Chick-fil-A: Catering to the Liberal Mob
by Tony Perkins, Family Research Council:
Most of us who were there on that sunny August day will never forget. For everyone else, there’s a sign: “Above this plaque is a bullet hole. It marks the heroic action taken by Family Research Council employee Leo Johnson on August 15, 2012.” That was the morning Floyd Corkins walked into our lobby and changed FRC forever. He’d bought a gun and learned how to use it. He’d loaded three magazines. In his backpack was a stash of chicken sandwiches that he planned to smear in the faces of staffers he hoped to kill. “They endorse Chick-fil-A,” he said. It would be a “statement against the people who work there.”
Thanks to Leo, it was a statement he never got to make. Fourteen days after someone snapped a picture of our staff smiling over boxes of Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, Leo was the only thing standing between Floyd Corkins and an FRC massacre. To a lot of Americans, the company’s decision to walk away from years of biblical truth is upsetting. To us, it’s personal.
In the days and years after that, we never talked publicly about Chick-fil-A’s response to the shooting. Mainly because there wasn’t one. Through all of the press conferences, the trial, and sentencing, I never once picked up the phone or opened my email to a message from someone at headquarters. Not even to ask about Leo. Obviously, Chick-fil-A wanted then what they want publicly now: as much distance from our movement as possible.
That was tough, but we stayed quiet — hoping that if groups like FRC stood beside them, the company Christians had come to love would have the courage to keep living out their values in the public square. And for seven years, they seemed to. Even when the mob turned up the heat, blocking them from airports, cities, and college campuses, Chick-fil-A rode a wave of conservative support to its highest profits ever. They didn’t just survive the LGBT-initiated boycotts — they thrived, doubling sales since the moment liberals decided it was a “controversy” to give to charities like the Salvation Army.
Whole states got involved — protecting Chick-fil-A’s freedom to believe in legislation that was even named after the company. Cabinet members like Secretary Elaine Chao stuck out their necks, promising to investigate the ban in San Antonio’s terminals. Millions of families drove out of their way to stop at Chick-fil-A — not because the chicken was that good, but because their conviction was. If you’re wondering why the backlash is so strong, it’s because the people who held up this company as a model of moral courage were betrayed. Unlike so many others in corporate America, Chick-fil-A was standing on truth and winning. Then, after years of holding the line, they just up and walk off the field, leaving loyal customers holding the bag.
And for what? To prove how “tolerant” they are? To appease them? Well, in case Chick-fil-A hasn’t been paying attention, there is no appeasement. Groups like GLAAD are already demanding more. “In addition to refraining from financially supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations, Chick-fil-A still lacks policies to ensure safe workplaces for LGBTQ employees and should unequivocally speak out against the anti-LGBTQ reputation that their brand represents.” That’s what this chicken company doesn’t understand. Stand strong, and the bullies will leave you alone. Cave, you’ll be led down a path of complete surrender. They might as well hang out a sign that says, “Under New Management: the Radical Left’s.”
Read also: Chick-fil-A caved in, gave the rainbow mafia the victory they wanted by Jonathon Van Maren, LifeSite
A Christian appeal to Chick-fil-A by Michael Brown, Christian Post
Chick-Fil-A Announces New Giving Priorities – LGBT Activist Claim a Win by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint
Statement from the Salvation Army
PETITION:
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