Chic-fil-A announced it would treat its employees with respect & MAGAs slammed it for 'wokeism'
Chic-fil-A is at the top of lists ranking fast food chicken sandwiches. It is also infamous among liberals for refusing to provide contraception as part of its health insurance plan. And for the anti-gay marriage remarks made by its then-CEO and current Chairman, Dan Cathy.
In 2012, as the conversation around same-sex marriage intensified during the push to legalize it federally, Cathy offered his thoughts in a radio interview.
"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.' And I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”
Cathy has since smugly affirmed his Divine bigotry by declaring himself “guilty as charged” when asked if he was still a committed anti-gay marriage zealot. He went further. He put his money where his mouth is. The company's charitable organization, The Winshape Foundation, has thrown cash at conservative Christian groups, including the Family Research Foundation; Alliance Defending Freedom, which supports re-criminalizing homosexuality; and Exodus International, a now-defunct group known for "conversion therapy," a psychological torture intended to force gays into straightness.
I will say one thing in the company's favor. It is honest in its bigotry. It is the only fast food business not open on Sundays — as it takes the third or fourth commandment (depending on how you enumerate) seriously and keeps the Sabbath holy.
By any measure, Chick-fil-A is a company the MAGA horde should embrace. But the company did something unforgivable. They supported their employees — all of them. And the conservative evangelical crowd picked up rocks and cast stones at the apostates.
Chick-fil-A expressed its position in an open letter posted on its website — with a URL that clearly spelled out, literally, its intent, www.chick-fil-a.com/dei.
The epistle started with the company’s position: “Committed to being Better at Together.”
It then summarized its aim: “Chick-fil-A’s Corporate Purpose is “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A."
So far so good. It is a standard corporate boilerplate with a God garnish — what could go wrong? The answer is nothing if you are a decent person. But to those who are not, the answer was a lot. And for those hateful people, the storm clouds gathered with the next statement.
“One of our core values at Chick-fil-A, Inc. is that we are better together. When we combine our unique backgrounds and experiences with a culture of belonging, we can discover new ways to strengthen the quality of care we deliver: to customers, to the communities we serve and to the world. We understand that getting Better at Together means we learn better, care better, grow better and serve better.”
“Unique backgrounds?” That sounds dangerous to the “only our way is the right way” cultists. Their fears crystallized when the company added,
“Chick-fil-A, Inc.'s commitment to being Better at Together means embedding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in everything we do.”
Game over. The congregation has left the church. Chick-fil-A has gone over to the dark side. At this point, 99% of the bigots have committed to a boycott and are googling, “What is the best chicken fast food chicken, not Chick-fil-A.”
For the 1% still reading, there is no safe harbor. The seas get choppier. Chick-fil-A spells out what they mean.
“Equal opportunity”, “Valuing differences”, a “Culture of belonging”? This is the sort of inclusive nonsense only the love child of Karl Marx and Sarah Lawrence, midwifed by Oprah, could spout. The haters went nuts. Here is a selection.
To put it in liberal terms, it is as if The Stonewall Inn put up a sign saying “LGBTQ not welcome” and banned the rainbow flag.
America’s leading anti-woke warriors are now between a rock and a hard place. Unlike Bud Light and other brands, Chick-fil-A is closely identified with the religious right, without which the anti-woke movement would be a few street loonies talking to lampposts. I doubt we will hear many calls to man the barricades from the expedient political cynics in DC and the state houses.
But you never know. To paraphrase HL Mencken, “No one ever made any money betting on the sanity of the American right.”