Chick-fil-A Wants People to Stop Calling Them Anti-Gay

Chick-fil-A, the popular chicken-themed, fast-food restaurant who made numerous donations to anti-LGBT organizations in the past, wants people to stop calling their brand antigay.

After news broke out earlier this week that New Jersey's Rider University removed Chick-fil-A from a survey that asked students which restaurants they want to have on campus, Chick-fil-A's attorney made a statement about the misconception of the chain's image.

"Rider University’s survey was recently brought to our attention, and while we respect the University’s decision, this news story represents a good opportunity to clarify misperceptions about our brand," the statement, which was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, read. "Chick-fil-A is a restaurant company focused on food, service and hospitality, and our restaurants and licensed locations on college campuses welcome everyone. We have no policy of discrimination against any group, and we do not have a political or social agenda. More than 120,000 people from different backgrounds and beliefs represent the Chick-fil-A brand."

"Chick-fil-A was removed as one of the options based on the company's record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community," Rider president Gregory G. Dell’Omo and vice president for student affairs Leanna Fenneberg wrote in a letter to students posted last Friday. 

They continued:

"We understand that some may view the decision as being just another form of exclusion. We want to be clear that this was not the spirit in which the decision was made. We fully acknowledge an organization’s right to hold these beliefs, just as we acknowledge the right for individuals in our community and elsewhere to also personally hold the same beliefs."