I'll leave it up to you fellow orgers to decide if this is a true sign of repentence OR it is just Chick-fil-A feeling sorry that they might be losing money.

http://news.yahoo.com/blo...tml?_esi=1

Chick-fil-A, the fast food chain that sparked a firestorm earlier this year after its president made public comments against same sex marriage, has agreed to stop funding anti-gay groups, a Chicago alderman says.

Joe Moreno, the alderman whose opposition of a proposed Chick-fil-A on Chicago's north side helped fuel the controversy, told the Chicago Tribune the company has pledged to include a statement of respect for all sexual orientations in a memo to staffers and has promised that the WinShape Foundations, its not-for-profit arm, would no longer contribute money to groups that oppose gay marriage.

The memo, "Chick-fil-A: Who We Are," will be distributed to all corporate employees and restaurant operators, encouraging them to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect--regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," Moreno said.

In a letter to the alderman, the company said WinShape is "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."

Since 2003, the non-profit has donated millions of dollars to groups that promote "traditional marriage," including as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage. According to the Civil Rights Agenda, a Chicago-based LGBT advocacy group that worked closely with Moreno, Chick-fil-A executives "clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations."

Earlier this year, Dan Cathy, Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer, said in a radio interview that "we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'"

"I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about," he said.

In an interview with the Baptist Press, Cathy doubled down on his stance against same-sex unions.

"Guilty as charged," Cathy said. "We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."

The comments sparked protests and counter-protests at Chick-fil-A stores.

The company, founded by Dan's father, Truett Cathy, in 1946, has a history of "unapologetic social conservatism," as the Daily Caller put it. All 1,608 of its stores are closed on Sundays, a day of rest for most Christians.

According to Queerty.com, the WinShape Foundation—Chick-fil-A's charitable arm—donated more than $1.1 million between 2003 and 2008 to anti-LGBT groups, doubling that amount to $2 million in 2009.

That's admirable and I'm glad.

I don't eat chicken or fast food anyway but it makes me happy they've decided to stop funding hate groups.

I agree, they made the right decision. Personally, I believe it was soley for financial reasons. I doubt the Christian Consevatives who founded this food chain all of a sudden had a change of heart towards Gays.

runphilrun said:

I agree, they made the right decision. Personally, I believe it was soley for financial reasons. I doubt the Christian Consevatives who founded this food chain all of a sudden had a change of heart towards Gays.

While I will likely never know, I'd like to believe they really didn't know how harmful groups like Focus on the Family are and after all the hullabaloo they investigated and realized that while they may not agree with gay marriage, they don't agree with the activities of those fringe anti-gay groups either. That their christian conscience didn't want to support that kind of hate.

It's not like they're suddenly donating to PFLAG or the Human Rights campaign and I don't think that's coming next.

Either way, hate groups get less money and support and that's a good thing.

I'd never eat at a restaurant that closes on Sundays for religious regions, but it's good that tolerant people can eat a meal there without worrying about funding terrorism.

Good for them. I doubt they lost too much money. But they can't control extremist groups so why affiliate and risk reputation.

I don't have any problem with Chick Fil A and their company views ... not until they show discrimation or disrespect in their service. Everybody is not going to believe the same thing...

I'm pretty sure it was for financial reasons. It's always about the bottom line.

I see them as fake and two faced, two things that I can't stand. When someone uses the "I really believe I'm doing what's right" excuse when they're accused of hate, ESPECIALLY if they are sincerely doing it for "religious" reasons, they don't back down. Their backing down just goes to show that their "religious" opposition to it was a damn lie and their REAL reason was hate. As far as I'm concerned, they can take their chicken straight out of the grease and shove it up their ass while it's still hot.

vainandy said:

I see them as fake and two faced, two things that I can't stand. When someone uses the "I really believe I'm doing what's right" excuse when they're accused of hate, ESPECIALLY if they are sincerely doing it for "religious" reasons, they don't back down. Their backing down just goes to show that their "religious" opposition to it was a damn lie and their REAL reason was hate. As far as I'm concerned, they can take their chicken straight out of the grease and shove it up their ass while it's still hot.

Truth has spoken. Hate and misunderstanding with the love of money which made this "change of heart" happened.

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

breese said:

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

Interesting. Shouldn't their believe in a god matter more than money? It's hypocritical.

Stymie said:

breese said:

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

Interesting. Shouldn't their believe in a god matter more than money? It's hypocritical.

I'm so sure. Like they're going to blow up the franchise just to prove a point.

Stymie said:

breese said:

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

Interesting. Shouldn't their believe in a god matter more than money? It's hypocritical.

Exactly!

breese said:

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

How are they going to go out of business. Their recent Klan Day when droves of people came out to support their hate shows that they aren't going to go out of business any time soon. No, their backing down comes from greed of wanting even more money and greed is not the work of God. Greed is the work of the devil.

vainandy said:

breese said:

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

How are they going to go out of business. Their recent Klan Day when droves of people came out to support their hate shows that they aren't going to go out of business any time soon. No, their backing down comes from greed of wanting even more money and greed is not the work of God. Greed is the work of the devil.

Exactly! They are full of shit and even with this, I am still never going to visit one of their restaurants.

vainandy said:

breese said:

Maybe...just maybe...they don't hate gays. Maybe they just believe in the word of God, and were willing to stick their necks out for it. As much as can be expected from a fast food franchise, anyway.

And maybe they're backing out of that because..they want to stay in business.

I think it's all very simple. Good for them, I say.

How are they going to go out of business. Their recent Klan Day when droves of people came out to support their hate shows that they aren't going to go out of business any time soon. No, their backing down comes from greed of wanting even more money and greed is not the work of God. Greed is the work of the devil.

I like your taste in music a lot vainandy and I hesitate to piss you off! But like I said, it's pretty simple. See my first post. We don't have any Chik-Fil-A's around here so I don't really know what their business is like, but I doubt the whole franchise is driven by simple greed. Profits, yes. And no, the last thing they want is to do is stir shit up all the time and devalue the brand. I wasn't a business major but that seems like pretty basic stuff.

Stymie said:

vainandy said:

How are they going to go out of business. Their recent Klan Day when droves of people came out to support their hate shows that they aren't going to go out of business any time soon. No, their backing down comes from greed of wanting even more money and greed is not the work of God. Greed is the work of the devil.

Exactly! They are full of shit and even with this, I am still never going to visit one of their restaurants.

Me neither. I have more respect for someone who will just tell me straight out... "Look motherfucker, I hate your damn guts".... so that I know right there that they are an enemy and so I won't be spending a dime of my money supporting them like a damn fool. I hate wolves in sheeps' clothing.

uPtoWnNY said:

I'm pretty sure it was for financial reasons. It's always about the bottom line.

runphilrun said:

I agree, they made the right decision. Personally, I believe it was soley for financial reasons. I doubt the Christian Consevatives who founded this food chain all of a sudden had a change of heart towards Gays.

Exactly! It took them long enough to notice that some LGBTs eat chicken sandwiches too.