Isn't Chick-fil-A delicious?
My favorite sauce is the Polynesian, but the honey mustard is a passable second. It's pretty much all you hear about at Upstein: the sandwiches, the nuggets, the distinctive waffle fries (all coupled, of course, with complaints that the chain is closed on Sundays). NYU students are blissfully unaware, however, of the chain's record of financially supporting bigotry and hate.
The story broke when it was reported that Chick-fil-A donated free lunches to an anti-gay marriage conference in Pennsylvania. But a quick examination of the fast food giant's record shows that its ties to the radical Evangelical movement are much deeper than a few pro bono lunches. Never mind that Chick-fil-A has settled suits brought by workers alleging that they are required to pray together and have been questioned about their church involvement and marital status — simply follow the money train and decide if you want to continue to support the chain's contribution to hate.
The restaurant itself has worked with Focus on the Family (a far-right Christian nonprofit) to distribute bible CDs in its children's meals; additionally, Chick-fil-A has even donated to Focus on the Family — an organization which publicly supports corporal punishment (that's right, let's hit our kids to make 'em learn) and opposes equal rights for women, as well as homosexuality, pornography, gambling and premarital sex. The far-right group also actively works to have creationism taught alongside evolution in science classrooms and has been publicly condemned by the Anti-Defamation League for comparing some of President Obama's policies to Nazism.
Furthermore, Focus on the Family perpetuates the medically-condemned practice of psychologically pressuring teens in an attempt to "turn them straight."
Unfortunately for our stomachs, it gets worse. Chick-fil-A's WinShape Foundation — wholly funded by the dollars you and I spend on our sandwiches — works closely with the National Organization for Marriage, the group that helped lead the anti-gay marriage agenda in California during Proposition 8. And Chick-fil-A's CEO himself, Bubba Cathy, is the leader of the Marriage CoMission, a group that includes well-known anti-gay activists David Blankenhorn and Maggie Gallagher.
And if that wasn't enough, the head of WinShape praised the Marriage CoMission for doing "a masterful job articulating the argument against [same-sex equality]. ... [W]e can get that message into the culture more effectively." If this all seems a bit far-fetched and you don't believe me, it's on tape.
I'm not calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-A, nor am I saying that they should be kicked off campus, which students at other universities are attempting to do. But at a university known for its social progressivism, students have the right to know where their dining money is going.
