This past Monday, Nov 18, Chick-Fil-A made an official announcement stating that they would no longer be supporting and donating to the Salvation Army nor the FCA, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This decision comes along with their plan to reform their donation process. In this reform, they plan to focus and donate their money to organizations that primarily focus on either the hungry, the homeless, or education. 

“I’m really shocked that they’re going to stop [donating to the anti-LGBTQ groups] especially because the founder of the company is very, very, very conservative and that’s why they don’t open on Sundays because they are so religious,” junior Sydney Reinoehl said. “I honestly wasn’t surprised when I heard they were donating to those [anti-LGBTQ] groups. If they’re going to stop, then that’s good, but that doesn’t affect my want to eat there.”

The reason why this change is making headlines is because of the long running controversy surrounding the anti-LGBTQ stance of Chick-Fil-A’s CEO Dan Cathy. Cathy, who has publicly admitted to being against same sex marriage back in 2012, and his food chain have long been criticized by the public, in regards to their beliefs and what organizations they donate to. Those organizations in question being the Salvation Army and the FCA.

 The Salvation Army and the FCA are both Christian organizations, the first being a charitable organization that collects clothes and supplies and provides services for the less fortunate and the latter being an organization focusing on athletes and coaches’ relationship to religion.

The two organizations have been accused of being anti-LGBTQ and receiving backlash. Both organizations have stated at one point that they follow the Christian belief that same-sex marriage is immoral, although, the Salvation Army has since tried explaining that they do not discriminate against the LGBTQ community on their website. Despite this, many people still consider the Salvation Army anti-LGBTQ.  

“I support the LGBTQ community, but when I’m at Chick-Fil-A I’m starving and I don’t really think about it.” freshman Maya Mann said, “If I could choose not to, then yeah I try to avoid it.”

After news broke of the food chain’s stance on the LGBTQ community, many customers and people were angered. There were several protests at various locations in the US. The protests even spread to a Chick-Fil-A store located in Toronto, Canada, with people rallying against the chain on the opening day of the restaurant.

Among those protesting, there were also airports. Both the Buffalo, New York and San Antonio, Texas airport have banned any Chick-Fil-A’s in their terminals.

Although many people are showing their approval of this decision to reform their donating policy, there is still a large amount of people left unhappy with the new change. Many Christians and Conservatives are outraged, feeling as though Chick-Fil-A has sold themselves out to the left wing or liberals and are betraying the company’s Christian values.

Among those who’re unhappy with this decision, there’s also some individuals who believe Chick-Fil-A is only making this change to save face, rather than having a genuine wanting to stop supporting the anti-LGBT organizations. 

Despite all of the protests and boycotts against Chick-Fil-A, the large food chain still holds the position of the third most successful food chain, raking in about $10.5 billion last year. The chain trails behind McDonald’s and Starbucks, both of which aren’t unfamiliar to controversy. 

The fact that Chick-Fil-A was still one of the top fast food chains in 2018, proves that whether or not they’re donating to these allegedly anti-LGBTQ organizations, people will still continue to eat there.