Chick-fil-A Halts Donations to 3 Christian Charities

Chain moves away from anti-gay marriage groups
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 19, 2019 3:06 AM CST
Chick-fil-A Ends Donations to Groups Against Gay Marriage
A Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

Chick-fil-A is ending donations to three groups that oppose gay marriage in an effort to halt protests and broaden its customer base. But the move has angered some of the fast food chain's fans. The Atlanta-based company said Monday that starting next year, it will focus its giving on three areas: hunger, homelessness, and education, the AP reports. "This decision was made to create more clarity—and to better address three critical needs facing children across the communities Chick-fil-A serves," the company said in a statement. Chick-fil-A President Tim Tassopoulos said the company—which is closed on Sundays—will still consider donations to faith-based groups. The company wouldn’t say whether it will consider an organization’s position on gay rights before donating.

But in the meantime, it doesn’t plan to continue its support of three groups that oppose gay marriage. In 2017 and 2018, the Chick-fil-A Foundation gave $2.4 million to the Missouri-based Fellowship of Christian Athletes for sports camps for underserved youth and $165,000 to the Salvation Army to buy Christmas gifts for needy children. The foundation also gave $6,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Homes. Chick-fil-A's decision to no longer support the groups angered some conservatives, who say they stood by the restaurant in 2012 when CEO Dan Cathy said in several interviews that he didn’t support gay marriage. "They surrendered to anti-Christian hate groups. Tragic," Mike Huckabee tweeted. (The chain's only restaurant in Britain didn't last long.)

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