Yes, Chick-fil-A Is Still Doing Harm to the Queer Community

Chick-fil-A's billionaire owner Dan Cathy is still funding anti-LGBTQ+ efforts despite multiple pledges to stop and is reportedly one of the people behind one of "the most sophisticated dark money operations" ever seen.

That "dark money operation," run through the charitable National Christian Foundation (NCF), is one of the main barriers to the Equality Act passing, according to a new report from The Daily Beast, and is also funded by people like former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the owners of Hobby Lobby.

President Biden had promised to pass the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity protections to existing federal civil rights legislation, in his first 100 days. But after it was passed by the House, the bill has stalled in the Senate.

Back in April, it was reported that Democratic senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia was leaning towards voting against the bill because he had received a massive amount of calls from conservative Christian groups urging him to vote "no." He said calls about the Equality Act have been "a thousand to one" against it, and efforts like this are paid for by the NCF.

Another way the NCF supports anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is by funding the Alliance Defending Freedom (an organization designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) who is at least partially responsible for many of the anti-trans bills introduced across the country this year and is also behind many lawsuits filed by Christian business owners seeking the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ customers.

In 2018, the NCF gave over six and a half million dollars to the ADF.

In one way, Cathay did keep his word. It seems as though the Chick-fil-A Foundation has possibly stopped funding anti-LGBTQ+ efforts, but Cathy has instead ramped up his donations to the groups as a private citizen.

So, even though Cathy promised the company wouldn't be funding any more anti-LGBTQ+ organizations back in 2019, it seems like his profits from the incredibly popular chicken fast-food chain are still being used to do exactly that.

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