Liberty Counsel on Chick-fil-A’s Not-So-Slow Fade

“There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are,” Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Tassopoulos said in an exclusive interview with Bisnow. “There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”

Tassopoulos’ statement came in response to Chick-fil-A’s global expansion and plans to change its current philanthropic structure and focus to three initiatives: education, homelessness and hunger. However, Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to the Salvation Army, Paul Anderson Youth Home, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (all of which successfully address one or more of these three initiatives) because they have been “characterized as anti-LGBT groups” by LGBT activists for their position that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. In fact, to be clear about its message, Chick-fil-A proudly stated it will support Covenant House International, which promotes an aggressive LGBT agenda.

Covenant House, which is much smaller than the Salvation Army (in only 31 cities), is an LGBT activist organization that celebrates homosexuality and “transgenderism.” Tassopoulos states: “This provides more focus and more clarity.” This clarity reveals the drastic change in Chick-fil-A’s direction, which many have called a betrayal of the Christian community. Instead of funding Christian organizations that believe in marriage between one man and one woman, Chick-fil-A now funds organizations that advocate the opposite.

The founder of Covenant House, a Catholic priest, was sued for allegedly sexually abusing youth who were seeking shelter and food. Covenant House now considers itself to be secular. Covenant House proudly promotes LGBT on its website, referring to “LGBTQ Inclusion Initiatives,” and even does an “inclusion assessment” at every one of its facilities. Covenant House also proudly supports the New York City Gay Pride parade with its own float, banners, t-shirts, and hashtag #CovUnity. Covenant House is recognized as a national funder of LGBT causes and even supported a drag queen story hour in New York. In addition, Covenant House does not stop at LGBT activism, it also takes girls to abortion clinics in vans that prominently display the Covenant House name.

All of the U.S. and Canadian Covenant House programs partner with Cyndi Lauper’s organization, True Colors, to insure they are fully on board with the LGBT agenda. To work there, employees must affirm “transgenderism” and homosexual practices as part of a young person’s “authentic self” and help create “a welcoming environment for LGBTQ youth by using visual cues like safe space stickers, all gender restroom signs, and pronoun buttons.” Upon arrival to Covenant House, everyone must declare the pronouns by which they want to be known, thereby coercing all others to accept faux “transgender” identity through mandatory speech. Covenant House also utilizes The Inclusion Toolkit that “walks you through the process of creating a more inclusive and affirming environment for young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) and will also equip you with the policies and tools to back it up.”

In retrospect, Chick-fil-A’s change has been ongoing for several years. In 2012, Chairman and CEO Dan Cathy, whose family-run company was started by his father, Truett Cathy, publicly expressed during a radio interview that marriage is between a man and a woman — “the biblical definition of the family unit.” His statements stirred controversy among LGBT activists. As a result, Governor Mike Huckabee created a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on August 1, 2012. People across the country flocked to the restaurant that day, not primarily because of the fast-food chain’s chicken sandwiches, but because of its CEO’s vocal support of traditional marriage. Following Chick-fil-A’s public statement setting forth Covenant House to illustrate its current direction, Huckabee now regrets he promoted Chick-fil-A.

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SOURCE: Liberty Counsel