Issues arose between Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community in June 2012, after Dan T. Cathy, the fast food restaurant's chief executive officer, made a series of public comments opposing same-sex marriage. This followed reports that Chick-fil-A's charitable endeavor, the S. Truett Cathy-operated WinShape Foundation, had donated millions of dollars to organizations seen by LGBT activists as hostile to LGBT rights. Activists called for protests and boycotts, while supporters of the restaurant chain and opponents of same-sex marriage ate there in support of the restaurant. National political figures both for and against the actions spoke out and some business partners severed ties with the chain.
The outcome of the initial controversy was mixed, as Chick-fil-A's sales rose twelve percent to $4.6 billion in the period immediately following the controversy; this was largely attributed to former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's counter-boycott launched in support of the restaurant. However, the company's public image and standing with the LGBT community was damaged, with the chain facing criticism and condemnation from politicians and gay rights activists, as well as efforts by activists and political officials to ban the restaurant from college campuses, airports, and elsewhere. Chick-fil-A released a statement in July 2012 stating, "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena." In March 2014, tax filings for 2012 showed the group stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
In 2017, tax filings showed that the groups supported by Chick-fil-A expanded to include The Salvation Army, which has been seen as counter to LGBTQ rights. In November 2019, Chick-fil-A announced that it would not make contributions in 2020 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Salvation Army. They did not establish any criteria for corporate donations that would rule out future contributions to groups criticized as anti-LGBTQ.
History
Group contributions from opponents of LGBT causes
The WinShape Foundation, a charitable endeavor of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy and his family, stated that it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the WinShape Foundation in 2010. Equality Matters, an LGBT watchdog group, published reports of donations by WinShape to organizations that Equality Matters considers anti-gay, including $2 million in 2009, $1.9 million in 2010 and a total of $5 million since 2003, including grants to the Family Research Council and Georgia Family Council. WinShape contributed grants to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Exodus International, an organization noted for supporting ex-gay conversion therapy.The Marriage and Family Foundation received $994,199 in 2009 and $1,188,380 in 2010. The Family Research Council, an organization listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in winter 2010, received $1000.
In January 2011, the media reported that the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against striking down Proposition 8 in California (see Perry v. Brown). The PFI lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Responding on its official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said that support of the PFI retreat had come from a local franchisee, stating "We have determined that one of our independent restaurant operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars."
Tax filings for 2012 showed that Chick-fil-A created a new foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, to provide grants to outside groups. It funded only one previously funded group, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Other filings for WinShape Foundation showed no funding for groups opposed to LGBT causes.
Statements by Dan Cathy
On June 16, 2012, while on the syndicated radio talk show, The Ken Coleman Show, Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer (COO) Dan Cathy stated:
The following month, on July 2, Biblical Recorder published an interview with Dan Cathy, who was asked about opposition to his company's "support of the traditional family." He replied: "Well, guilty as charged." Cathy continued: