Georgia-based restaurant chain
Chick-Fil-A says a recent donation to an anti-gay marriage group was
part of an effort to serve “ALL of our customers with honor,
dignity and respect.”
The response comes after gay
website GoodAsYou.org blogged about the chicken restaurant's
sponsorship of a marriage seminar closely associated with the
anti-gay marriage group Pennsylvania Family Institute, which prompted
the group to scrub Chick-Fil-A's participation off the website
promoting the one-day event.
In
a statement posted Thursday on Facebook, Chick-Fil-A denied
corporate sponsorship of the event.
“As our fans, you know we do our best
to serve our local communities and one of the way we do that is by
providing food to schools, colleges, civic groups, businesses, places
of worship, not-for-profit groups, etc. At his discretion, the local
[Pennsylvania] operator agreed to simply provide a limited amount of
food. Our Chick-Fil-A operators and their employees try very hard
every day to go the extra mile in serving ALL our customers with
honor, dignity and respect.”
Michael Geer, president of the
Pennsylvania Family Institute, echoed a similar sentiment.
Geer said the restaurants were simply
trying to “be good neighbors.”
“We didn't even get any money,”
Geer
told the Christian Post.
Geer went on to chide the gay media –
specifically mentioning GoodAsYou.org and On Top Magazine –
for suggesting that Chick-Fil-A's corporate office supported the
event.
“Geer expressed 'disappointment' at
online publications that would try to taint the meaningful event,”
the Christian Post wrote.