hook …

Shame on you, Chick-fil-A. You had no reason to capitulate. You have successfully resisted the mob for years, and built a booming business in spite of it! But capitulate you did. I love Chick-fil-A, but it’s going to be a while before I go there again. This is nothing but gutless surrender.

And it’s a lesson to all of us. The LGBT lobby, and their progressive allies, will never, ever leave you alone. Never. You watch: within five years, Chick-fil-A will be embracing woke advertising campaigns.

Just this morning, I was looking across the breakfast table at my kids’ cereal box, saw this rainbow, and wondered why Honey Nut Cheerios had gone gay.

Meanwhile, over at LifeSiteNews, Calvin Freiburger squealed:

For years Chick-fil-A has risen in the fast-food ranks thanks in no small part to its proud Christian identity. But in a stunning reversal, the chicken restaurant announced Monday that it will end charitable donations to several Christian groups branded by pro-LGBT activists as ‘anti-gay’.

For years, LGBT activists have attempted to brand Chick-fil-A as ‘hateful’ due to CEO Dan Cathy’s stated opposition to same-sex ‘marriage’ and the company’s donations to social conservative groups such as Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.

But while the company has no shortage of detractors in politics and media, the complaints have fallen on deaf ears among actual customers.

Freiburger ends by publishing the contact details of the company, and urges Christians to voice their complaints.

What put a spike up Dreher and Freiburger’s arses is a Monday statement from the company that sent shockwaves through the ranks of True Believers™. It announced it was making a major change to perhaps the most controversial part of the company: its charitable-giving arm.

The company said it would:

Deepen its giving to a smaller number of organizations working exclusively in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger.

A Chick-fil-A representative confirmed that the company would no longer donate to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, two organisations that have been criticised by LGBTQ advocates.

The rep said:

We made multiyear commitments to both organizations, and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018. Moving forward you will see that the Chick-fil-A Foundation will support the three specific initiatives of homelessness, hunger and education.

According to Business Insider, Chick-fil-A has faced backlash for its donations and those of its top executives for years. Before 2012, Chick-fil-A made significant donations to right-wing and religious organisations known for lobbying against LGBTQ rights through the WinShape Foundation.

It stopped making donations to almost all of those controversial groups after facing backlash in 2012, when CEO Dan Cathy said he did not support same-sex marriage. However, the company continued its relationships with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army.

Rodney Bullard, the head of the Chick-fil-A Foundation, defended the donations in an interview with Business Insider earlier this year, saying they were:

Relevant and impactful in the community. For us, that’s a much higher calling than any political or cultural war that’s being waged.

The latest protest against the company took place last week. Dozens of students at West Linn High School in Oregon participated in a walk-out over the presence of a Chick-fil-A food truck at football games. The protest  was organised by the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

Last month the company’s first UK outlet was told that it was not welcome at a shopping mall in Reading, and that its six-month lease would not be renewed.