In
a letter addressed to Alderman Moreno and signed by Chick-fil-A’s
Senior Director of Real Estate, it states, “The WinShape Foundations is
now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping,
and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not
supporting organizations with political agendas.” In meetings the
company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay
organizations, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization
for Marriage.
Additionally,
they have sent an internal memo to franchisees and stakeholders that
stated that, as a company, they will “treat every person with honor,
dignity and respect-regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual
orientation and gender,” and that their “intent is not to engage in
political or social debates.” This statement was placed into an
official company document called “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are.”
“We
are very pleased with this outcome and thank Alderman Moreno for his
work on this issue,” said Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda. “I think the most important part of this outcome is
that Chick-fil-A has ceased their donations to anti-gay groups in 2011
and going forward. With some of the groups that they were donating to
being classified as hate groups, and others actively trying to halt the
movement toward full civil rights for LGBT people, Chick-fil-A has taken
a big step forward. We are encouraged by their willingness to serve
all people and ensure their profits are not used to fight against a
minority community that is still trying to gain full and equal civil
rights.”
“Although
we are encouraged by their internal statement, we still would like for
the company to adopt an anti-discrimination policy at the corporate
level,” said Rick Garcia, policy advisor for The
Civil Rights Agenda. “It is one thing for a company to say they respect
everyone they serve and employ, it is quite another for them to put
that into their policies and demand that all employees adhere to that
behavior. As we have heard from gay employees that work for
Chick-fil-A, there is a culture of discrimination within the company and
we would like to ensure that employees can speak out and call attention
to those practices without fear of reprisal. It takes time to change
the culture of any institution and steps like a corporate policy ensure
that progress is made.”
