Free Republic

A Chicago alderman says Chick-fil-A's president is publicly contradicting what company executives personally assured him for months -- that the fast-food chain is changing its stance on gay marriage -- and he asked the company Sunday to clarify. Alderman Joe Moreno made news last week when he announced Chick-fil-A has ceased making donations to anti-gay groups and has enacted workplace protections for its employees against discrimination. Moreno said the two concessions were the result of 10 months of negotiations he had with Chick-fil-A executives as he weighed whether to support a new Chick-fil-A restaurant in his Chicago ward. He said...

Chick-fil-A has cleared up rumors that it has revised its charitable donation policy to exclude "anti-gay" groups. The fast-food chain's president told Fox News host Mike Huckabee that it has not made any "concessions" and remains committed to strengthening families. "There continues to be erroneous implications in the media that Chick-fil-A changed our practices and priorities in order to obtain permission for a new restaurant in Chicago," Cathy told Huckabee. "That is incorrect. Chick-fil-A made no such concessions, and we remain true to who we are and who we have been." On Wednesday, Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno – along with...

ATLANTA (BP) -- Following reports that Chick-fil-A had agreed to stop funding certain traditional family groups in order to get approval for a new Chicago restaurant, company President Dan Cathy said Friday the restaurant made no concessions and "we remain true to who we are." Cathy's statement, posted on Mike Huckabee's website, came one day after the company released its own statement saying that its corporate giving has "been mischaracterized" for many months and that it will continue to fund programs that "strengthen and enrich marriages." Said Cathy, "There continues to be erroneous implications in the media that Chick-fil-A changed...

DALLAS — Until Wednesday, SMU’s SPECTRUM was planning on launching a 13-week boycott of the on-campus Chick-fil-A. As a member, I intended on participating in the boycott. However, on Wednesday morning, the company announced that it has stopped donating money to anti-gay hate groups, such as the Family Research Council and Exodus International. The donations were the cause of the LGBT community’s ire this summer. Chick-fil-A also issued a “Who We Are” internal memo declaring that its company tradition “is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”...

August was a busy month at Chick-fil-A headquarters in Atlanta, especially when it came to the topic of gay marriage. On Wednesday, a Chicago alderman had dropped his objections to the first standalone Chick-fil-A restaurant in his city, after the fast-food franchise persuaded him that it had withdrawn from the political battle over same-sex marriage. Several weeks of negotiations with Chick-fil-A executives had produced internal company guidelines that prohibit discrimination in hiring and customer service. Alderman Joe Moreno also said that, in August, executives of the family-held firm also opened the books of Chick-fil-A’s charitable foundation, to prove that it...

The successful business leaders that sit on the Chicago Board of Education must have checked their brains at the door when they went into the negotiating room with the teachers union. How else could they possibly negotiate a contract that the school district can’t possibly afford? Truth be told, if board member Penny Pritzker’s Hyatt Hotels operated that way, they’d be out of business. But, alas, this is government. They strike deals with unions and figure out how taxpayers will fund it later. Reuters tells us: “Chicago public school teachers returned to their classrooms on Wednesday but thorny questions remained...

This Wednesday, I reported that the media were falsely reporting that Chick-fil-A had decided to cease donations to “anti-gay” groups. Scores of so-called reputable news outlets like the Los Angeles Times and ABC News ran headlines declaring that Chick-fil-A had changed its policy toward giving to anti-gay groups. Yesterday, Chick-fil-A set the record straight, saying that their corporate giving has been “mischaracterized” and calling out “events from Chicago this week that have once again resulted in questions around our giving”: A part of our corporate commitment is to be responsible stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. Because...

This Wednesday, I reported that the media were falsely reporting that Chick-fil-A had decided to cease donations to “anti-gay” groups. Scores of so-called reputable news outlets like the Los Angeles Times and ABC News ran headlines declaring that Chick-fil-A had changed its policy toward giving to anti-gay groups. Yesterday, Chick-fil-A set the record straight, saying that their corporate giving has been “mischaracterized” and calling out “events from Chicago this week that have once again resulted in questions around our giving”: A part of our corporate commitment is to be responsible stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. Because of...

In response to media reports that Chick-fil-A has agreed to stop making charitable donations to groups like Focus on the Family, the company today released a statement to set the record straight. Contrary to reports first made by the gay-activist group The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) on Tuesday and later picked up by mainstream media outlets, Chick-fil-A and its charitable-giving arm, the WinShape Foundation, did not agree to stop making donations to groups that support the biblical definition of marriage in exchange for being allowed to open a franchise in Chicago. “For many months now, Chick-fil-A’s corporate giving has been...

