Sometimes, the good guys win

It looks like the bad publicity and boycott of Chic-fil-A may have worked. In negotiating with Chicago to open stores in that city, Chic-fil-A appears to have agreed to stop sponsoring hate groups like Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage. And note that this result comes despite Mike Huckabee’s “eat at Chic-fil-A and support bigotry against gays” day a few weeks ago.

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.

“We are very pleased with this outcome and thank Alderman Moreno for his work on this issue,” said Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda. “I think the most substantive part of this outcome is that Chick-fil-A has ceased donating to organizations that promote discrimination, specifically against LGBT civil rights. It has taken months of discussion, both with our organization and with the Alderman, for Chick-fil-A to come forward with these concessions and we feel this is a strong step forward for Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community, although it is only a step.”

If they’ve truly changed, and time will tell, then I’ll be glad to patronize them again.