UK: Reading Chick-fil-A outlet to close in LGBT rights row
from BBC News:
A US fast-food chain will cease trading at its first UK outlet amid a row over donations to anti-LGBT groups.
Gay rights campaigners called for a boycott of Chick-fil-A, which opened its first branch at The Oracle shopping centre in Reading on 10 October.
A spokeswoman for the centre said “the right thing to do” was to not extend the restaurant’s lease beyond the “six-month pilot period”.
Chick-fil-A said its donations were purely focused on youth and education.
The family-owned company, founded in Atlanta in 1967, is one of the biggest fast-food chains in the USA and boasts about 2,400 outlets across North America.
According to US news website Think Progress, in 2017 the Chick-fil-A Foundation donated millions of dollars to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Paul Anderson Youth Home and the Salvation Army.
Campaigners from LGBT organisation, Reading Pride, said all three organisations have a reputation of being hostile to LGBT rights.
In 2012, the company’s chairman sparked a US boycott when he said he opposed gay marriage.
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