All that support we gave them (setting a one-day sales record) and this is how they repay us? Caving in so they could open a single store in Chicago.Via Washington Times: Chick-fil-A stopped funding traditional-marriage groups in an effort to open a new Chicago restaurant, but the company initially kept quiet about the decision, prompting gay rights groups to speculate that the company feared a backlash from conservative customers.The Christian-rooted fast food restaurant agreed to stop funding groups such as Focus on the Family that oppose same-sex marriage in a meeting with the Chicago politician who had been blocking the...

(Associated Posers) - Chick-fil-A came to terms with Chicago aldermen and has come away making changes to it's founders stand for traditional marriage. The College Park, Georgia-based company says that it will no longer bar gay chickens from being used to make it's chicken sandwiches. "All of our tests have determined that gay chickens taste just like chicken" the company said in a press release cheered by homosexual activist groups. "Therefore there is no longer a policy against the use of gay chickens for our delicious meals". A month ago supporters of the chicken chain clogged roads to break sales...

“Gay” media organizations and the mainstream press have headlined over the last two days Chick-fil-A’s “change” that they claim means the company suddenly is promising not to discriminate against homosexuals – and that it would stop giving money to those organizations that promote traditional marriage. But it appears the facts are that the company’s anti-discrimination policy remains just as it was months ago .. and its donations appear to have had no new directive applied. It was a statement from The Civil Rights Agenda that prompted the recent headlines. The statement said of the Cathy family’s foundation, the WinShape Foundation,...

For many months now, Chick-fil-A’s corporate giving has been mischaracterized. And while our sincere intent has been to remain out of this political and social debate, events from Chicago this week have once again resulted in questions around our giving. For that reason, we want to provide some context and clarity around who we are, what we believe and our priorities in relation to corporate giving. For a better understanding of our corporate giving, please see the attached document titled “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are”. This is the same document provided and referred to in coverage surrounding Chicago http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Media/PDF/who-we-are.pdf

After enduring a major public-relations tsunami this summer, Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based sandwich shop that’s closed on Sundays, says it will end its decade-long corporate support of culture-warrior groups that oppose gay marriage. "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. Its charitable arm, WinShape Foundations, gave $2 million to gay-marriage opponents such as Focus on the Family in 2010 alone, according to ABC News. The news emerged from Chicago, from the office of city Alderman Joe Moreno, who helped drive the controversy...

In a letter addressed to Alderman Moreno and signed by Chick-fil-A’s Senior Director of Real Estate, it states, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.” Winshape, a non-profit funded by Chick-fil-a, has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT groups, including some classified as hate groups, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage. In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations. But...

The seeds of chaos were planted in July when Chick-fil-A President Dan Kathy appeared on a radio show and publicly stated that his company opposes same-sex marriage. It didn’t take long for his statements to reverberate throughout the nation, with civil rights groups, media outlets and the public at large responding feverishly. This, teamed with the angst that was already created months before over Chick-fil-A’s past donations to groups that support the traditional family unit, created a furor. With the dust having finally settled, a shocking report from a Chicago-based gay rights group claims that the fast food chain has...

After sparking anger nationwide by vocally supporting the fight against same-sex marriage, the Chick-fil-A fast-food chain has reportedly agreed to halt giving money to groups that seek to ban the practice. The chain's president and son of its founder, Dan Cathy, sparked the furor in July, when he gave an interview to a Christian radio program in which he said "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'" He later said, "We want to do anything we possibly...

Chicago alderman who made national headlines during the summer for opposing a Chick-fil-A in his increasingly trendy Northwest Side ward has reversed course, saying he will let the fast-food chain open a store in Logan Square. Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno, 1st, said the restaurant has agreed to include a statement of respect for all sexual orientations in an internal document and promised that its not-for-profit arm would not contribute money to groups that oppose gay marriage. Though Moreno said he scored a "big win," the company made nearly identical pledges in a July 19 Facebook post that went up even...

It was reported recently in this paper — and opined on — that there are students upset over Chick-fil-A being served on campus. First, Chick-fil-A does not have any history of discrimination; rather, it treats its customers and employees with the utmost respect. And, contrary to what one columnist wrote, Chick-fil-A as a company has no policy regarding marriage; it was its CEO who expressed his beliefs. And for that, not only Mr. Cathy but the entire company has been demonized. (Might I point out — the belief held by Mr. Cathy on marriage is the exact same position held...

I'm tired of homosexuals trying to coerce people into accepting their ignorant view of sexual reality. Their attacks on the Chick-Fil-A chain simply because the CEO says homosexual marriage is wrong. is unjustified bullying. Homosexuals need to accept the fact that many people believe what they do is immoral and that same sex marriage is wrong. Most of us do things that some people believe are morally wrong. A billion people believe that what I do for breakfast every day is wrong. Muslims and Jews as well as members of some other religions believe eating pork is morally wrong. Some...