By Tim Darnell / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Chick-Fil-A has stopped donating to The Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, two organizations that have come under fire from LGBTQ activists.
The company told the Thomson Reuters Foundation it has stopped donating to the organizations Monday, according to CNBC.
“We made multiyear commitments to both organizations, and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018,” a Chick-fil-A spokeswoman said.
Chick-fil-A President and COO Tim Tassopoulos also told Bisnow the Paul Anderson Youth Home in Vidalia, Georgia, would no longer be funded by the company.
“There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are,” Tassopoulos told Bisnow. “There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”
Anderson, a Toccoa, Georgia, native, started the home after he won Olympic weightlifting gold in the 1956, Melbourne, Australia, games. In a statement released Monday afternoon, Chick-fil-A said it would give $9 million “in a more focused giving approach” to Junior Achievement; Covenant House International; and $25,000 to a local food bank at each new Chick-fil-A opening.
The company will also continue to provide scholarships to its employees.
In 2012, then-Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told a Baptist website the Atlanta-based restaurant chain is “guilty as charged” in its support of traditional marriage. Cathy is now CEO of the company, which has become the third-largest fast food chain in the nation and one that consistently ranks high on numerous customer-satisfaction surveys.
A Chick-fil-A restaurant that opened in the United Kingdom amid protests against the company’s opposition to same-sex marriage will close when its lease expires in 2020.
According to The Salvation Army’s website, it does not discriminate or refuse to provide services to gay and lesbian people seeking assistance, though it has joined in solidarity with other organizations that support the definition of “traditional marriage.”
