It appears Chick-fil-A is working to repair years of damage between the Atlanta-based company and the LGBT community much to the dismay of their base.
Chick-fil-A is catching major heat online from conservatives for their role as sponsors of LGBT film festival “Level Ground.” Billed as the world’s first film festival connecting lesbian, gay and transgender sexuality with faith, Chick-fil-A’s role as sponsors has spurred a a change.org petition demanding an official response and clarification of the company’s “corporate stance regarding previously stated Christian values on marriage and stewardship.”
The petition has been signed by nearly 650 supporters with a goal of 1,000 at press time.
The Advocate warns not to get too excited about Chick-fil-A’s move towards embracing LGBT people:
Just hours after the article went live, a spokesperson for the Southern Baptist, family-owned fast food chain swiftly issued a clarification, telling Eater Chick-fil-A itself was never a sponsor of “Level Ground.” The actual sponsor is a franchise owner in Nashville. A similar case happened last November when a Hollywood franchise donated 20 percent of its one-day proceeds to the LGBT student group, Campus Pride.
A Chick-fil-A representative told Eater, “The operators make decisions on local sponsorships.”
Chick-fil-A first caught the ire of gay customers in 2012 when CEO Dan Cathy alienated just about everyone who wasn’t a straight evangelical homophobe when he responded “guilty as charged” to a question posed by a Baptist state newspaper editor about the company’s support for groups that oppose same-sex marriage.