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We do not need companies such as Chick-fill-A that question our common values,” he added. Here in the UK we can be who we want to be and live life without question. “Parliament should be questioning businesses like this that work against the values of our amazing country.” (Photo: Getty) “The team at Reading Pride were of course extremely upset by the very idea that such an organisation is allowed to hit the UK high street without openly answering the concerns of the LGBT community. He told i: “Finding out about this at the UK Pride Network’s AGM and Conference was of course a shock to many Pride Organisers. UK Pride Organisers’ Network member Stephen Ireland said the launch of the shop was not known to anyone who could be affected by its launch. “We are planning a protest on Broad Street Reading to highlight this company’s views and to ask the people of Reading and beyond to support us to Get the Chick Out.”. “We respect everyone’s freedom to eat where they choose, however, we ask the LGBT+ community (including its allies) to boycott the chain in Reading. He told i: “It is important for people to make an informed decision as to whether or not they want to eat in a chain that supports anti-LGBT+ organisations. Mr Cooper hopes the move will prove that once the views of the establishment are known, it will have no place in the UK. He and the Reading Pride team will be launching a peaceful protest this Saturday to draw attention to the chain’s pink problem, and will be drawing in protesters from LGBT Pride networks across the UK. While Mr Cooper doesn’t blame the average innocent customer for venturing into the eatery, he does believe people deserve to know “the type of establishment they are entering”. Why would they, if it’s the first in the UK? Only those affected, or who have relatives in the USA, may be aware of the issues against the LGBT community.” “The average customer won’t know the history of this chain. “We didn’t have chance to submit any considerations because we weren’t made aware,” he told i. The store listing for Chick-fil-A, the first store in Europe (Photo: The Oracle) The opening was not lost on the head of Reading Pride, Martin Cooper, who found out after its launch. That’s where Chick-fil-A have set up their first UK shop – far enough away to avoid the scrutiny of the capital’s activists and media.īut while the shop might be outside of zone 2, the LGBTQ community has not been thwarted by geography. While LGBTQ campaigners across both sides of the pond are aware of the chain’s dubious anti-LGBTQ record, the average customer at The Oracle shopping centre in Reading might be less in the know about the new fast food shop nestled in the complex. Under Mr Cathy Jr, $1.6m for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2019 showed up on company records, funding an organisation vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage. More recently, according to campaigners in the UK, attention has been drawn to one of the groups’ involvement in Uganda, where an NCO delegate has been accused of helping the African nation’s administration shape its “Kill Your Gays” bill – an accusation Chick-fil-A inc vehemently denies.
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Mr Cathy’s father, who died in 2014, also funded anti-gay charities like the Marriage & Family Foundation, the National Christian Organisation (NCO), the Georgia Family Council, and Exodus International, a group that promotes gay and transgender conversion therapy. Two men kiss outside a Chick-fil-A amid 2012 protests (Photo: Getty) While campaigners staged kiss-ins, boycotts, same-sex weddings outside of Chick-fil-As and mass demonstrations, others investigated the chain’s company accounts, where records of millions of dollars of donations to anti-LGBTQ organisations came to light. Mr Cathy, who has not released any public comments on his LGBTQ+ views since, catapulted US consumers into making a moral choice over their bible belt chicken. “And I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude that thinks we have the audacity to redefine what marriage is all about.” Bible belt chicken “We’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,” he announced, as the first same-sex marriage legislation came to the States. Dan Cathy, the son of Chick-fil-A founder S.