Chick-Fil-A Has Given $1.1 Million to Anti-Gay Groups

The anti-gay narrative around the restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is about to intensify in a major way.

Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A came under fire after a franchise in Pennsylvania decided to give a substantial donation to an event organized by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, one of the leading anti-gay groups in the Keystone State and an ardent opponent of marriage equality.  Soon after that news broke, bloggers like Jeremy Hooper at Good As You noted that Chick-fil-A's charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation,had hosted retreats for some of the most virulent anti-gay groups in the country, including the National Organization for Marriage, Focus on the Family, the Ruth Institute and more.

Now an in-depth investigation from Equality Matters finds that Chick-fil-A has given over $1.1 million to anti-gay groups around the country, and has employment practices that are hostile toward "sinful" candidates. Talk about a fowl discovery, sure to make Chick-fil-A among the most anti-gay businesses in the entire United States.

According to Equality Matters, Chick-fil-A has given sizable amounts of money to the following groups, all of which oppose civil rights for same-sex couples:

• National Christian Foundation: $631,600
• Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
• Serving Marriages, Inc.: $15,000
• Alliance Defense Fund: $5,000
• Christian Camp And Conference Association: $5,000
• Campus Crusade for Christ: $2,850
• Georgia Family Council: $2,000
• Family Research Council: $1,000

These organizations all have intensely anti-gay standpoints, principles or mission statements. Take the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, whose founder has said: "God freed some people from homosexuality, sexual sins, addictions and even ushered newcomers into His Kingdom."

Or take the Alliance Defense Fund, which believes that religious people should be at war with the LGBT rights agenda, and recently said: "[LGBT Equality] is the principal threat to your religious freedom."

Or take the Family Research Council, whose anti-gay agenda was considered so violent and extreme, that it was dubbed an official hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Wow. If you're partly defined by the company you keep -- not to mention the organizations that benefit from your largesse -- than Chick-fil-A is in bed with practically every major player in the anti-gay industry. Their president, Dan Cathy, continues to insist that his company has nothing against LGBT people. But Chick-fil-A's corporate donations certainly seem to say otherwise.

Check out the entire report over at Equality Matters, and also make sure to check out their section on Chick-fil-A's employment policies, where they note that Dan Cathy prefers employees who don't engage in "sinful" lifestyles.

And if you're on a college campus with a Chick-fil-A, keep up the pressure to hold Chick-fil-A accountable for their anti-gay agenda. Because every time you spend money on a chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A, you're helping line the pockets of hate groups like the Family Research Council, or groups that believe you can be "freed" from homosexuality. And no chicken sandwich or waffle fry tastes that good to support this kind of agenda.

Photo credit: Chick-fil-A Facebook

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.