Franklin Graham: ‘Chick-fil-A’s CEO assured me they haven’t changed who they are’

Responding to a recent viral news story claiming that the restaurant chain Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to charities that have a history of expressing anti-LGBT views, Christian evangelist Franklin Graham took to his Facebook page to assure his fans that is not the case.

“Has Chick-fil-A caved?” Graham wrote. “Some are saying they’ve rolled over, that they’ve conceded to the LGBTQ protests because they released a statement about their charitable giving. They announced that in 2020 they’re giving to fight hunger and homelessness and support education. What’s wrong with that?”

Graham went on to recount a phone conversation with the company’s CEO Dan Cathy, who was “very clear” that “they have not bowed down to anyone’s demands, including the LGBTQ community.”

“They will continue to support whoever they want to support,” Graham, who is the son of the legendary televangelist Bill Graham. “They haven’t changed who they are or what they believe. Chick-fil-A remains committed to Christian values. Dan Cathy assured me that this isn’t going to change. I hope all those who jumped to the wrong conclusion about them read this.”

While the Chick-fil-A Foundation did indeed announce a new charitable-donations strategy going forward, an investigation by the fact-checking site Snopes.com found that the move was not related to any sort policy shift in regards to anti-LGBT organizations and did not rule out any group receiving donations in the future, “as long as they are highly effective in areas of hunger, homelessness and education.” Snopes went on to point out that “many news reports markedly failed to mention that the fast food company’s change in approach to charitable donations did not appear to have been specifically targeted at Christian organizations perceived as anti-LGBT, and that in fact more than 80 groups — many of them with no religious affiliation — who received funding in 2019, would also no longer be funded.”

Either way, Graham is convinced that even if the viral narrative were completely true, LGBT groups will never be satisfied.

“In my opinion, the gay movement wouldn’t ever be happy with Chick-fil-A unless they were open on Sunday, gave all of their charitable donations to LGBTQ organizations, and flew the rainbow flag over their stores!” he declared. “Their hatred for Chick-fil-A is rooted in founder Truett Cathy’s strong stand for biblical “traditional” values and his desire to honor God.”

[JoeMyGod]

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.