Chick-fil-A Faces a Conservative Revolt

Chick-fil-A is receiving an onslaught of conservative ire after the company's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative spread across social media.

"One of our core values at Chick-fil-A, Inc. is that we are better together," reads the company's website, which now includes a DEI section. "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."

Approximately 80 percent of United States employers have DEI initiatives, according to Corporate Compliance Insights. Brands like Bud Light and Target have recently experienced backlash and market shifts due to boycott efforts after the beer partnered with transgendered activist Dylan Mulvaney and Target released "tuck-friendly" swimsuits, that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirmation surgery to conceal their genitals, ahead of LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June.

Chick-fil-A's DEI page does not specifically mention LGBTQ+ persons, however. Chairman Dan Cathy, son of company founder S. Truett Cathy, made headlines in 2012 when his views on homosexuality, including his opposition to gay marriage, became public.

The DEI effort, per its website, involves the following:

• Ensuring equal access: The intentional promotion of equal opportunity through processes and practices, "to provide personalized development and eliminate barriers to opportunities so all can thrive."
• Valuing differences: The company says it seeks to understand and honor unique experiences and perspectives, as they "strengthen us as we unite around something bigger than ourselves."
• Creating a culture of belonging: Promoting and sustaining a culture where all individuals can thrive and contribute.

Other aspects include recruiting top-tier talent, accomplished by routine collaboration with various national diverse professional development organizations including Women's Foodservice Forum, National Black MBA Association and Association of Latino Professionals of America; and engaging through groups like Women in Business (WIB), Black Employee Resource Group (BERG) and Young Professionals.

"Chick-fil-A restaurants have long been recognized as a place where people know they will be treated well," DEI Vice President Erick McReynolds said in a statement posted on the website. "Modeling care for others starts in the restaurant, and we are committed to ensuring mutual respect, understanding and dignity everywhere we do business. These tenets are good business practice and crucial to fulfilling our corporate purpose."

McReynolds has worked for Chick-fil-A for over 16 years, according to his LinkedIn page, including three years this July as overseeing DEI for the company.

A Chick-fil-A spokesperson declined to comment to Newsweek.

The message has not been received as well by some.

"Everything good must come to an end," tweeted Wade Miller, executive director of Citizens for Renewing America—a conservative organization that's against "woke" policies. "Here @ChickfilA is stating it's [sic] commitment to systemic racism, sexism, and discrimination. I cannot support such a thing."

"Something tells me @ChickfilA is going to be called to repent soon," tweeted one person.

Another Twitter user wrote that the company is "hopefully going to lose millions of loyal customers for bowing to DEI."

"Chick-fil-A is infected with DEI and it will only be a matter of time before that place falls in every way possible," another person predicted.

Video has recirculated of Dan Cathy saying during a roundtable discussion in June 2020 at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia, that white Christians should fight against racism and help Black Americans from experiencing injustice.

"We as Caucasians, until we're willing to just pick up the baton and fight for our Black, African-American brothers and sisters, which they are as one human race, we're shameful," Cathy said. "We're just adding to it."

The panel appearance included Cathy getting on his knees and shining the shoes of Lecrae, a Black Christian rapper.

Joanna Schwartz, a marketing professor at Georgia College & State University, told Newsweek that a boycott against the popular establishment would be "ironic" considering that many LGBTQ+ consumers already refuse to eat there because the company has famously donated to firms that have opposed marriage equality.

"It's a company that has a very religious focus, but that focus has never included LGBTQ+ equality as one of its basic tenets," Schwartz said. "In fact, the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index doesn't even have a rating for the company because they've never participated in those equality studies.

"It's a big change for Chick-fil-A to include gender identity and sexual orientation as part of their view of inclusivity, but even that DEI update doesn't actually use the term 'LGBT' (or any of its variations). Racial, ethnic and gender diversity are all important, but in terms of actual LGBTQ+ inclusivity or any acknowledgment around the community or Pride, [they] have never been part of their marketing efforts."

Chick-fil-A says its 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." It also alludes to the fact that most of the company's franchises are independently owned and operated, and that "each operator is solely responsible for all employment matters in their restaurant business."

In October 2019, a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Reading, England, closed just eight days after its grand opening due to protests from LGBTQ+ rights groups.

Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Tassopoulos said a month later that the company needed to shore up its messaging, which included a shift in charitable policy to focus on organizations that provide support for education, homelessness and hunger.

However, he said, "No organization will be excluded from future consideration—faith-based or non-faith-based."

It changed its business ideology in 2020 as it pertains to donations, announcing it would no longer donate to Christian organizations The Salvation Army, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and the Paul Anderson Youth Home—all of which received criticism due to their views on homosexuality.

Schwartz said this current string of boycott attempts on behalf of conservative politicians and influencers is an effort to harness the momentum that they've seen as effective in calling out companies for being inclusive, "as if being inclusive was a negative business policy."

"It's easy to find companies to attack because almost every major brand or company is doing, or has had, inclusive LGBTQ+ targeted advertising or products," she said. "By keeping this top-of-mind for conservative consumers, the goal is also to shame companies in hopes that they'll scale back their inclusivity efforts."

The Atlanta-based company includes over 170,000 team members, operators and staff at more than 2,700 locations in 47 states, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Canada.

In 2019-20, it was named the top restaurant brand in the U.S. for the sixth straight year by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, according to Forbes. Its sales in 2019 were estimated to be about $11.3 billion, representing a 13 percent year-over-year increase.

Update 06/01/23, 9:28 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from Chick-fil-A.