Fast food chain Chick-fil-A reportedly
donated $1.8 million in 2017 to groups opposed to LGBT rights.
Progressive blog Think
Progress reported on the donations last week.
The eatery's tax filings show that
Chick-fil-A donated to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Paul
Anderson Youth Home, and the Salvation Army.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes,
which received $1,653,416, requires its employees to promise they
will not engage in “homosexual acts,” while the Paul Anderson
Youth Home, which received $6,000, has described same-sex marriage as
“rage against Jesus Christ.”
The Salvation Army received $150,000
from Chick-fil-A. The Christian charitable organization has
previously fought against passage or asked to be exempt from state
and federal laws that protect LGBT rights. The group has denied that
it discriminates against the LGBT community.
(Related: Salvation
Army's George Hood: Gay unions go against God.)
On its website, Chick-fil-A stated that
it would no longer donate to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a
Christian home for troubled teens in Georgia. Chick-fil-A is
headquartered in Atlanta.
In 2012, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy
repeatedly came out against same-sex marriage, saying in an interview
with the Baptist Press, “Well, guilty as charged,” when
asked about his company's record of donating to groups opposed to
marriage equality.
(Related: Chick-fil-A's
Dan Cathy says gay marriage is “twisted stuff.”)
In a statement given to CBS News,
Chick-fil-A said that it was “inaccurate and misleading” to
suggest its giving “was done to support a political or
non-inclusive agenda.”