Chick-fil-A Will No Longer Act as a Shield for Hateful People

Photo credit: Erik McGregor - Getty Images
Photo credit: Erik McGregor - Getty Images

From Esquire

Where do you start when you find out that your fast food nemesis is no longer a heel?

First off, I'm grateful for the years-long animosity I had towards Chick-fil-A, because without it, I never would have found an unproblematic favorite in Zaxby's. But now I live in New York, far away from the numerous chicken-fried options of the South, where there's essentially just KFC, Popeyes, and Chick-fil-A at my disposal. It's been a rough journey. On Monday though, for the first time ever, I was free to enjoy the delicious, Southern fried chicken of my choosing. Chick-fil-A announced that its charitable arm will stop donating to the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, thus ending its involvement with organizations with anti-LGBT ties.

In a press release, the company announced, "We made multiyear commitments to both organizations, and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018. Moving forward you will see that the Chick-fil-A Foundation will support the three specific initiatives of homelessness, hunger and education." Chick-fil-A donated; now it's done. Times really are changing—in the past year alone, Chick-fil-A lost the "chicken war" to apolitical contender Popeyes' viral chicken sandwich. As wild as it sounds, it's just not cool or profitable to donate to anti-LGBTQ organizations. Chicken is for all, y'all.

But with every step forward, moves like the one Chick-fil-A made on Monday highlight the people being left behind. In this case, those people are the ones who really had no stake in Chick-fil-A's business model at all. For instance, former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch spoke up for no fucking reason other than to let everyone know what a shame it is that this is happening.

Mike Huckabee followed suit to remind everyone he created a holiday for a chain restaurant based on its poor treatment of gay people, which he now regrets, apparently, because if you're not hurting people, how are you helping God?

And then there was this potential flub from a former Chick-fil-A vice president, who appeared to like a tweet about Chick-fil-A's decision that read: "*ucking f*** always complaining." Classic Dee Ann.

These responses are absolutely wild, because to go back and highlight a certain part of the press release, the company affirmed it will expand its involvement with two charities that address homelessness and education, and regarding hunger, it said, "We will support more than 120 communities by dedicating $25,000 to a local food bank at each new Chick-fil-A opening."

This shift in charitable culture puts Chick-fil-A directly to work alongside banks that are hopefully more interested in serving their local communities than monitoring political stances. So, to be clear, that puts the likes of Huckabee and Loesch in a very specific position. Either they didn't take the time to read the entire press release (honestly, very likely), or in their eyes, faith-based rage comes before faith-based acts (sadly, even more likely).

Photo credit: Boston Globe - Getty Images
Photo credit: Boston Globe - Getty Images

And if we're quoting the Bible, which a certain type of Christian bigot loves to do until you start quoting the Bible, Isaiah 58:10 states: "If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." Notice there's no parenthetical about except those queers, in which case, pass. Christianity didn't lose any ground on Monday because of Chick-fil-A's decision, but it did lose ground because people co-opted its message to propagate discrimination. The moral good prevailed, but not without being convoluted with moral superiority.

Time will tell if Chick-fil-A's big move is a permanent fix. It's not like the company came out draped in a rainbow flag. It merely said that it was exiting long-term charitable deals with organizations with discriminatory pasts, and that moving forward, it will work with both faith-based and non-faith-based organizations. But the outrage that followed proved that this debate was never really about morals. It was about giving certain people an outlet to weaponize Christianity under the guise of fast food—and now, those same people have to stand in their own truth, without the shield of Chick-fil-A's "Christian" morality.

Chick-fil-A took a step into the light, and hateful people lost another integral pillar holding up their Christianity of the dark days. Moral superiority isn't what this religion was founded upon, and damn it, fried chicken wasn't founded upon it, either. I look forward to the day when both are freed from these chains.

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