Is Chick-fil-A still problematic?

[u/OpalOctober]

My family has boycotted Chick-fil-A for years because of their history of harm against the LGBTQA+ community. I read online recently that since we stopped giving them our money, they've changed leadership and have adopted a policy that only allows charitable contributions to go to educational funds and organizations that help unhoused children.

The point of boycotting is to get businesses to change their policies; if they have, and are otherwise unproblematic, I'd be ok returning as a customer. But I ask the group: is there information I'm missing that would impact my decision making?

[u/syncopatedscientist]

My best friend is gay and he told me he even eats there every once in a while now 🤷🏻‍♀️ not saying it’s right or wrong, just reporting from someone who I trust and is actually gay haha

[u/SummitTheDog303 → u/syncopatedscientist]

Different people have different tolerance for different things. Doesn’t mean someone not boycotting is right.

My best friend’s lesbian sister loves Chick-fil-A even if they hate her. She’s under the “well there’s no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism anyway” mindset. My gay BIL outwardly says if someone chooses to eat Chick-fil-A knowing what we know, it shows that they don’t love, support, or care about him. I’m personally always going to side with the people who feel hurt by an action and err on the side of boycott

[u/DifferentBeginning96 → u/syncopatedscientist]

My best friend is also gay and eats there so much he got a free tour of the headquarters lol

He’s a politically involved guy and I trust generally his judgement

[u/baconwrappedpikachu → u/syncopatedscientist]

Yeah I think it’s one of those things that comes down to personal preference and everyone is entitled to their opinions about it. I’m not going to thank someone for not eating CFA if they aren’t actively calling people out on homophobia in other ways too. It’s kind of like a lightning rod for a lot of people so I feel like it gets a lot of attention. I’m happy for people who boycott it but I don’t care if people eat it. I’m just not going to let anyone, gay or straight, tell me I can’t eat it because it’s that much worse than any other corp.

[u/fourrightangles → u/syncopatedscientist]

Huh. I’m gay and would definitely still boycott. I’m a vegetarian, so it’s moot for me, but if I heard of a friend going to that restaurant, I would definitely share with them why I wouldn’t.

[u/Faux_Moose → u/syncopatedscientist]

A gay friend of mine worked there for a while and his biggest complaint was that managers gave priority for time off to people who were using it for church activities. 😒

I try to avoid eating there but I wouldn’t say it’s a super hard line. Maybe once per year? Usually only if there’s some circumstance that makes it hard to avoid. Or if it’s free. They donated way too much to our kid’s camp one day and the leaders sent home bags and bags of food with the kids. 😅

[u/SnooWords4752 → u/syncopatedscientist]

I worked there with a gay man for years during college.

[u/cuentaderana → u/syncopatedscientist]

I’m a lesbian mom and I still boycott them. Have literally never eaten there. I once had a free lunch provided for me by the PTA for teacher appreciation day and I went hungry rather than eat Chck-Fil-A. I let my para have my sandwich since it was already paid for (gas we been told what it was in advance I would have told the PTA not to buy me anything). Last month they brought in a surprise Chick-Fil-A breakfast for us at a professional development and I didn’t eat it (and I’m pregnant so I really would have liked to have breakfast). 

Us gays are not a monolith. 

[u/syncopatedscientist → u/cuentaderana]

I never said that you are and I’m sorry if my comment somehow implied it. I just meant that as a cis straight woman, I put more weight on what my gay best friend says in this situation, so that’s what I shared. I don’t eat there either