Three years ago, many people across the United States vowed never to eat at Chick-Fil-A ever again after the company's CEO Dan T. Cathy openly opposed same-sex marriage, then surfacing information of the company funding organizations considered "anti-gay" - now, Chick-Fil-A's LGBT stand becomes the subject of news again.
Earlier this week, it was falsely reported that Chick-Fil-A's LGBT stance had changed since the 2012 scandal after it came out that franchise owner in Nashville, Tennessee, had made a donation to On Level Ground, a gay Christian festival - however, it was reported that it was the entire company was sponsoring the movement, prompting conservative media to demand an explanation.
According to America Blog, conservative petitioners all over the country created a petition on Change.org demanding to know the actual Chick-Fil-A LGBT stance, in the mistaken belief that the fried chicken makers were sponsoring the gay-friendly festival, whose mission statement reads that it's a "safe space for dialogue about faith, gender, and sexuality through the arts."
Advocate reports that after the original Chick-Fil-A LGBT sponsorship came out (through website Eater), the Georgia-based company was quick to put out a press release on the subject, specifying that in no account did this mean that the company's stance on same-sex marriage had changed but rather that the only sponsor was a franchise owner in Nashville, as it turns out franchisees are able to make decisions on local sponsorships.
According to Raw Story, that hasn't stopped conservative media from standing up against this franchise Chick-Fil-A LGBT sponsorship, accusing the company of turning "towards gay agenda" as well as calling Level Ground a "Sodomite film festival."
This isn't the first time that a franchisee's own stand on LGBT issues stands in the way of the well-known Chick-Fil-A LGBT policies, as last year a California franchise owner hosted a fundraiser aimed at making university campuses safer for LGBT youths.
