Did Chick-fil-A Have a Change of Heart on Gay Rights?

Chicago alderman “Joe” Moreno and an area gay rights group called the Civil Rights Agenda now claim that they have helped convince the Chick-fil-A chain to stop donating money to anti-gay organizations through its assorted charity groups. Today Moreno said that he had recently concluded meetings with company executives that capped "10 months of negotiations with the company over concerns about fair and equal hiring and serving practices within the company." The restaurant has yet to release an official statement on the matter, but the story seems to fit with earlier narratives in which the company’s president held a private luncheon in Atlanta with activists and community leaders to discuss issues involving “diversity.” According to the Moreno statement and the CRA release, Chick-fil-A will soon publish an “internal memo” titled “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are” that advises employees and managers to “treat everyone with honor” regardless of race, creed or sexual orientation. At any rate, Moreno, who led the “negotiations”, seems to have made his peace with the poultry chain after acting as one of its most visible opponents and attempting to block the restaurant from opening a branch in his neighborhood. We want to believe this story, but until the company releases an official statement we can't quite be sure. We should also note that the supposed agreement seems to include little beyond a feel-good statement of purpose and a vague promise, but we guess that could be defined as "progress." Will the Chick-fil-A non-profit WinShape Foundations truly stop "supporting organizations with political agendas?" A move like that would eliminate a lot of groups who took money from the restaurant in the past, but Chick-fil-A could really use some good PR right now. CRA director Anthony Martinez said, “It has taken months of discussion, both with our organization and with the Alderman, for Chick-fil-A to come forward with these concessions and we feel this is a strong step forward for Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community, although it is only a step.” We hope Chick-fil-A has indeed evolved, but we'll be happy as long as they don't start any more fake Facebook profiles. What do you think?

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Did Chick-fil-A Have a Change of Heart on Gay Rights?

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